mureals gallery

Nicaragua misc gallery

Pictures

Finally I developed pictures, so here are pictures of Nicaragua: murals in Esteli, random placessuch as the mountain reserve where I saw the volcano errupt and Ometepe.
Of Panama there are pictures of the cloudforest on the way up Volcano Baru.

Taking a cab in Central America, the good the bad and the ugly

The good
Cabbies can be surprisingly honest. Often when I forgot to ask the price beforehand, they did not end up overcharging me. In San Jose, the only place in Central America where cab drivers use a meter, some used theirs without any argument and drove as far as I could tell straight to the destination.
I also met quite a lot awfully nice cab drivers, who ended up telling me their life stories, giving me advice about what to do in the places I was. I found this especially to be true in Panama City, maybe it was due to my Spanish improving to the point that I actually could have a conversation, though.
When I visited the Causeway in Panama City one cab driver that had driven me earlier that day waved at me merrily when he was passing in the opposite direction, which was nice.

The bad
Although some cabbies give a fair price overcharging is quite common, so it does make sense to ask a local before hand.
Another thing in Central America is that addresses are strange. Knowing a street name and the house number does not mean the cabbie will understand where you are going, street signs and signs in general are absent (if I ever have a lot of money I will donate it to Central American countries to put signs up) and addresses are referred to as "100m from that grocery store" or the like.
It does not help that the Lonely Planet sometimes finds it unnecessary to give the Spanish names of Tourist attractions or even streets and landmarks.
I had to convince one cabbie who tried to drive me to a place, but did not really know where it was to accept payment for the ride, as this was more LPs than his fault.

The ugly
When my bike broke down in Ometepe and I was walking by myself in the dark the cabbie asked three times the normal price, clearly taking advantage of my situation.
In San Jose cabbies regularly tell their passengers that the hotel they want to go to does not exist or is closed down and even go so far as to drive you to the wrong address to then hassle you to a hotel they get commission from.
One cabbie did that with us and when we pointed out that we know it did exist he pretended to call someone and then drove us to the real place, saying there are to hotels with the name (BS!) and charged us extra for the "longer" drive.

Ometepe

My time in Ometepe is a good example of the good and bad of traveling alone.

I arrived somewhat shaken, having feed the fishes on the boat (the lake is almost like a sea, and it was windy) and at the wrong place. I figured it would not make much of a difference, but boy was I wrong.
The room was so expensive, I thought they were talking in Cordoba when they were quoting dollar prices (why does everyone cite dollar prices, this is Nicaragua and I'm not from the US). I noticed when I was paying, but I thought, hey a luxury room for 3 nights, lets treat myself. Yeah, cold water, no air con I really don't know what I paid for. It was not the service. Anyway, the real downside of the place was that there was no one there. One night I was the only guest and this place was in a nature park, so no neighbours either.

This was really hard, not that I was afraid, but I felt a bit like the last human on earth. It was an effort to motivate myself to go and see something, not unlike the last three years.

However, I did not while away at the beach feeling sorry for myself, but got a bike to hunt some petroglyphs and a waterfall. The service being as it was in that place the bike was broken, namely the brakes, which I noticed after 3km, when it started going downhill. I had gone uphill for the last half an hour in the strong late morning sun and really did not feel like returning, just to probably get no or an as shitty bike.
So I went on and made it to the petroglyphs just in time for the rain. I scurried from tree to tree looking at the geometrical carvings of the petroglyphs. The view on the volcano past flowers was pretty.

When I got back to my bike a horse was fastened next to it. It was saddled and clearly waiting for its rider. I wanted to pet it, but it started showing signs of fear. Horses in Central America a poor creatures. I haven't seen where the hip bones did not show as did the ribs with a lot of them. I saw the pull carriages in the heat, carry sacks and sacks of farming products and more than once two grown people were riding on one horse. And I never saw a horse that was not afraid of me, there is none of the natural, "nammi" expecting curiosity of Icelandic horses. I wish I had had a carrot in my pocket.

Thanks to the brakes I had to walk a lot and I did not make it to the waterfall. It was getting dark quickly, which meant riding the bike started to be impossible (of course it had no lights, no lights and no brakes is a dangerous combination). At some point the bus passed me. I waved and jumped and shouted, but it did not see me in the dark. A cab did see me. The driver looked at me, broken down bike, girl walking alone in the dark and tripled the price. Sometimes it is good that my Spanish is not good enough for cursing. I decided after walking that much I can walk the rest. Some guy saw me walking and asked what was wrong. A friendly soul I thought, until he said it is a long way and he cold walk with me, putting his arm around me. Sometimes guys are not aware how creepy they can appear to women. Again, my Spanish was fortunately only good enough for a "No, go away".

After a time a farmer appeared, also on a bike, also asking me what was wrong. He shared his flashlight with me and walked with me to the local hangout of his community. There he made everyone look at the bike, trying to fix the brakes. They gave up and we all had a beer together instead, making laborious conversation about their small community and families in Las Ramos. This time I wished my Spanish was better. A middle aged couple decided to drive me and my bike home, declining money when I offered them.

This is pretty much typical for traveling alone. Days can be difficult, but I always end up hanging with interesting and friendly local people, learning more about the country than I would in a group or even one other person.
When I came back to the main town I could not face taking the ferry yet, and as I had had to wait long for the bus it was a bit late to go to Costa Rica anyway. So I got a CHEAP bed in town, went to the internet and send a " hello world are you out there" to Iceland and spent some happy time chatting to friends.
Back at the hostel after watching an amazing sunset on the lake, I met a group of thrown together travelers, who had gotten cheap but good rum. We shared stories, drunk Cuba Libres until the roosters started crowing. Maybe I was not the last human on earth after all.

Borders

just after I wrote about losing things, I lost something again. This time it was my wash-bag and at first I thought losing my toothbrush is not so wild. Then I remembered that this where I hid my spare credit card. Still, I thought I can notify the bank, not worth going back to Costa Rica for. I laid back on my bed, having retired early as I wanted to hike the volcano Baru the next day, just to sit up again.
My jewelry case was in that bag. And in that case the silver cross that used to belong to my mom. It was pretty much the only piece of jewelry she wore every day and there was no question that I would let it be lost, if I can go back to get it.
I crossed back into Costa Ricathe next day, and crossing the border I thought I could give a little insight about border crossing in Central America.

Going by foot over the border always follows the same system, one finds the immigration office of the country one comes from, gets an exit stamp, pays exit fees if applicable, crosses the border on foot, find the immigration on the other side and gets an entry stamp, again paying for tourist cards, or entry fees.
Having small dollar notes with you is handy, the money changers use a rate far from what is said on the net, but are often the only way to change currency from the country you are coming from(I was stuck with pesos all through Guatemala and finally changed then on the border to Honduras). Make sure you change after you have paid the exit fee...

Here are the borders I crossed.

Mexico to Guatemala over Rio Usumacinta
Mexico immigration is on one side of the river, Guatemala on the other. Get your passport stamped before going on the boat. As I described before the bus driver and border official extorted money from us. Slightly scary and frustrating.

Guatemala to Honduras in El Florido
Nothing special happened here, walkover border as described above. Fines were all the official fines, we got a receipt and everything. I think it was 2 dollar to leave and 3 to enter.

Honduras to Nicaragua at Las Manos
The border itself was the same as Guatemala to Honduras, nothing out of the ordinary. There was a 2 dollar exit fee from Honduras (if you go by plane this becomes 35!) and the tourist card to Nicaragua was staggering 10 dollars. I guess they need the money. We got a receipt, so it was legit.
I did meet the slowest border official in the world, instead of giving us the entrance forms to fill out (like at every other border) he filled them out himself, checking every entry three times. He even managed to stamp slowly. For some reason one does not get a stamp in the passport, but a bunch of papers.
The annoying thing about this border were the two British girls I crossed with. They complained about everything, having to wait, having to pay ("they should pay us for coming here" they said.).
When we got on the bus to Esteli I sat myself away from them, before I could say something rude.

Nicaragua to Costa Rica
This was the most stressful border, not because it is fuller than the others, but because everyone kept hassling me. As soon as I got out of the bus a tourist guide jumped on me, pulling me to the immigration, talking excitingly and pressing the exit form in my hand. Meanwhile money changers were waving wads of money at me.
After I got my exit stamp, I tipped the guide, hopeing to get rid of him, but he was replaced by a lady from the bus company, pulling me towards the bus. I was busy putting the money away I had exchanged, trying to follow her at the same time, missed a step and fell flat on my face.
Everything fell out of my hand, I was afraid for my passport for a second, but Nicaraguans are nice, everyone helped me up and was concerned I had hurt myself, passport and money all staying with me.
When I arrived at the bus I had to wait 15 min for it to leave.

On the Costa Rica side I had to buy a bus ticket back to Nicaragua to be allowed to enter, which I disgruntled me even more. The nice American lady sitting next to me on the bus told me to roll with it after all I was on holiday in a beautiful country and I can't change it anyway. I noticed I was turning into the English girls, which shut me up quickly.

Costa Rica to Panama
This is the border I will be crossing for the third time today, as just retrieved my wash-bag. And lucky it is. This border is fun, it is a free zone, which means it is riddled with malls, little shops and food stalls. The whole atmosphere has something of an amusement park, Costa Ricans and Panamians coming here to shop. And migration is quick and hassle free on both sides, border officials being used to people coming over for a day.
The ticket I had to buy in Costa Rica has been useful, to enter again into Costa Rica and also to enter into Panama, as I need a return ticket for that as well, and for some reason a ticket from San Jose (CR) to Managua (Nic) seems sufficient.

Eruption!

I seem to be cursed when in comes to volcanoes. On one hand they keep erupting when I'm in the country, on the other hand I never seem to get to see it. In Iceland a lot of times it was simply not advisable to get close to it, because of ash or floods and at other times I was not invited along when people went to look at it.

So when I woke up in the morning in Estanzuela-Tisey, a cloud forest reserve close to Esteli and was told by the other guests staying there that a volcano was erupting and they are going to look at it NOW, I ran off with them without breakfast to finally see an erruption.
But the curse keeps following me, low blood sugar together with stronger monthly pains than I have had for a long time made me almost have a dizzy spell. I sloooowly went back to the Finca I was staying in, almost threw up in front of some other guests having breakfast and decided it was time for bed and bananas. The nice owners of the Finca brought me what I think was chamomile tea and pain medication for my monthlies. I love drugs...

I felt a bit silly after I recovered, went around the Finca bit and took some pictures to relax the owners who were eyeing me as if I was about to keel over again. Understandably. After some time I made my way back to the lookout point and made it all the way up this time. It was actually only an hour easy walking, I felt even more silly. The volcano curse seemed to have passed to my camera however, it spontaneously opened up, ruining the last film I had, which is why there are no pictures from me for this post.

The cloud forest is beautiful, it is definitely my favourite type of rainforest, also because it is nice and cool there. At the lookout point I saw dark clouds gathered in the distance with frequent lightning travelling through them. It could have been a thunderstorm, but instead of intermittent thunder I could hear the constant rumbling of the erupting volcano, though it was 100km away.



Even without an eruption is the lookout point worth the walk, one can see all the way to the pacific, I got the picture from the Internet to give an idea the volcano is the one that erupted. Clouds and patches of sunlight were drifting through the cloud forests and the next morning I hiked to a waterfall without any embarrassing episodes.

Esteli

Esteli was the first town in Nicaragua I stayed in. It is quite different from the other towns I have visited, there are no old colonial structures and if there is a Gringolandia, I did not find it. And I did walk through all of the city, it is not so big and easy to navigate. The king of town you fell like owning a bicycle would be enough in terms of transport.
Or a horse. After all this is a cowboy city. Actually in the town itself one does not see people on horses, but a lot in the surrounding countryside. Horses in Central America are pityful, I saw maybe a handfull which did not looked malnutritioned and they carry loads which would have made my fat lazy donkey sit down and fold his hoofs in protest. There is evidence of cowboy culture however:





No horses and no pretty colonial houses, what is there to look at in Esteli? Quite a lot actually, it is the town I took most pictures. People love to paint on the walls in the city, it is somewhat of a treasure hunt, whenever you turn a corner there might be a mureal waiting. Styles, topics and locations vary:



Esteli was one of the towns which supported the Sandinistas during the revolution and is still one of the strongholds of the FSLN therefore a lot of the mureals are political or simply campain advertisement from the 2011 election (which the FSLN won).



Unfortunatly I could not go into the museum I wanted to go to, dedicated to the fallen of the revolution (and run by their mothers), as it was closed. I asked in the culture centre next to it (a beautiful place, pictures and music everywhere) and they said that it is pretty much open whenever they feel like it.

I did see a lot of the modern cultural live of the city, not only in the culture centre, but also going out for food and karaoke/dancing/salsa, the latter in a club which alternated between the three every 30 min, making it never boring. I went with my couchsurfing host and his flatmates and friends, they were nice enough not to make me sing.

just in case

anyone is worried, I am in Nicaragua, but nowhere near the volcano San Cristobal. I did hear the erruption from where I was and saw dark clouds and lightning, that I think must have been it. In case no one is worried about me: I will hike another active volcano tomorrow ;)

Nicaragua 10 to 16 days

Somoto 2 days
Estelí and surroundings 4 days
Jinotega 3 days
Grenada and volcano 2 days
Ompete 3 days with San Juan del Sur 5 days

Nicaragua - itinerary

a new system! from now on all italic entries are maybe destinations and all non-italic entries are quite definite destinations

after crossing the border from Honduras I might go to Somoto and hike in and around the canyon with the same name. It is a bit out of the way, though

On the road, and maybe my first stop coming from Honduras is the cowboy town of Estelí. A nice town in its own right (cowboys, yeeha!) it is also close to the Reserva Natural Cerro Tisey-Estanzuela where there are opportunities for amazing highland hiking with beautiful views and waterfalls, cliff carvings by a crazy artist and community projects. An area worth exploring

Jinotega in cowboy and coffee country is very similar to the above and a bit out of the way, but the hiking opportunities sound awesome

Grenada on lake Nicaragua is supposed to be the pretties colonial town in Central America. It is also close to the Volcanoe Masaya, where during a night trip glowing lava in the volcanoe can be seen (!) as well as parakeets nesting at the rim and bats flying out at nightfall.

From Grenada I could take a direct boat to the Island of Ompete, consisting of two volcanoes, ruins and mystery. And no ATM, so I have to remember to take money out before going there!

or I could first go to the pacific coast to San Juan del Sur and the Rfugio de Vida Silvestre La Flor to see hatching turtles, although I'm certain there will be more opportunities to do this and I'm not sure if I have to buy a ticket to San Carlos south of Lake Nicaragua in Ompete or if I have to buy one from Grenada

From San Carlos I can go by boat to Costa Rica, down the river through the jungle. :)