Nicaragua: Country of Lakes and Volcanoes

After acquainting myself with the highland and cloud forests in Costa Rica, it was finally time to make the leap further north, into Nicaragua. This proved easier said than done, however. Leaving La Fortuna, I found myself deposited by a kindly taxi driver on a roadside at 5.30 am, which I was assured was the place to catch the bus heading to Penas Blancas, the border town with Nicaragua. I would have preferred a visible sign of a bus stop, or shelter, or indeed anything other than curious cows, but luckily by 6 am I was joined by a Belgian couple and we were all visibly relieved at the confirmation that this indeed the bus stop. Or a giant practical joke played on tourists. The bus turned up at 7 am and we set off on a 5 hour journey along mostly dirt roads until we got to the border. Border towns in Central America are, as in many other continents, strange frontier wastelands with absolutely no signage. The onus is heavily placed on tourists to investigate each of the rundown buildings along a kilometre stretch to ascertain exactly where immigration and customs might choose to grill them about their movements before reluctantly relinquishing an entry or exit stamp. After around 2 hours of this, the Belgians and I were let loose into Nicaragua where we shared a taxi to my first stop in Nicaragua, Isla Ometepe.

Isla Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, made up of two volcanoes - Volcan Concepcion (the larger) and Volcan Maderas. On the ferry across to the island, I bumped into two Canadian girls I had last seen in San Blas, Panama. The girls were on the last two days of their holiday and had fully organised their time in Ometepe, so I jumped on their bandwagon and tagged along the next day. First up was climbing Volcan Concepcion (yes, the bigger one).

Somewhat dubious, I decided to go for it seeing as a local guide had already been organised by the Canadians. What can I say - climbing a volcano is hard work. While we didn't plan to go right to the top (as it becomes very gravelly and dangerous), we did climb two-thirds of the way, which was very steep. As is often the trouble with group activities, the girls wanted to speed up and down so we could get on to the other activities of the day, so I was absolutely shattered. While I was disappointed at the complete lack of view at the top of our climb, due to clouds, the relief at starting a descent made up for it. So, I've climbed a volcano - proof that I don't spend all my time lying on beaches!

After a day or two more on the island, I decided to head further into Nicaragua to check out the two colonial cities of Granada and Leon. With both cities founded in 1524, they have a long and competitive history relating to shipping, trade and influence, with Granada being home to the landowners while León had the more progressive merchants. Following eventual independence from Spain, fighting continued between the liberals in Leon and the conservatives in Granada, eventually resulting in the building of a third city, Managua, as the capital of Nicaragua.

Both cities are littered with stunning cathedrals and churches in varying stages of decay but attempts are of course being made to preserve these treasures. A highlight of Granada was a view point from a church spire, which showed the terracotta roofs interspersed by lush green courtyards to provide relief from the heat. Both cities are exceedingly hot, and have been dry while I have been here. Temperatures peak around 38C in the day, which the locals find refreshing against highs of 47C!

Having more than satisfied any desire I had to spend time in a city, I left Leon to begin a long journey up to the Bay Islands in Honduras, where I hope to learn to dive. I am presently holed up in a hotel in Managua before catching a 12-hour bus to Honduras tomorrow. As a city, Managua has a terrible reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in Central America, and after hearing dozens of stories of taxi robberies, I opted to hire a private driver to transfer me to Managua. So far I am very pleased I was cautious, as my driver spent 1.5 hours telling me even more Managua horror stories and was pretty jittery himself while driving through Managua! I guess I'll be spending the evening hiding out and tomorrow holed up on a bus - the Bay Islands can't come soon enough!