Nicaragua

The border crossing into Nicaragua was a lot more complicated than it had been crossing into either Panama or Costa Rica where I had simply waltzed across the border with nothing more than a thanks and a welcome if I was lucky. For me the border here was a bit of an ordeal, everything seemed to be all ok as we sailed through the Costa Rican exit process and then we approached complete chaos also known as the Nicaraguan border system.

The difference was immediate and obvious for everyone to see, everyone perhaps other than those that designed the system. Firstly there is no restricted area at the border meaning that whilst you are standing in the lines to get a stamp or even filling out the forms you have people hassling you for taxi, to change money, to buy stuff ect – really annoying when all you want to do is get the stamp. Another frustration is that you have to wait in line to get a form to fill out (or pay one of the touts to get it for you), then you have to wait in another line to get the stamp, meanwhile they open and close lines as they see fit. The cherry however was that you have to pay an entry fee to enter the country (which is fine) but when I attempted to pay it in local currency they refused it, it is not a good sign when your local currency is not accepted even in official transactions. Despite the chaos and challenges we had we managed to find our way to a bus that was headed to my next destination of Omettepe Island, formed in the middle of Lake Nicaragua when two volcanoes erupted.

The island is very picturesque with the two volcanoes dominating the landscape and almost everything else seemingly being water. The volcanoes themselves are now distinctly different with one being still active and therefore dry and the other being dormant and the lush ecosystem in the top giving birth to a rainforest and a craterial lake. The island is quite small and should be easy enough to travel but for the fact that there is only one really decent road on the island that the buses use. This left us waiting until about 7pm to check into our hotel in the pouring rain but still we arrived despite it being a long day.

The first day we decided to check out the local natural springs in the morning trying to beat out the rain that apparently arrives every afternoon at about 2pm and doesn’t stop until the morning. The springs despite the water being a fraction cold was incredibly refreshing especially as it was still quite hot during the day. The incredible thing was seeing first hand the effect of the rain with the lake simply flooded with most of the beaches on the island now underneath three feet of water. Even the walkway from the ferry is a temporary fix at the moment and the jetty on one side of the island is at the water level rather than above it. This is sad for the people of the island who had to use sandbags to stop the rising water invading their houses.

The next day we headed off to visit the waterfall on the island that is 40m high and a very nice walk through the forest to get there. The best bit was that whilst it was very hot walking through the forest (and humid as hell!) we got to have another swim in the refreshing water. The most frustrating part was however was the bus ride to get there which involved a little over 3 hours to go about 25km, such was the quality of the road made even worse by the flooding.

I had wanted to climb the volcano here but after seeing the amount of rain I decided the path would be too wet to hike enjoyably and the trek has to be completed by 2pm or else you would be very wet! The other thing was that when the rain comes the clouds come as well so the view would sadly not have been spectacular either. Instead I decide to journey up to Granada a colonial city set on the lake.

Arriving and walking through Granada reminded me a lot of Salta with the building design being very traditional but the colours being very unique and eclectic. This is one of those cities that is pleasant to simply walk around and observe the look of the city and also stroll down to the shore of the lake. The strange thing for me was that waterside there was no development at all, no bars, restaurants or even houses – quite strange given it should be prime real estate.

With my flight to Europe arriving very fast I decided to check out the nearby markets in Masaya and buy some handicrafts before I left on my long journey back to San Jose. The markets are supposedly quite famous here but didn’t seem much different to the traditional latin markets that every country seems to have. Still the crafts were quite nice and I managed to find a couple of presents. Afterwards we walked down to the lake passing by the local hearse which was a rather nice horse and carriage I've senn and had a nice view as the intense sun reflected off the surface. A couple of local beers and one last meal of ceviche provided a fitting ending to my time here as I headed towards Europe for a bit of stability and a break from constant travelling.