adventuras-de-nicaragua

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Todos los deportes en Matagalpa

Flying into Matagalpa from the mountains was a refreshing and scenic way to end our cycling for the day. We quickly saw why Matagalpa is referred to as San Francisco; it has very sharp inclined streets throughout the city. Our hotel we booked was located on the north side of town and worked well as we were coming from the north. We picked a hotel based on its good booking.com rating and also our Swiss friends we made in Esteli had a pleasant stay there earlier in their travels.

After sorting out the bikes and showering we set out to explore Matagalpa and find the tour agency. We heard there was only one tour company and that Matagalpa was a basic city, even more so than Esteli by the Swiss Couple. We were a bit surprised by that as we had read it is the 4th largest city and hoped it would be a bit more interesting than Esteli. After a walk to the south end of town to find Matagalpa tour company we were feeling good about the city, it seemed to have lots more interesting things included endless good looking coffee shops. At the tour company we really wanted to do a coffee tour and get to see some coffee farms and the coffee process. At first the tour company told us they were booked and doing the coffee tour wouldn't be possible, but after several calls were able to arrange it for the following day starting at 11:30. We left happy that we were going to be able to visit a farm and learn the artisans way of coffee making.

On our journey back to the hotel we first stopped in a juice/smoothie shop. The girl working spoke great English and everything seemed a bit easier than it had been for the last couple of days. We happily drank delicious fruit and smoothie drinks out of maison jars before heading on our way back to the hotel. We took the main street back and walked past many good option eateries and more cafes. Looking down one street we even spotted a Yum Yum donut shop, that of course we had to check out. The girl working in there also spoke good English and we learned a bit about the city. The donut shop was 2 years old and the city has been building up its attractive appearing cafe's and restaurants in the last 5 years. Walking around town you could see all the new construction and showed that investment was being put into the city. Our hotel looked very pristine and they were adding on upward. Be interesting to see what the city will look like in another 5 years. 

That night we headed back to the main street and settled on a "The Balcon", a three level building with the first level being a shop and the upper two the restaurant. As the name indicates the second layer had a nice balcony overlooking the street which was the reason Alex and I chose it. We happily ordered the Flor de Cana and Cola and watched the world go by. Every other vehicle ended up being a Toyota Hilux, or in the US is the Tacoma, as the truck bed was used to mostly transport many people. In an hour time you would see more than 40 Hilux drive through the street!

We revert to some comfort and ordered a pasta dish each and pleasantly happy with the quality and quantity of it. After eating it was still early and were not sure what to do. On the way back was a stadium and we saw people coming in and out so decided to go in and see what was going on. Local adult league of soccer was going on and we took a seat in the bleachers to watch. The next morning we had our first breakfast at the hotel and were very pleased. Half was buffet style and the other you order you main plate. We saw a picture of eggs, bacon and pancakes on the menu and asked for the picture. It was a great big plate of food on top of the fruit, toast, coffe and juice we got as well. We spent the morning walking around and really killing the time before 11:30 came and our guide would pick us up for our coffee tour.

Right on time our guide for the day, Hector picked us up. He had a truck from the company and he took us up the mountain, the way we cycled yesterday, to the Fundadora area. The Fundadora is a protective land area that is owned by 65 families. The history has a very turbulent past with difficulties from the government, but after many years of hard ships the land has been returned to the families. The land is used mostly for farming of diverse crops with coffee being one of them. 

I had originally hoped to stay at the Fundadora ecolodge, however the lodge was booked and we were not able to. A bit happy about not being able to stay after seeing the poor quality of the road leading there from the main road, although the area was lovely and be an ideal place to wake up and drink your first cup of coffee. We visited a small coffee farm called 'La Lotteria', were our amazing guide become our translator to understand the history and coffee process from the farmer. First we were severed lunch and were joined by an earlier tour that went around the farm in the morning. Lunch was traditional Nica food of rice and beans, plantain chips, chicken, veggies, local cheese, and tortilla with a cup of fresh juice. The other group were nice to chat with being a very international group. 

After being well food the farmer took us around his farm and explained to us the coffee making process. There are two main types of coffee beans Robusta or Arabica, with our farm being Arabica. Arabica types of coffee are more flavorful and require more shade for a quality crop. This is the reason it is grown at high altitude and most commonly under large banana trees. Robusta beans can be grown with more sun and commonly grown at lower attitudes. The farmer showed us what a healthy looking cherry and we split open a couple to look at the quality of the beans within. He explained how Nov through Feb was the cherry picking stage and that a tree will mature its cherries at all different times. After picking the cherries, the process of separating the seeds from the cherry occurs and at a small farm like we were at this is through a hand cranked depulper. The pulp, or cherry, will be used to make compost for the soil while the seeds then go through the next stage.

The seeds will then go through the fermentation process for 24-36 hours to get some of the sugar/stickiness out. After that the seeds are washed and dried in wood built trays. Once they are dried you have to remove the last shell covering, the parchment, which can be done with a large pastel mortar. Finally, you are ready to roast the coffee beans. Over an open fire coffee beans can be roasted making sure to be stirred constantly. How strong you want your roast really just depends on how long you roast the coffee beans.

For a coffee farmer who does not have access to a nice grinder or espresso maker they resort to a more basic way of coffee making. They use a three legged hand grind stone to grind the beans to a powder. Once they have done that they boil water and some of hte powder to create coffee. We helped due this and were rewarded with a fresh cup of coffee. Although it was good we had a feeling that if we grinded it in a grinder nad used a proper machine it will come out slightly better so ended up buying some fresh beans to try at home. Going through the farm the farmer explained how to grow a coffee tree, which really just involved taking a good looking coffee seed and planting it and nursing it till it becomes 6 months old. Alex and I's eyes lit up as we both had the same idea, we want to try to make our own coffee plants! We nicely asked if it was possible to take some seeds home and try and of course this would be fine, just warned about customs and if they find our seeds. We know it probably will never fruit and create coffee as it needs a certain climate, but hey worth a shot. 

The tour ended and we journey through the small town of Fundarora and got to see some of the other farms and some trucks being put into good work. That night we chose a local Mexican restaurant and after a delicious burrito and fajitas we weren't sure what to do. So clearly we wondered back to the stadium in the middle of town to see what was going on. Tonight was the master's basketball league and we happily sat and watched the local sport for the night. Our last full day in Matagalpa and we didn't have too much on. We spoke to our tour guide Hector the day before he recommended the hike to the cross at the top of a mountain to get a good view of town. There was two overlook points of the city and of course we picked the higher one. We journeyed up a more basic route while passing crosses with imagery of Jesus carrying the cross all the way up; seemed to be a pilgrimage hike. Near the top was another coffee farm and tempted to go pick cherries but restrained. 

It was a perfect blue skied day and the view was fantastic. We could see down in the valley of where Matagalpa sat as well as 360 mountain views. We chose a different path down and were treated to more pleasant views and a better hiking path. Near the end we journed a bubbling stream and ended up in fields near a house. Seemed we went up the none hiking way and at the end we took the hiking way which meant we ownded about a dollar each to exit. Oh well. After our hike it was only mid day and we went to go pick up our clothes. We had decided to get our clothes washed at the local launderia as it was close to our hotel and traveling back in clean clothes would be nice. The rest of the day we floated in cafes and on our way back to the hotel heard loud dance music coming from the stadium. Surprised it was so early we popped in and were treated to the championship volleyball game for the local high school. The atmosphere was crazy and it was easy to sit and be captured by it all. Our last night in Matagalpa and we went back to the Balcon for the farewell dinner. Again we ordered our Flor de Cana and pasta and watched the Hilux roll on by. Since we had already watched our local sport for the day we headed back and started to think about our cycle back to Managua tomorrow and flying home.

One last amazing breakfast and we were off for 120 km mostly downhill back to the Best Western hotel. I started not to feel very good and although it should be easy cycling with favorable winds and downhill I struggled. As we started losing elevation the temperature spiked hitting about 90 degrees. The sky was bight blue without a cloud in sight which aided in gorgeous mountain/volcano/lake views as we swept out of the mountain region to the low lands. We stopped for lunch only with 25 km left to go at a Comedora and ate our last Nica lunch of rice and beans with chicken and fruit juice. 

By the time we reached the hotel we were pretty cooked and just wanted to cool off. We anxiously asked if they had received our mail addressed to me. Alex had forgotten to take his green card and my mom was nice enough to ship it to the hotel. The hotel, however did not speak very good English and although we think they said it would be okay to send to the hotel and they would keep it, we weren't sure what woudl really happen. After searching for our piece of mail for longer than we would have liked the mail was delivered to us and a weight was lifted off our shoulders. 

We also got back our bike boxes and Alex packed the bikes back up as I watched some television and cooled off. We spent our last sunset by the pool and then headed for an early dinner. Our flight was scheduled for 2:23 in the morning so we were planning on going to bed around 8 and catching 4 hours of sleep before our flight. When the alarms went off at midnight we quickly got ready and lugged the bike boxes across the street, say 100 meters, to the airport door. Once the bikes were happily accepted we were on our long journey back home to the frigid temperatures of single digits.

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Finalmente amando el ciclismo

After the really hard day of riding from Leon to Esteli we were feeling somewhat unsure of how to proceed. Doing any more miles than necessary when it's not fun riding seemed like a pointless thing to put ourselves through, so we'd been leaning in the direction of just taking the easier ride from Esteli to Matagalpa, the last large city on the way back south to the airport outside of Managua.

However, a lot of our difficulties had been due to a long day of riding straight into a hard headwind with me having caught some sickness along the way, on top of a lot of cumulative tiredness fom the cycling, hiking and heat so far. A couple of days of relative rest and some genuine downtime in Esteli had recharged our batteries, and we ended up choosing the take the longer and signifiantly more mountainous route north east via Jinotega after hearing that while some of the roads would be cobbled, the remainder would be asphalt, and what cobbles there were would be realtively tight and 'suave'.

The good news was that even though the ride involved 1000 meters of elevation gain, it was over only 65km. After a slow and relatively late new years breakfast, we were seen off by our Swiss friends from the day before and rolled out of Esteli on the cobbled, but smooth as promised, road. Very quickly we were climbing, but the riding so far and just as importantly, the rest, made up hill sections feel much easier. Considering that we'd be finishing the ride some 2-300 meters of elevation higher than the start, we felt like a suprizing amount of the ride was downhill, with the exception of one very long and punishingly steep climb, which 18%+ inclines had us zig-zagging acorss the road in order to manage the gradient.

Jinotega (and our next destination Matagalpa) had been described to us as basic (even more so than Esteli) and arriving in the town feeling energized from the first enjoyable day of riding in a while, even though the town was largely closed for new years day, we still found a certain high altitude (over 1000 meters!) charm to the town. Luckily a coffee / juice /snack bar was open and we could eat some late lunch. It was certainly quiet here, but I wouldn't describe it as basic! As we ate an English lady also arrived, who it turns out now lived in Jinotega with her Nicaraguan husband and their baby. It was interesting to hear some of her story, and she also confirmed our suspicions that we were now some way off the tourist route.

For the rest of the day we adopted our typical cycle touring pass time of finding the park where the people go to hang out, watching the local life pass by and generally taking it easy. Esteli had felt a little busy and tense, but Jinotega had a calm mountain atmosphere which made it a great place to really feel separated from the real world.

The next day would be a whopping 32 km from Jinotega to Matagalpa which would be our last stop of the trip. 32 km sure sounds easy but again we'd opted to take the scenic route, climbing from 1000 meters up to 1600 in the first 10km out of Jinotega. However, the day before we'd seen an illuminated cross on the mountainside above the town and hard heard that there was a steep but well paved hike up to get the views from the top. After a big breakfast we made the 300 meter climb, and other than the amazing views, we were 'rewarded' with some incredibly strong winds beating us up and threatening to blow us off the rocky edifice that the cross was mounted too.

After descending, we treated ourselves to a small second breakfast and hit the road. It took us an hour to make the climb, but as we crested the mountain road we felt fresh and strong in the cool air at that elevation. It would seem that typically, we'd finally ridden ourselves into some fitness just as we neared the end of the trip, but this was just in time for the best riding we'd found in a while. Just before the main descent began, we found the ideal riding lunch stop, perched on the mountainside by the side of the road not far after the the highest point of the day. Content with full bellies we began the plunge from 1500 meters to 700 at break neck speeds on sinuous roads of smooth asphalt while the Matagalpa valley unfolded around us, overtaking the odd truck and motorcycle on the way down.

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Esteli Año Nuevo

The morning we were set to ride out of Leon and to Esteli was a sad morning. We enjoyed Leon a lot and wished we had more time there, however we already booked our place in Esteli. We woke to sore heads, thanks to our tour guide from the previous night and the Canadian couple we made. We ate breakfast at the hotel and enjoyed the rooftop balcony one more time before hitting the road.

The journey to Esteli was a long one, 140 km with 1,600 meters of elevation and a fierce headwind. The first half was relatively flat and we got to enjoy the views of the volcanoes as we exited the Leon region. Next section was a bit harder with the wind and a slow drag up. Alex and I kept switching who was in front to give the other shelter. Alex very quickly started feeling ill which made for a long day out. After a bit of a nasty climb, approx 1/3 of the climbing done for the day, we started to wonder if we were going to make it before sunset. The last bit of the journey was stepper and the headwind was not easing up.

After a couple more hours we came to the conclusion that we might run out of daylight and is it really worth it to cycle when we both really didn't want to? The answer of course was no, no need to kill ourselves on this vacation. I had read about the chicken buses in Nicaragua and have already seen several go past. A chicken bus is a school bus in the USA that is deemed no longer safe for the roads, so instead they get sent to Nicaragua and repainted bright colors. These buses are the local transports that cost locals about 30 cents and us non locals about a dollar per ride. There are no buses stops, instead you flag down the bus as you see it coming and a man who is in charge of looking after the people wanting to get on and get off signals the driver. The buses comes equipped with a fence around the roof allowing you to put your luggage or larger objects on the roof of the bus.

At about 95 km in we saw a chicken bus and flagged it down. I asked if this was going to Esteli and I must have not said it the local way and the guy in charge said no and the bus started going again. Just as they were pulling away another guy asked if I was going to Esteli, pronouncing it the local way, and I said yes! The bus slowed down again and two guys carried our bikes up a ladder to place our bicycles on the roof of the bus. We quickly got on and was on our way. The chicken buses were made for school children and def not Alex sized, he had to sit sideways and keep moving if the people needed to get past.

Only a 15 minutes later the bus stopped and told us everyone off, it was the end of the line. Our bikes were handed down to us and happy to see nothing terrible has happened to them. I asked a local and they told me if we wait another bus will come to take us the rest of the way to Esteli. Not more than 5 minutes and another colorful bus came with a big sign reading Esteli. We went through the process of getting our bikes on the roof of the bus and headed inside. This bus was packed and there was no where to sit and almost no where to stand. I sat near the door on the floor and Alex resorted to crouching over the luggage rack, mostly because he was unable to stand in the bus as it was only 6 ft tall. The ride was uncomfortable to say the least and at times so over packed with people the main guy had to ride on the outside of the bus. Seems to me these buses run just fine.

Once in Esteli we found our hotel and were sad to find out the water would be turned off for many hours, no showers for us. We weren't feeling overly great and decided to go out for a bite to eat and hopefully by the time we would come back the water would be on. Our inability to think kicked in and we ended up at Tip Top Pollo, a chicken fast food joint of which the owner owned the island we stopped off on our Isleta tour in Granada. The food wasn't overly great but did the trick. We headed back to our hotel and happy to find the water was turned on. After showers it was only 5 pm and we thought of taking a nap and next thing we knew it was the next morning. Apparently, we really needed sleep.

The next morning we woke feeling much more refreshed. We walked to find "treehuggers' the local tour company and see what we could do. It was very surprising to find that the tour company spoke no English and I had to rely on my Spanish to plan out what we wanted to do. The guy booked us to go into the Miraflor the next day, which we heard was a very scenic mountain protected area. A local family would cook us breakfast and lunch and we had to take the chicken bus there and back. Once he booked that, and filled out a million papers, I asked if it was possible to go see the Tisey reserve. He explained in Spanish that no more buses go there today and only way to go is by private truck. We said that was okay and he was able to arrange a truck and a guide to take us into the Tisey Reserve for the afternoon. However, none of the guides would speak any English so for the next two days we got by with my limited Spanish.

The Tisey Reserve was only about 15 km outside of town, but was up some massive climbs on very poor road conditions. Our driver had to make some 4 wheel drive or suspension adjustment half way up to get his truck to make the journey upwards. We first stopped by the side of the road and would have a bit of a hike to go see Alberto, described as a hermit who carves pictures into the rock faces. We were not sure what to expect and paid our one dollar each to see these carvings. This man has spent his whole life carving into the rocks and lives in a tiny very basic house right there in the country side. The carvings were impressive and very unique to see. We had the chance to meet Alberto and kindly asked in Spanish to take his picture. Our guide brought him some cigarettes as he was quite the smoker.

After seeing the carving we took oranges from the trees and enjoyed those on our hike back to the truck. A Holland couple were on the side of the road, the girl had injured her leg and wondering if they could get a ride back to Esteli. We told them that we rented the truck and guide and would be happy to, however we still were going to stop and see a waterfall. They said this was okay and while we went to the waterfall they would wait in the truck. Now this truck only had seats for 4 people and now we were a group of 6, so the obvious conclusion was for Alex and I to sit in the truck bed. Little did we know we should have been doing this from the start as it provided the best views.

The waterfall was okay, nothing overly special. The drive back to Esteli was scenic as we stood in the truck bed and plummeted out of the mountains. Back in Esteli we decided to take a long route back to our hotel and see what was around us. We found a taco place and must have been hungry already as we took a seat outside and got a couple beers and tacos. It was still very early so we wondered some more, Alex grabbing a slice of pizza before ended up sat in the center park watching the world go back.

People watching in Esteli was unique. It was a town with very few tourist and the park was filled with locals. Quickly you noticed the locals here had a different style from the rest of the Nicaraguan people we saw thus far. Esteli was in the mountains so more people wore jeans and lots of leather jackets and shoes. The young men in particularly were sharply dressed in leather shoes, good fitting jeans, long sleeve fitted shirt and sharp hair cuts with a bit of gel in it. Oh and you can't forget the strong cologne the men used as well. The funny thing was you would see plenty of very dapper men, but I struggled to spot the young females dressed so nicely. The young generation, teens to late 20's, walked with swagger as well. These were people you did not want to mess with. We would have taken a photo, but were afraid of getting punched.

The next day was an early start with a 5:30 bus ride out to the Miraflor from a pulpuria located about 1 mile away. When leaving our hotel to walk we noticed another tourist couple from our hotel getting into a cab, we had a feeling we were going to the same place. After we walked there we were unsure where this bus was suppose to pick us up as we saw no bus and we were just at a gas station. We indeed were correct and saw the other couple from our hotel, learned they were from Switzerland, and they showed us where the bus stop was.

When the bus came all four of us got on and luckily found seats for the nearly two hour journey into the mountains. I didn't know what to expect from the bus ride, but def didn't expect what we got. These buses, not good enough for the USA, snaked through the mountains on dirt roads that went straight up or straight down. Half the time during a steep uphill I was sure the bus was going to fail and we be falling backwards down the hill to our doom. Somehow this bus made it through and props to that bus driver for doing this every day. I not only wouldn't ever want to cycle this route, but also drive any vehicle on the road surface.

After a very loud bus ride, the chicken bus also blasted local Nicaraguan music, we arrived to our host family. They lived in a very basic house with an outhouse around back. The family spoke no English and we sat as the mother cooked us breakfast. The family had three small kittens that provided me with plenty entertainment, as well as many chickens. The breakfast was a traditional Nica breakfast and fueled us well for our start to the day. Our tour guide was the mother's 20 year old son. We picked the medium to high mountain region and started out on our hike.

The middle region was filled with these trees with old man beards, that we later learned were orchids. We saw a couple coffee plants and really just hiked around the countryside. Once we got to the high region we saw a game of baseball being played by the locals and sat down to watch it for awhile. Our hike lead us to another waterfall, not the highest but nestled away in some quiet countryside that was peaceful.

After our hike we arrived back to the house and was served lunch. After eating we still had nearly 2 hours before the bus back to Esteli and was unsure what we were going to do, turns out is not much at all. One of us would lie in the hammock another in the chair and we watched the world go by. It was New Years Eve and our host family was a popular place for the village people to stop by at and get ready. All the young men came over and spent longer than the females getting ready. Before no time we were slowly winding our way back on the chicken bus to Esteli.

When the crazy bus dropped us back off at the gas station we quickly found our Switzerland friends we made and walked back to our hotel together. We found they were a good couple to chat with and agreed to go out for dinner and drinks to celebrate the new year together. Alex and I happily had a quarto of Ron with Pepsi to start the evening out with while our friends had a cocktail. After some drinks it was already 9:30 and thought it best to find a restaurant. Being New Years Eve not much was open and ended up at probably the poshest restaurants in town, a steak house. Alex and I looked at each other than realized its New Year's Eve and steak did sound really good. The steak was bigger than I could eat and I had a side of veggies that really was a dish on its own!

After dinner we walked around looking for a bar to ring in the New Year. Unfortunately everywhere was closed. We walked past one we thought had a chance of being open and were sad to see it was closed as well. A man next door called us over and asked us what we were looking for. We asked him if he knew any bars that would be open. He explained that he owned the bar next door that was now closed, however we would be happy to join his family's celebration. We all looked at each other and quickly accepted. We sat in high bar stools and chatted for awhile before the main event got set up. It is custom to burn a man made of straw and fireworks on the streets. This symbolizes burning away the bad from the previous year and starting a new for the new year. We have seen several of this scarecrow man around town and now understood the significance.

At midnight one of the guys dripped oil all over the man and set him on fire. We were only 10 meters across the street as the fireworks went off and pure chaos. Alex ended up getting burned by a piece of plastic the man was sat in when they burned him, but besides that shocked no other accidents occurred. The Nica family told us tomorrow there will be many reports of accidents due to this tradition, but its a tradition. The man guy also gave us a brief history of Nicaragua pointing out to me specifically all the times the US tried to take over and how the locals won the wars.

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Hoy va a ser un día de volcán

After arriving in Leon and getting refreshed with a cold shower, we headed out into the city to try to get to grips with our new surroundings. In the high heat of the afternoon, the city didn't initially seem very inviting, with the main square not as attractively kept as our most recent comparison to Grenada while being cluttered with Christmas displays. A feeling of lethargy around the place underneath the beating sun didn't give us a lot of initial enthusiasm to be somewhere new.

Of course, most of this feeling was just an internal reflection of our own states of overheated tiredness and dehydration, and within a few minutes we wondered down the right street and found a french style bakery. After sitting down in their air conditioned back room with a coffee and some lunch, our prospects here were seeming much better.

After a brief explore and a beer to help with the dehydration process, we headed back to our place to get a little rest before venturing out into the evening. As we covered more of the city, we found that there was actually quite a lot to offer, with a load of different restaurants offering more of a modern city feel. We sat down to eat a delicious meal in a Cuban restaurant with a courtyard patio and decided maybe Leon is actually pretty great!

We'd read about a dance hall / bar more frequented by locals playing Reggaeton and more Latin style dance music, but between dinner and trying to find this place, bumped into a Spanish guy who had stayed in the same place as us on Omotepe, accompanied by a girl from the Dolomites and two Norwegian guys, all staying in the same hostel. Being invited for some beers with them turned into quite a number of 1 liter bottles of Victoria beer being consumed well after the closing time of the bar. As it happened, there was no sign of the dance club as we walked back to our room in the now empty streets of Leon.

The following morning we enjoyed a lazy breakfast and after arranging our afternoon activities, exploring the city on foot and finding a new area to try for dinner that night, decided to take in the cities sights from the roof of the white painted central cathedral. Not content to just let naive tourists simply pay a few dollars and climb the steps, the process of doing so involved finding a hidden ticket seller in an underground vault behind one corner of the cathedral, and then returning to an up-until-now unseen doorway on the other side, and gaining entrance with a secret knock (ok, just kidding about the secret knock). However, the couple of dollars and the time to work out how to get up there were well worth it, with the domed white pained roof glowing in the morning sun, and views in all directions of the city and the surrounding volcanoes.

At 2 pm, we donned our best backpacker attire and joined a tour to the Serro Negro, a 500 meter high active cinder cone volcano, an hour's drive out of the city. In the back of a truck with a dozen other tourists, English and Spanish speaking alike, we ratted down a long dirt road loaded with yellow jump suits and volcano boards.

On the drive we got away from city, we passed through some very pretty lowland countryside, and as we got closer to Serro Negro, we caught glimpses of it's looming steep coal black slopes. After being threatened of a treacherous hike to the top by our guide, other than being pushed around a bit by the strong winds cutting across the flank of the volcano, the hike was very enjoyable, especially the final part of the ascent walking up one edge of the cut away crater. We were at the top within 30 or 40 minutes and could afford to explore the top of the volcano including descending a short way into one of the more active craters to feel the heat and smoke coming out of the sulfur encrusted ground.

As the sun was setting we took turns to slide down the steep rear slope of the volcano which had, due to constant east to west wind, a smooth surface of course sand and small stones. With the jump suits, a mask on and the large amount of dust being kicked up by the board, there wasn't a huge amount to see on the way down, but there was definitely a thrill to the sense of speed on the way down. We descended some 500 meters of elevation at a slope of about 45 degrees, and the record speed had been clocked at 90kph, although I suspect we didn't end up that fast! I managed to crash twice on the way down, presumably as a result of trying to go too fast, but just picked up a few scrapes on the forgiving surface - Tia of course boarded in style and managed the whole descent without a hiccup.

The drive back to Leon in the back of the truck was in it's own an enjoyable experience, lit by the bright moonlight as we rumbled along mile after mile of un-populated dirt road. Back in town we were treated to a 'free beer' as the final part of the tour. Two Canadians stayed behind and started ordering liter bottles of Victoria, as despite knowing that it would be a terrible idea for our long ride the following morning, got roped into an unexpected party, involving us, the Canadians and our guide, quickly populating our table with empty beer bottles. Eventually we extracted ourselves, but the damage was already done and even a late night Schwarma kebab wouldn't undo it!

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Cabalgando al oeste

After hiking volcano Conception we were pretty tired and didn't feel up to much. Being aware it was Christmas we ventured out to a very colorful bar/cafe and shared a liter of Tona, local beer,  before figuring out our dinner plans. The town is made for tourist, however with it being Christmas not much was open, only a pizza restaurant and Mexican place. We opted for the pizza restaurant. A family of 5 were eating there as well and we noticed they had Christmas crackers, an English tradition. They heard us inquire about how they have them, as they didn't sound Brittish and found out they were Canadian and that in Canada it also is a tradition. The family had a couple spares and gave them to us, a bit of Christmas cheer was a welcomed surprised.

The next morning we woke early to catch the 6 am ferry back to the San Jorge port. We had a long day of cycling ahead, 110km ending at the west coast town of Pocohmil. We booked a resort that backed onto the beach and were excited to get there with some afternoon left to enjoy the ocean. We were a bit dreading waking up so early to catch the early ferry, but were rewarded with a dramatic sunrise over the volcanoes. The night before we bought two cold cappuccino drinks to enjoy on the 1.5 hour ferry and that always improved the ferry experience. Getting the bikes on and off and having to pay for them twice, stil not sure why we needed to do that both ways, is an added complication that was necessary.

The beginning of the ride was on the Pan American Highway, a good black top with a wide shoulder and for the first time while riding bright blue sky. Blue sky always makes everything better. We got to a main junction 2 hours in and I wanted to stop for a coffee and snack. Alex was convinced a decent looking place to stop on the side of the highway was not in the cards, but assured him there would be something. Luckily, right at the end of mini shops was an outdoor cafe with decent looking tables. We happily rolled in and ordered two coffees with eggs and a sandwich.

The next part of the ride was 30km up hill until we got to the town of Diriamba. Once there we would turn left and take a highway 20 km towards the west coast before turning off onto dirt tracks for 30 km. Getting closer to Diriamba and we saw the first real view at local life in Nicaragua away from the tourist centers. The places were decent looking towns with bustling main streets and lots of tuk tuks, horse and buggies, and trucks, mostly every vehicle is either a chicken bus or a truck. We stopped in Diriamba for lunch and were pleasantly surprised to find a Mexican restaurant with eye sight of the center cathedral and park. We both order quesadillas and local drinks, mine a cocoa milk drink and Alex a Pineapple fruit drink; Alex's ended up better.

After lunch was the best cycling part of the trip thus far. We had a honking tail wind and a steady downhill for 20 km! We flew down the good conditioned black top road- even over taking tuk tuk and other slower vehicles. Life was good. Too quickly we reached our turning point onto the dirt roads and things turned sour. Dirt roads sound fun, but in practicality are ten times harder. The jostling of the bikes and every peddle stroke is harder makes your muscles tighten and energy drained. The downhills becomes 'oh shit' moments trying to see the coming potholes with your head pouncing around. The path at times varied from relatively smooth dirt path to rocky slippery surfaces. Near to the end the path degraded even further and eventually forcing us to get off of our bikes. The road to our resort was broken and 45 degree angle downward making the last 5 minutes hell, but then we were on the west coast!

We were feeling quite low when we rolled our bikes into the hotel. The staff looked at us very questionable until I said we had a reservation. Once that was verified they were happy to have us bring our bikes into the gates and find them a home. Our room was nothing too fancy but enough to make staying quite comfy. We quickly showered and found our way through the terrace garden that lead to the beach. The beach was quite with only a handful of people in the distance and the sounds of the waves crashing. We opted for a swim that cooled our sunburn we had been building up.

After some time beers seemed necessary and I lay on the hammock and enjoy this small piece of paradise we have. We had booked this place for two reasons; to see the west coast and secondly to not have to leave this place until we roll out the next day. The hotel served dinner, more at a tourist price, but hey you can see the ocean in the background. I was a bit unlucky and order the fish of the day and did not realize it would come full head en tact. Although it looked like a good size the eatable meat was less so and I ended up stealing some of Alex's beef kaboobs. We treated ourselves with a bottle of wine and chilled on the garden terrace recovering from our long day out and even played cards.

The next morning we woke and once again went to the garden overlooking the beach for breakfast. The serving staff were new and my spanish not adequate enough to answer all their questions and breakfast maybe taking a bit longer than we would have liked. We summed this up as okay since we got a nice fruit cup, fruit juice, two coffees and a plate of eggs with rice and beans. We had to then push our bikes up the two hills to get out of town on the horrible dirt/rocky road until we found a rideable cobbled road. We were excited to see the cobbled road and fast forward half an hour were hating the cobbles. Large cobbles are okay for a small amount of time, but after 10 minutes you get fed up with the bobbling along, taking longer,  and the additional shock to your hands. We had no idea if the cobbles were ever going to go away and afraid if we had 100 km of all cobble that we would be in very bad spirits. After 40 km we joined a different road and could only hope it would be better.

When we saw the turn off for the road my mood plumeted when I saw it was cobbled. We took the road feeling defeated when we saw that it was more of a triangle and our road broke again to join another road, a paved road! Life was good again. We had 60 km on the nice paves roads into Leon and the time seemed to roll along. The views got better in the distance, with sights of many different volcanoes. One thing that is not as nice as in other countries is the options of places to stop and eat are few with most of them not looking so well. We took one out of our books from China and stopped at a gas station, as they always have something to eat and drink. A local came over and tried talking to me about our trip. He was concerned we were trying to go to Leon on the road. Once I explained to him in Spanish that we had already gone 70 km on roads like this he was put at ease that we could handle the last 30 km.

The last 30 km always are a pain. You are anticipating getting there and every km seems longer. Alex got a flat, our first of the journey and took some time to change out. I finally realized I should let Alex on front to get a wind blocker, helping me survive the final run into Leon. Our hotel we booked was called Leo and Pinata and was two blocks from the main cathedral. Immediately we realized Leon is going to be a very different city than Granada was. We found it down the cobbled, why are all the cities have cobbled roads?, road and through my spanglish got us to our room for the next two nights.

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Una aventura de un volcán

Our last night in Grenada was a good one. We'd spotted a restaurant outside of the main tourist drag, and enjoyed a very tasty meal of fajitas and tacos, just to really step outside of our comfort zone. Back in the busier middle of town the build up to Christmas was becoming more evident with large numbers of Nicaraguan people as well as the steady tourist crowd filling the bars and restaurants to the point that extra awnings and seating had been brought in to almost completely fill the street.

We'd noticed that a common way to drink was order a quarter bottle of rum and drink it either neat or with coke. Naturally, we thought it important to try out the 'custom' and so passed the evening watching the world go by in the street.

The next day we woke to rain, and after eating as much as we could, ventured once more out onto the road. Aside from being very wet, the ride south to San Jorge was uneventful, until the 'shortcut' we had planned to shave off one a km or two at the end put us through thick rich muddy field tracks, leaving us arriving for the ferry over to Ometepe island completely muddy and rather more tired than we needed to be. Lesson learned - it's good to be able to take the dirt roads when we need to, but it's not necessarily something we want to be doing more than necessary.

Later we would discover that the name of the town on Ometepe island we would be staying in, Moyogalapa, translates to 'place of the mosquitos' but it's not referring to the biting insect but the crowds of tourists who come to the island. The ferry ride over had a lot of local people, but also dozens of backpacker, so it was named appropriately. Of course, as tourists ourselves, albeit somewhat smellier and lighter packing tourists, this was probably to be expected.

The town wasn't especially inspiring in it's rain soaked state and as we ate dinner another squall hammered through we wondered why we ever left Granada. However the following day was due to be dry so we arranged to join a small group to hike to the top of Volcano Conception.

The combination of the late night before and a longer day on the bike in the rain left us pretty cooked, so aside from buying water and food for the hike, we weren't up for much! The town seemed to be closing up early - it appeared that the big party night before Christmas was more one for private family groups, so we turned in early with the sound of several of these parties booming in the distance.

The hike the next day started at 6.30am. Our group was of 8 and we began passing through gently sloping farm land feeling like it would be an easy day. However, before long we plunged into the humidity of the jungle and the trail kicked up more steeply. Quickly, the differences in the fitness of the various group members became apparent, and we had to take frequency stops for people to catch up. Fortunately our two guides split the group, and we pushed on with the company of our guide and an older Russian / Canadian couple. 

After a few hours we suddenly popped out of the jungle onto a scrub covered slope, completely covered in cloud with a howling wind trying to known you off your feet. From there the hike was increasingly steep and any plant life gave up leaving the side of the volcano as nothing but course volcanic sand, and black and red rocks. As we climbed, occasionally our feet would feel suddenly hot as we trod near a vent, and we'd be enveloped in eggy smelling sulfurous gas.

Eventually, with protesting legs, we reached the very peak and peered over into the crater.. or would have, if we weren't completely surrounded by the cloud which apparently is present all but 10 - 15 days in a year. All in all it was quite a surreal experience, but there wasn't very much to show for our 4.5 hours of effort and 1600 meters of elevation gained other than sore legs.

On the way down we passed the other half of the group who'd had to bail somewhere on the rocky slopes. I suppose not everyone makes it to the top! On the way back down we were finally presented with some fleeting views to give us some impression of the steepness of the volcano, but equally interestingly we found ourselves in the middle off a troop of howler monkeys in the trees above us, barking their territorial call, and generally monkeying around.

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Inicio de la aventura

Our journey to Nicaragua was surprisingly less stressful than I anticipated. I convinced myself that when we arrived at the Philadelphia airport with two large bike boxes that Spirit airline, which is known for charging customers through the roof for luggage, would either say nope we won't take those boxes or charge us an obscene amount. However, I dropped Alex off at the airport and went to park the car in the economy lot and by the time I arrived back he had already checked the bike boxes for the normal bike carrying cost. Our flight was an hour delayed and since our end destination was international we assumed we needed to be there three hours prior, but we overlooked the fact that our first flight was domestic to Florida. The airport security was the most relaxed I had seen it with no need to separate out electronics or take off belts and shoes due to dog security and within five minutes we were at our gate. What to do with two hours now till our delayed departure? Well it happens there was a bar right next to our terminal that would pass the time just nicely.

After two flights and a couple seat moves to grant Alex the emergency row seats, purely due to his height, we arrived in Managua with the local time 1:30 am. Again I felt the anticipation of issues with retrieving our bicycle boxes and making it to the hotel I booked directly across from the airport. We past through customs quickly and with no time at all saw our bike box arrive through the normal baggage claim. We dragged our boxes through security, first having them scanned, and out we popped into the warm air of Managua. Taxis drivers swarmed us and we politely said no as we dragged our boxes and two pannier bags to a clear spot to think. The hotel I booked was 15 meters across from the airport and we quickly identified a pedestrian walk and awkwardly carried our boxes across the street. Ten minutes later we were in our hotel room and thinking the process went as smooth as possible. That was until we realized Alex forgot his green card and would not be permitted to end the states on the return journey.

We slept for less than four hours that night to wake up a bit stressed about the whole green card dilemma. We came to the conclusion that the only thing to be done was to have my mom retrieve the green card and have it shipped to the hotel across from the airport. We were already planning on having them keep our bike boxes for the return journey and hopefully they will be okay with retrieving a piece of mail for us as well. After several broken spanglish they had agreed and all there is to do is hope that on our last day when we return to the hotel they have both our bike boxes and Alex's green card handy.

After a delicious Nicaraguan breakfast of rice and beans with omelets Alex built back up our bikes. I had planned the route for the first day which was only a 25 mile cycle south to Granada. Google does not allow you to drop the little man on the roads and see view, therefore I used satellite imaginary and apparently badly to pick the route. Alex was too busy to check it so we set off with my route. For this trip we went against using our road bike tires that we used in Asia, with having read that the road surfaces would be a bit rougher with less paved roads. We were not sure what it would honestly be like and opted for knobbly tires that we already owned. About 100 feet from our hotel when I took the path down a dirt rocky path through local homes we concluded our tire choice was spot on.

After fifteen minutes of riding my route planked us down dirt tracks through local villages and at times didn't look like a path at all. How google thought this was ridable or roads at all was surprising. It started to rain and again we appreciate the gripper tires. The rain grew heavier and we saw young boys playing baseball in an open field run under an old tree for cover. They signaled for us to do the same and we waited out the heavy rain with the children.

For me this was the most mountain bike riding I have done and down some sharp declines on rock I was a bit rusty to say the least. Due to the conditions our easy 25 miles we thought we had was more of an adventure taking 3 hours. This trip our daily mileage will have to be reduced and feel my soreness will be increased with the more rough terrain. Although I am a bit sad it will be more physical work and the miles won't just float by, as in Asia, the scenery through the dirt paths is spectacular. At one stage we saw horses crossing the path and going up a short incline. Curious on what they were doing we got off our bikes and follow up the grass hill to a clearing of open gorgeous countryside, clearly the horses known where the beauty is. One thing we learned early on is to always expect chickens.

I had booked for us to stay at the Mansion de Chocolate in the center of town. Unlike our Asia trip where we both were unemployed and traveling for a long period of time, we both now have jobs and traveling for a shorter period of time that we can afford nicer accommodation. We roll in about midday and immediately taken with the smell of chocolate. We are told check in is not till two so we freshen up with new clothes, lock our bikes, and hand over our luggage to reception. I wonder to the chocolate shop where a tour is going on and the tour guide assumes I am with them or just doesn't care and hands me a shot glass. The tour guide then starts pouring different type of chocolate liquor shots or mint shots as we are taught how to cheers loudly in spanish. Alex ends up joining and we have five different chocolate/mint/ginger shots, not a bad way to start.

We leave the hotel in search of lunch, but much more relax after the sugar in the shots. Several cars are driving around town with sound speakers on the truck bed playing either Christmas music or local music. Immediately you take in the colors around you, as every house is a different bright colors. We wonder around and find a panaderia, a bakery. We dive in and order several baked goods and coca cola for less than 2 dollars. Still not having real food we go back out and find the central park which is opposite the main iglesia of town. In the park we sit at one of the outside cafe and order cafe, which seems to be flavored with cocoa powder and lunch dishes, rice with beans and some protein.

The rest of the day goes by quickly with spending some time at the hotel pool with a cocktail and walking around and taking in the city. At sunset we opt to go up the iglesia across from the park and see the sunset over the town. In the distance is volcano Mombacho which is known as cloud forest at top. All day even in sunny skies there is a cloud resting at the top, it makes for a dramatic backdrop of town. There is a Christmas parade going on by the locals and at night the Christmas lights showcase the palm trees. We start to feel tired from our lack of sleep the night prior and although we want to stay up and see late night culture after beers at 9 pm we find our way back to the hotel. Around 10 when we arrive back we are surprised by the lack of atmosphere in town, as during the day the streets were lively and crowded.

The next day we have is a full day in Granada and we plan to relax with the free all you can eat breakfast followed by walking around town. We go up the other inglesia Merced only several blocks north of our hotel and are rewarded with views of the inglesia we went up yesterday. The views from above are stunning with all terracotta roof tops and volcanoes in the background. We go back to our hotel and eat more free breakfast and chill by the pool with a Tona beer. In the afternoon we go on a isla tour on a small boat. There are as many isla as days in a year formed by the eruption of Volcano Mombacho. Isla life is a real thing with thousands of people living on the islas as well as everything you would find in a community such as school, church and shops. The islas are small only big enough for one family per isla and everyone has small row boats to get around. Some rich non Nicaraguan own several and come as a holiday house. A huge storm was on the horizon and slowly approached. Right as it was about to stop our tour guide pull off onto the isla of the local chicken fast food shop where we got off and waited on his isla. The boat tour was interesting seeing the local life and learning about the local birds and  monkeys.

Now we rest up on our last night here before riding to Isla Ometepe  and hiking up Volcan Conception!

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]

Lead up to Nicaragua

One week away from our departure to Nicaragua, where does the time go? We woke up to a blanket of snow and find it hard to believe in one short week we will be sweating it up on a hill wishing for a cooler night. Our run up to this trip has not prepared us with as much confidence as we had with our Asia prep. Leading up to Asia I was cycling 3 times a week to and from work and riding all weekend long in the modest English summer temperatures. Now it is winter in the northeast America where I am not cycling into work and even worst a couple weeks past I strained my back splitting wood and have been completely off exercise. Only four days ago has it recovered enough to take spin classes and yoga inside at the gym. Alex has done more with even committing to cycling in 19 degrees F, but still nowhere near the volume he was producing in England.

Thinking about this now and I am a bit concerned. I’ve planned quite an active calendar of not only cycling, but also hiking up volcanoes and mountains. There currently is very little rest opportunities if we will get to see everything I want in only 1 days. Originally the cycling was going to be more relaxed with only planning on seeing Granada, Isla Ometepe, west coast shores and Leon, but who likes just the tourist trails? Traveling before in Asia taught us how we enjoy more the non-touristy areas, but rather, the local living of the country. Even better I found that the north central region is the mountain region full of coffee, cocoa fields and beautiful and unique national parks. So our current agenda is below and should provide a fuller picture of Nicaraguan life.  My only hope is that we gain fitness the first half of the trip to make the second half, the mountain section, more manageable.

There is not as much information on Nicaragua except the main cities and really looking forward to what it brings. To have a break from our normal life an go back to simple living. Our plan is to bring two panniers, one each and a small backpack. Probably will mean two cycling outfits, one hiking outfit and a dress I can wear each night. We fixed our camera lens, having broken it in China, and will have to carry sneakers, cycling shoes and possibly sandals. Alex will look at what we need for the bikes; spare tubes, cables, pump, etc, in case anything breaks. We plan on carry some meds in case we fall victim to traveling illness, mostly concerned with water quality.

Our trip is loosely planned with an idea of where I want to go, but the details are all up in the air. And of course the possibility that we go off our schedule for whatever the reason and make a new plan once we are there. It feels like it has been too long since leaving this country and we both are ready for the mental break from the normal 9 to 5.

[adventuras-de-nicaragua]