Nicaragua, Backing Down A Volcano

I had heard a lot of good things about Nicaragua so I was excited to get there.It seems as if tourism is just starting to notice Nicaragua. There was enough there that one could find guesthouses and backpacker's hostels but it wasn't overrun with tourists YET.

Close to the border with Costa Rica on the shores of Lago Nicaragua (Lake Nicaragua) is a huge wind farm with these massive wind turbines. It was a pleasure to see them. Also the roads improved upon entering Nicaragua but the difference in wealth (or lack thereof) was noticed almost immediately.

That is Tankita next to one of the wind turbine blades. The writing in Spanish translates to English as "Amayo Wind Consortium, First Wind Farm in Nicaragua, 30 turbines with a nominal capacity of 63 MW, Power Generating and protecting the environment" (original Spanish text-Consorcio Eolico Amayo, Primer Parque Eolico en Nicaragua, 30 Aerogeneradores con capacidad nominal de 63 MW, Generando Energia y protegiendo al medio ambiente)

It is difficult to tell but this is a photo of all the bugs that were in the air along the road near the wind farm. I took a photo of the ground so there was a backdrop to see them against. I couldn't figure out what they were but they were thick for about a mile. I just kept my sunglasses on and my mouth shut and fortunately they seemed to just brush by with out sticking on my sweat soaked skin too badly.

Lake Nicaragua with a view of the island of Ometepe made up of two volcanoes.

This lake might be changing very soon. I was in Nicaragua at the time the Chinese and Nicaraguan governments shook hands on a deal that had been in the works for a long time to build a new canal much like the Panama Canal through Nicaragua. The canal will stretch from one side of the country to the other utilizing Lake Nicaragua for a big portion of it.

Proposed canal through Nicaragua.

Map of the island of Ometepe with the larger volcano of Concepcion on the left and Maderas on the right. From Wikipedia-"Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ome (two) and tepetl (mountain), meaning two mountains. It is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua as well as the largest volcanic island inside a fresh water lake in the world." I was told about this island from another cyclist. He said it was highlight of his visit to Nicaragua. Orange lines indicate where I took the two different ferries to/from the island, the black and blue lines are where I rode Tankita, the green line is where I hiked up the volcano with two other travelers.  We rode a bus to get to the volcano and hired a van to take us back to the organic farm where we were staying after the hike.

The ferry to Ometepe.

Tankita snuggled in on front right of the ferry.

This is one way to walk your cow.

Route of evacuation to Puerto Las Brisas, community San Jose del Sur-Las Cruces. I love the little volcano on the sign!

Horses were super skinny in Nicaragua and there were a lot of them. Nicaragua seemed to have more flies than any of the other countries I went through. It was weird. They bothered me when eating like pesky mosquitoes. I don't know why there would be more flies here as there didn't seem to be more livestock than other places, just more horses.

Herding cows by bike.

I had lots of views of Concepcion Volcano on my ride around the island. I hadn't yet planned on hiking it at this point.

The clouds at the top aren't just clouds, the clouds are mixed with gases and steam from the steaming fumarole at the top of the volcano. .

Mostly there were regular houses on the island built with cement but there were a few basic huts that people lived in like this one.

On the ferry going across Lake Nicaragua I met a cool couple from Brazil who told me about an organic farm called Finca Ecologica El Zopilote (Zopilote means buzzard) that has a hostel. It sounded like a great place to stay so I rode around the island to get to it. This bus is the gift shop that sits near the road at the entrance to the organic farm. Notice the artsy metal work on the windows. See more about the farm at their website http://www.ometepezopilote.com/TheFarm.html

They told me I should leave Tankita locked up at the bottom of the entrance to the organic farm because I was informed it would be a rough hike with a bike. But I didn't want my bike 1000 feet from me parked down at the bottom of the hill. And it would mean I would have to hike up most of my belongings anyway, so I once again went "trekking with bici" (see Chile/Argentina blog posting)

The trail did get a little steep at some points and I was feeling all 135 pounds of Tankita while pulling her up the hill but at least I only had to do it once!

Ahh, the reward at the top-joining some other travelers on the bamboo lookout for a beer.

More howlers at sunset as seen on the grounds of the organic farm.

The Italian organic farm owners practice permaculture so the plants they are farming are mixed in with the local natural growth making for a beautiful view over the natural jungle setting to the other lookout (small blue roof in middle of photo).

The restaurant at Zopilote where all of their organically farmed food is served. Although Nicaragua has its own currency-the Cordoba, the organic farm listed prices in and accepted American dollars and then converted to the price in local currency for those who wanted to pay with Cordobas. The menu stated it was the only way to keep prices from having to be changed often with the ever fluctuating Cordoba.

The restrooms which were compost outhouses.

There was an option to camp for the same price ($3) as sleeping in a hammock. Since it was the rainy season I opted for the hammock under a roof for the six nights I spent there.

The upstairs was a "cabin" for rent but the downstairs featured about six hammocks and six wire cage lockers for valuables.

They cooked pizza in a clay oven on certain nights of the week. This pizza was really good and the ingredients were all fresh from the farm.

In trying to keep the farm really natural looking they utilized stones and natural products in the buildings and paths wherever possible.

The sign picturing a frog (rana) dancing to techno music from big speakers marks this pond where there were a bunch of frogs that croaked very loud at night. It was hard to spot them but one night I investigated with my head lamp and got a good video of the small frogs and recorded the noise they put out but I can't seem to upload it to this blog very easily-it jams up when played.

I had met Filip one afternoon at the lookout at the hostel and he told me he and another traveler, Johanna, were interested in hiking the big volcano. Filip told me they were going to hire a guide because the information at the hostel said a guide was required and that the hike required medium to high expertise. He was sure it was necessary to have a guide to not get lost. He heard that there were a lot of different paths up the volcano and one could easily get lost. I was convinced having a guide was a waste of money and that it would change the experience. I argued that it was a conical volcano and if we got lost we just had to go up to find the summit or down because we would eventually end up on a road on the island. At first Filip didn't trust my judgement but then conceded when he found out about the bike trip that I was currently on by myself. We then talked Johanna into agreeing to go without a guide. I was happy because I wanted to have someone to hike with but I didn't want to go with them if it meant hiring a guide.

We caught a bus at 5:45am to the start of the trail.This sign pointed in the opposite direction of where we were heading. Concepcion has been erupting steadily for the past 10 years

This was breakfast before the hike, yummy organic wheat bread, cheese, avocados, and hot sauce. We carried more of the same with us to have for lunch at the top.

The dogs thought breakfast looked yummy too.

On the trail leading to the base of the volcano we saw this guy throwing avocados that he just picked down to a guy catching them on the ground.

Training to be a flyball catcher?

And there were monkeys in the trees along the trail too.

Once we got to a certain elevation the clouds started closing in on us and our hike to the top was in dense fog and then heavy rain.

The summit and looking at the crater through the mist.

Filip and I went to the top first. The mist and wind at the top was cold but the pebbly ground was warm which allowed us to keep warm enough to hang out and get some photos.

Leaning over the edge of the crater at almost a mile high (5249 feet/1600 meters).

I wish we could have seen in to the crater better but the weather just wasn't cooperating.

Back at the treeline Filip bandaged up his shin. He took a little fall at the top in the scree and cut it open. I had a pared down medical kit with me for the hike. We ate lunch, changed into dry clothes, and headed down.

Filip and Johanna happy to be on the trail on the way down. We had to hike through these big plants for about 1/4 of the way. I thought they would make good umbrellas but it rained too hard for them to do us any good.

The plants weren't exactly hospitable at the stems.

The trail was very steep in many places. I had no problem on the way up but on the way down my knees started giving way under my weight. I felt like I was going to step down hard and end up on my face in the ground. I grabbed a stick first chance I got and used it for a support but that didn't even help. Johanna and Filip were very patient with me walking slowly. I finally found that I could go down the steep parts a lot faster and with less risk of ending up jamming up my knees by stepping down backwards. By lowering myself backwards at each step I was able to have control of the impact on my straight leg.  I have hiked a lot of very steep mountains before and I never really liked the down part of a hike because of the impact on the knees but I never had them go rubber on me and fail like they did that afternoon. I had heard that when a person spends a lot of time doing one type of exercise (cycling) that the muscles for the other types of exercise (walking) weaken. It was true that since Bolivia I really hadn't done much hiking and I really hadn't even walked that much. When I was in different towns or at my camp it was never very far to walk anywhere I wanted to go so I think I may have really handicapped myself from only riding my bike for so long. It sure seemed like it that day anyway and I would rather believe that than to think it was just because I am getting old and the hike was too strenuous!

We had a little bit clearer view on the way down once we broke out of the clouds. In the distance is Volcan Maderas.

This nice man was waiting for us to come down off the mountain. The mountain land where the trail goes through is owned by him so he collects a fee for using the land. I don't know how regulated he is by the government but he did tell us when we arrived at the official trail head that we were required to have a guide. He told us we could join the guide that was ahead of us with another group (wink wink). That way he stays out of trouble for not stopping us when we didn't have a guide and still gets to collect the fee. At the end of the day he had actually started walking up the trail to find us as it started getting dark and then walked back down with us the short distance to the trail head where his horse was waiting. I asked him if I could ride his horse out to the highway where we would try to hitch a ride and offered to pay him. He got me up on the horse but never told me a price. I thought he would rake me over the coals when it came time to pay but he refused any money and helped us find a ride (paid) back to the hostel. I paid the $20 USD cost of the transport because it was my fault for slowing down the group causing us to reach the highway late and missing the opportunity to hitchhike. It was pitch black on the highway and there were very few cars. We realized that if nothing else, having a guide would have meant having planned transportation for the return trip and/or a person with a cell phone with contacts of people who could provide transportation last minute. I still don't regret not having a guide! As ol' Frank Sinatra would say "I did it my way..." but I was sore for two days! I would love to return to Nicaragua and climb some more volcanoes!

Laundry day at the lake.

They called this a nacatamal or nacatamale-a little different version of a tamale more or less.The red drink is a cold tea made from Hibiscus flower pedals called Jamaica (pronounced with the "j" as an "h" as in Ha-my-ka.

I stayed in this room in the back of a woman's house in the port town in Puerto San Jorge on Lake Nicaragua. Places like these are called casa particulares which is a private house which rents rooms. I was directed to this one by the worker at a hotel in the area which was too expensive for my tastes. Often the casa particulares are not marked and I just had to ask around for casa de Tina (house of Tina) to find this one. It was 200 Cordobas ($8USD) and had a bathroom and shower in the room. Usually when I was asking for an inexpensive room I was directed towards a touristic hotel/motel since I am a gringa. If I wanted to find a real basic local place it was necessary for me to ask for a casa particular directly or to really stress that I want something "muy basico" or very basic otherwise they assume higher end is what a gringa would want in spite of seeing that I am traveling on the cheap on a bicycle!

I arrived in Granada on a Sunday when the streets were super quiet and everything was closed up. It was kind of spooky.This photo is the next day when there was some life on the streets.

A lot of times in South and Central America it is difficult to tell what a particular building houses unless there is a portable sign out in front of the place that the workers put out front when they open the store. Many doors don't have any outside permanent signs or the doors are rolled shut in front of the signs. Often residential houses share walls with shops.

Small park in Granada.

I really liked Granada. It had some quaint buildings, restaurants, and shops.

Burrito lunch in Granada.

Historic buildings in the main square.

The post office was quite small and very casual. I did mail a postcard from here and it made it to the USA,

There was some touristic aspects of Granada like the horse drawn carriages but it wasn't overrun with tourism.

I haven't even included all the photos I took of the different big churches in Granada, they were everywhere!

Granada sits on Lake Nicaragua and this is the "promenade" on the lake.

Snow cone vendor shaving the ice for my snow cone (raspado or raspadilla in Spanish).

Do you think they need a permit to sell from a cart on the street?

This is a bumper sticker I was happy to see. It translates to "I am Grenadian I'm not throwing garbage in Lake Nicaragua."

The South and Central plumbing wonders never cease to amaze me.

My volcano hiking companion Johanna had told me about this hostel called Paradiso Hostel on Lago Apoyo (Lake Support). I started to wonder if I had made the right choice to go to the hostel when I had to descend into the crater-like lake on Tankita because I knew it meant I had to ascend that same hill to leave. This was the view from the dorm room. The dorm room had three normal walls and the fourth wall made of screen, so this view of the lake was seen right from anyone's bed. I knew I made a good choice then and in order to make it worth that grueling ascent I would face when leaving, I stayed 4 nights hanging out on the beach, swimming, relaxing, and reading.

 The hostel had been recently purchased by three French people who had started as workers there and then decided to buy it. It was a super nice location, well run, and the food was good. A dorm bed was $10 USD.

Wildlife on the lake at the hostel.

I was lucky enough to see this Guardabarranco which another backpacker told me is the national bird of Nicaragua.

View from the private beach owned by the hostel.

Anne and I in the beachfront restaurant at the hostel. Anne is a school teacher in Minnesota who was on her summer vacation and taking lessons in Spanish at the hostel. It turned out that a guy I worked with in Antarctica used to be a neighbor of hers! Small world!

I met Darina (American) at the hostel and she was on a huge trip herself. She was backpacking for several months already when I met her and was still in  South America last time she wrote (November 2013).

View of Lake Apoyo from the hill I had to climb up after leaving the lakeside hostel. It was 2.5 km of what I think was the steepest climb I had on the whole bike trip. I gained 446 feet (136 meters) in 1.5 miles. The climbing didn't end there as I continued a gradual climb most of the day until I descended into Managua that evening. My gain was the most gain I had in Central America in one day-2697 feet (822 meters) with most of it done within 32 miles (51 km). I briefly felt like I was in South America again!

View overlooking Lago Apoyo in the other direction where Granada and Lake Nicaragua can be seen in the distance.

Granada zoomed in from afar.

Different varieties of bananas called platanos in Spanish.

A change from seeing people playing only soccer (called futball in Spanish but pronounced like our football). I didn't see anyone playing baseball anywhere else on my trip except here but a traveler told me it is popular in other countries in Central America too.

Not such a bad room in a small barrio in Managua...

...as long as I didn't look up at the bathroom ceiling. But at 5:30 pm on the outskirts of a huge city like Managua with the sun going down, beggars can't be choosers.

Hey, what do you know, another perfectly shaped conical volcano! Central America was full of them.

Election time. Translates to "We keep changing Nicaragua! You'll win! More victories! With all and for the good of all!"

One of the many people (mostly men-shouldn't they have tools?) who I helped on the side of the road because I carried any tools anyone ever needed! This guy was a little intoxicated I think. He kept repeating himself and he was trying to keep me there talking after I fixed his flat tire.

The guy from the photo above was super hard to understand but he insisted on writing me this note before I left. Desconocida was a new word for me so I looked it up. It can mean a variety of things but I believe he meant it as the female version for "stranger" or "foreigner" which means this phrase combined with what he had written on the flip-side translates into "To my friend for my foreigner love." If anyone knows drunken Spanish better than Google Translate let me know what this means!

This $10 USD room in a quaint hotel was in the city of Leon.

Hotel lobby in Leon.

I had heard Leon was a nice city from fellow travelers and I liked it but not as much as Granada but for no particular reason.

The main square in Leon.

As in most of the Latin American countries that I visited it seemed that family is very important to people. In the evenings many families gather in the town squares and just relax or socialize there. The people in Nicaragua seemed slightly more friendly to me than in other Central American countries. I always said hello to people on the road and in towns but was often the first one to do so. In Nicaragua strangers sometimes said hello to me first. I always notice that as I believe it says a lot about the friendliness of the people.

Breakfast of champions for my ride out of Leon.

My last day in Nicaragua. I thought I was destined for this rainstorm ahead but I managed to get to a room on the border before  it hit.

This is a map of my route through Nicaragua corresponding with the last photo for this posting in Somotillo, Nicaragua. As usual the orange line indicates where I rode my bike and the black line indicates where I used other means of transport.

I really liked Nicaragua and the people. I didn't make it to the beach in Nicaragua but I heard it was also nice. It is possible to do everything in Nicaragua that you can do in Costa Rica but for a fraction of the price and competing with far fewer tourists.

This blog post brings you up to date on my travels until July 3rd, 2013.

Photos and blog posts to come:

Honduras/El Salvador-Hot God and Surf's Up!

Guatemala-Seen One Volcano, Seen 'Em All

Eureka, Mexico! No, Wuh-ha-ka, Mexico!

North to Alaska and total bike trip statistics