From the mountains of Nicaragua to the malls of Honduras

Our arrival into Matagalpa was quiet to say the least.  We arrived on a Sunday and everything was closed.  The town was quiet and pretty deserted really.  However, it had a nice look about it and a real local town feel, not touristy at all.

We'd found a tour company with excellent reviews on Trip Advisor so headed to the office first thing on Monday morning.  Freddie, the man behind the desk was very efficient and organised a tour of the weaving centres in El Chile for that morning.  We drove out of the town and up into the surrounding hills into the small village of El Chile.  The ladies here carry out traditional weaving and make lovely purses, pouches, bags and various other things using the fabric that they have woven. Amy and I had a go and it was trickier than it looked!  After a few purchases, we ate a traditional lunch of rice, beans and tortillas before heading for a short walk up hill to a view point.

Having a go at the weaving.

Taking in the views from the top of the hill.

We only had a short visit to Matagalpa and Tuesday saw us heading further into the mountains of the north and into the town of Esteli.  Once again another very Nicaraguan town only this one has many battle scars in the history of the civil war in the late 1970's.  We had a look around the Museum of Martyrs and Heroes which was both interesting and touching.  The stories of the people who fought for freedom and lost so much was quite saddening.

After a very cute lunch in a garden cafe, we took a taxi to a local waterfall for a swim in the pool.  Turned out to be rather freezing water though and a swim turned into a dip!  After the hike back up the hill to the entrance we were hot enough to want to jump in again, although didn't fancy the walk again!

The time had then come to leave Nicaragua and cross another border into Honduras.  The border this time was considerably easier than the last one - very short, lots of helpful people to tell you where to go and hassle free really.  We've had heaps of luck with buses in the last few days and wherever we have turned up there has been a bus that has departed shortly after our arrival.  If we'd got a connection to make then that has gone very smoothly too.  However, we thought that our luck had truly ran out when we walked into Honduras to find one single bus and a whole load of lorries.  This was not a promising sight as we wanted to get the bus straight to the capital city.  Help from the lady at the petrol station told us that we needed to get the one bus that was there and then change in the town of El Paraiso.  Our luck seemed to be still in tack!  We had almost arrived in the town when the driver stops in the middle of the road and yells 'Tegucigalpa, Tegucigalpa!!'.  Amy and I dived up and shouted 'yes!'.  Our bags were swiftly moved to the bus that was stopped on the other side of the road and we rapidly switched buses and our journey continued, going in the other direction to the destination that we wanted!!

On our initial investigations into the countries, Amy and I called the captial of Honduras 'Teg' as we had no idea how to say the whole name of the city.  It's very long and scary looking!!  However, I now love the name of the capital.  It sounds so cute and rolls off the tongue beautifully!  Tegucigalpa (teg-oo-see-galpa, have a go at saying it!!) is a pretty big, urban sprall of a city which had two purposes for us visiting.  One was to break up the journey between the border and the Caribbean coast and the other, more important reason in my eyes was to visit the mall (the thought of nice shops, air conditioning and yummy food after a while away from the western world was very enticing)!!

Brimming with excitment in the taxi on 
the way to the mall!!

Amy and I had been looking forward to the cinema, shops and Cinnabon for a couple of weeks and were delighted when we arrived in time to have from 3pm onwards at the mall!!  Ate the Cinnabon first, then shopped and final stop was the cinema to see 'Safe House' which was a fabulous film that I can highly recommend!

We left the captial the next day, all shopped out with the delicious memories of the Cinnabon fresh in out minds and headed for the Caribbean Coast once more.  On arrival at the bus station at 7.15am, we discovered that the next bus to La Ceiba wasn't until 10.30am.  Not happy about that!  There was a mini bus parked outside and the driver told us that he would take us to San Pedro Sula and put us onto a bus to La Ceiba.  He literally did mean that he would put us on the bus.  Once we arrived at the station in San Pedro I went to get off the bus and got told 'no, get back on the bus', this happened three times as I went to collect our bags as they came off the roof!  In the end, we stayed on the bus and got driven over to the other bus (which we could have actually walked to) via the petrol station first!  They were the loveliest bus drivers that we have encountered so far.

We stayed for 2 nights in a very swanky jungle lodge in the hills of La Ceiba and took a river swimming trip down the Rio Cangrejal.  Had planned on rafting again, but the water levels were too low so we opted for the swimming which turned out to be great fun!  Lots of jumping off rocks, climbing over boulders, through caves, floating through rapids and skidding down slides.  Managed to get a rather nasty bruise on my back from a fall on a rock and my knees took a few knocks as well, but it was such fun it was worth the battering!

The fresh water pool was a 
little chilly!

The main building of the pretty lodge.

This post is sent from the island of Utila which is one of the Bay Islands in Honduras.  We were supposed to be spending a week here studying Spanish, but the school that we booked with cancelled on us so we're here for just a few days.  Amy is diving and I'm off for some snorkelling this afternoon, hoping to spot some pretty fish and colourful coral!

Onwards into Nicaragua

Having left the picturesque but very expensive Monteverde behind, Amy and I took a pretty easy journey to the Costa Rican/Nicaraguan border.  The journey was a little quicker than expected and the connections of buses that we had to make went surprisingly smoothly.  The border itself was a little more confusing and I found myslef having to ask directions to the immigration office for the first time in my life.  The space of 'no mans land' was vast and there was no real path.  Anyway, having finally negociated the route, paid a little too much for the entry into Nicaragua and made it to the bus station we found ourselves ushered onto an extremely full bus heading to Rivas.  When we asked where we should put our bags and were told 'on the bus' that seemed like a bit of a joke. Lots of the buses are the American style big yellow school buses that have very narrow isles and tall backs of seats.  There was Amy and I, three bags each trying desperately to battle our way down to the back of the bus where there was a smidgen of space, without knocking out any locals with our bags. 'Lo siento' (which means 'sorry') was a word that could be heard as I passed every seat down the isle.  I was the lucky one though.  Amy has a roll mat attached to the side of her rucksack and she didn't even fit down the isle!! Once we finally arrived at the back of the bus, there was a perfect little space for our rucksacks and bags.  Luckily, when it was time to get off, they let us jump out the back door to save a repeat performance of our arrival onto the bus!

We had originally planned to head straight to Ometepe Island, in lake Nicaragua but Jo had said that a friend of hers said San Juan Del Sur was the best place that they visited in Nicaragua.  We had some spare days so decided to check it out.  Our first visit to the Pacific side of the isthmus was in someways disappointing.  We found a small, surfer town with lots of restaurants and not much soul.  The beach was pretty, but nothing compared to what we had seen on the Caribbean coasts of Panama and Costa Rica.  Our one day there was spent at the northern beaches.  The waves there were huge and Amy and I spent a good amount of the day jumping them, diving under them and generally enjoying the force of the water!  I got a little carried away with the jumping and lost my sunglasses as I got pounded by an enormous wave which submerged me and sent my glasses flying off to who knows where!

The northern beaches of San Juan Del Sur.

The beach in the town itself.

We decided that one day in San Juan was plenty so after our day of wave jumping we packed up, left and took the short journey over to Isla Ometepe. The island sits in Lake Nicaragua and is shaped like a number 8 with a volcano on each end.  The boat ride over was a little rough and I stayed horizontal for most of it!  The views as we came in were very pretty.

The island of Ometepe with the dominant 
Volcan Concepcion.

The two volcanoes on the island.

We chose an idyllic and quaint little guesthouse on the joining section of the two parts, in the middle of the island.  Playa Domingo was very nice, good for swimming in the lake and had some choices of places to eat.  We spent a day and a half on the island just relaxing and chilling out.  Nothing took our fancy as far as activities were concerned, so we just relaxed!!  It was a very nice place to do it!

Taking another, even worse boat ride back to the mainland (worse because when we came over we had a proper ferry and we missed that on the return so had to catch the locals alternative!) we headed for the city of Granada, a highlight in both our guide books I was brimming with anticipation and hoped that it would live up to expectations.

Our rather uncomfortable local boat transport.

We had planned on staying 2 full days there and ended up staying 4 days and 5 nights!!  It definitely lived up to and exceeded my expectations.  The city is just stunning to look at with colorful buildings, a lovely central plaza and old colonial style architecture at every turn.  My camera was snapping left, right and centre!  We took a stroll around the city on the first day and discovered what turned out to be my favourite aspect of the city...

There are many restaurants and cafes in Granada that look pleasant enough from the street but as soon as you walk through the door and into the heart of the places, an enchanting area is what your are greeted with.  Tranquil and well maintained courtyard gardens make for a fabulous place to enjoy your afternoon tea, lunch, dinner, breakfast or whatever you fancy really.  They all have water fountains and most play chilled music in the background. Throughout our 5 nights there, we found some truly beautiful gardens and our favorite one we ended up frequenting 4 times over the 5 days!!  It was just such a lovely surprise when you walked through the doors!

The beautiful courtyard garden 
at the Dario Hotel.

Enjoying a delicious 'batidos' in another garden.

Savouring a yummy breakfast in our 
favourite 'The Garden Cafe'.

The many beautiful buildings of 
gorgeous Granada.

We ventured out of the city for our other three days in Granada.  My guide book recommended some artesian markets in Masaya so we took the 40 minute bus ride with lots of enthusiasm for a day of tremendous shopping. However, we were sorely disappointed as the markets turned out to be pretty average, selling a lots of what looked like mass produced souvenirs and nothing that was really eye catching or unique.

The best day trip was to Laguna de Apoyo.  A trip run through the excellent 'Hostel Oasis' where we were staying took us to this gorgeous lake.  We had use of the hostel there and found it very easy to while away the day by reading on the sun lounges and taking a refreshing dip in the lake.  They had a pontoon so we jumped off that and played around in the large rubber ring. Half past three came around all too quickly that day and neither if us wanted to leave the beautiful lake.

Hanging out on the pontoon in the lake.

Enjoying floating on the tube!

A lovely vista of Laguna de Apoyo.

Our final day was spent eating breakfast in our favorite cafe and having a bit of pampering in the form of a pedicure (at the very cheap cost of 5 pounds!) in the morning.  In the afternoon we took a cycle ride and boat trip out to the Isletas, on the shore of Lake Nicaragua.  They are as series of about 400 little islands that are close to the shoreline of the lake.  The islands are privately owned by rich people!  We stopped off at Monkey Island to watch the monkeys frolicking in the trees and climbed to the top of the fort for sunset.  It was a really nice boat ride although the best way to describe our tour guide was 'eccentric'.  She didn't stop talking and broke out into song at various points throughout the tour!

Views across the bay with the volcano 
in the background.

Once again, bicycles feature in the 
fun that we have!

Sunset over the Isletas, from the top 
of the fort.

The hostel that we had been staying in was really spacious, friendly, had heaps of free movies to watch and had a welcome swimming pool to cool off in the heat of the day.  Friday night turned into a pretty eventful night there.  I was awoken at 11.30pm by heavy rain pounding relentlessly on the tin roof and showers of water leaking into our room.  I popped out to the toilet and as I walked back down the corridor, I realized that the kitchen and dining area was totally flooded.  Also, to my alarm, the water was advancing in our direction at a rapid speed!!  By 11.45 the water was not only leaking from the roof onto our beds but seeping under our door and showing no sign of receding.  Amy and I frantically threw everything back in our backs, whipped everything up from off the floor, cleared the cabinet top in-between the beds and created a tower of our bags on the other small table by the window.  By the time that we had successfully cleared the floor, the rubbish bin was floating and our feet were submerged below the water!!  At about 12.15am the rain subsided and the water drained out of our room.  We woke in the morning with no sign that there had been any flooding at all!

Our tower of bags after the rapid 
midnight repack!!

So far we have found Nicaragua to be a bit cheaper, which is good!  Having had a fabulous 4 days in Granada, it was time to pack up again and head into northern Nicaragua and the town of Matagalpa.

The final days of Costa Rica

We had high hopes for Volcan Arenal having read that it was the most active volcano in Central America and according to the guide book can frequently be seen steaming and potentially with lava flowing.  However, on arrival in La Fortuna, after a hassle free private transfer took us from Tortuguero, we discovered that the volcano has not been active in the last 18 months and is currently 'sleeping'.  The was rather a disappointing discovery, but we had exciting plans for the next few days no the less and were hopeful that we would be the 50% of visitors who actually get to see the volcano clear.

We opted for an early morning guided hike to the base of the volcano on the first morning and as well as giving very pretty views of Lake Arenal, it turned out to be a highly education geography lesson about volcanoes.  Our guide Edwin was so unbelievably knowledgeable and told us incredibly amounts of information about the formation, history and functions of the volcano.  I always loved geography at school and was totally engrossed.  The hike was really like a stroll in the park but the rewarding views of the lake and the old lava flows were really worth it (sadly, the top was extremely cloudy).  Turns out that this volcano has solid lava.  I didn't even know that was possible!!

Views across Lake Arenal. 

Standing on the old lava flow, 
cloudy Arenal behind.

Amy and I were in the mood for a serious hike the next day so after visiting the La Fortuna waterfall with Jo, we headed up the large hill of Cerro Chato. We had been told that it was the 'extreme' hike of the area and very tough. We were initially lulled in a false sense of security as it was pretty mellow to start, a gradual incline and easy terrain.  However, after 1.3km the hard stuff started and my goodness me did it get steep!  Our pace of walking slowed considerably and our heart rates increased considerably!  The effort and excursion was worth it though as the views from the top were spectacular.  We timed it perfectly as just as we got to the view point above the lake the volcano cleared totally and we could see the two peaks.  We made the even steeper scramble down to the lake, taking care not to slip or fall.  A dip in the cool lake was a welcome refreshment from the heat of the day.  The whole hike was really great and with stunning, clear views of the volcano it made it perfect.

Sweaty, muddy but extremely 
pleased we made it to the top!

Volcan Arenal, dominant and clear
above Lake Cerro Chato.

Views of the volcano from the main 
street in La Fortuna.

We left La Fortuna after 3 nights and took a very scenic and relaxing jeep-boat-jeep transfer across Lake Arenal to Monteverde.  During the short ride across the lake, we were once again blessed with a clear volcano top so the camera was being furiously snapped to try and get the perfect shot.  The journey on the other side of the lake gave us what is so far my favourite view of the whole trip.  The green hills rolled in perfect patterns, a little farm was positioned exactly in the ideal spot and in the centre of the shot, looming behind everything was Volcan Arenal.  The sight took my breath away because it was just so beautiful.

Taking in the views on the boat ride
across Lake Arenal.

Our final, stunning view of the
volcano from the otherside 
of the lake.

Arriving in Monteverde we found a small, touristy town with restaurants, cafes, hotels and of course numerous tour operators wanting to get you booked onto their offerings.  Our hotel was super friendly and we booked all our activities through them.

All three of us are cheese fans so we booked a tour of the Monteverde Cheese Factory.  This turned out to be an ok tour which was made infinitely better when they brought us lots of cheese to taste!  We decided to walk back the Santa Elena from the cheese factory as the taxi ride there had shown us that everything was much closer than we thought.  A stop in a cute bakery and a few local craft shops filled the afternoon.

Next day was pretty busy from start to finish.  Jo was not keen on a zip line tour so we opted for the more tame Hanging Bridges.  These are a series of pathways through and aerial walkways suspended above the cloud forest.  It was a very tranquil walk where we managed to spot a lovely electric blue dragon fly and a coati just mooching around the bridges. 

Amy and I stopped off at the Hummingbird Garden on our return to the entrance area and were treated to a marvellous sight.  The garden was secluded with pretty coloured tables and stools.  Feeder stands dotted around the small garden attracted the hummingbirds.  I've never seen a hummingbird before so was keen to see some.  Some was an understatement!!  There were LOADS of hummingbirds in the garden.  The darted and whizzed around at unbelievable speeds, brushing close to us and hovering magically in the air around the feeders.  Their distinctive sound was all around the environment and the vibrant colours of their feathers shone in the bright sunshine.  We stood, watched and photographed for a while, enjoying being in the presence of these gorgeous little birds.

Enjoying the relaxing stroll
through the forest.

Feeling on top of the forest on one
of the highest bridges!

One of the most vibrant
hummingbirds in the garden.

The next morning was an extremely early start and the unfortunate event of having to say goodbye to Jo.  After three amazing weeks of travel have passed so quickly, Jo has to return back to work in London.  It was so sad to say goodbye to her and I so wish that she was continuing with us into Nicaragua. 

We did the hugs and goodbyes and Amy and I headed for the ticket office to buy our tickets for the next stop on this wonderful adventure with mixed feelings of sadness and excitement all rolled into one.  We headed to Nicaragua in search of cheaper fun as Costa Rica and Panama have burned a rather large hole in our wallets!!

The trail of the Caribbean coast

It´s been a week of sand, sunshine and unfortunately horribly sticky humidity.  We left the tranquil mountains of Boquete and headed north to the Caribbean coast and the town on Bocas del Torro.  The drive was really pretty and scenic, through little farms, rolling hills and quaint villages.  A final boat ride out to the archipelago of Bocas del Torro finished out journey.

The town of Bocas was a bit of a ramshackle place with scruffy looking buildings and surfing dudes rambling along the streets.  Half of the buildings lined the wide main street with the other half hanging out over the water on stilts.  We had two days there and were keen to escape the town as non of us were very impressed.

Day one was spent out on a boat exploring the bays and national marine park.  We had been promised a wonderful sounding trip and ended up a little disappointed as we spent a lot of time waiting around.  However, what we saw was lovely and made up for the delays in boats.  Snorkeling proved to be fun, although the visibility was low.  The colours of the coral were really vibrant and weird and wacky coral formations lined the ocean floor.  Wide, bumpy tubes in deep purple and bright turquoise rose up and in some ways looked like futuristic Christmas trees with other coral draped around like tinsel.  I could have spent ages, just floating on the water as there is always something interesting to spy wherever you look.

Back on the deck it was lunch time and a delicious picnic that we had brought filled us up after all the snorkeling.  The stop after lunch was to Red Frog Beach.  So named because you can see poisonous red tree frogs there.  The beach was rugged and wild with strong waves and currents.  Flanked along the shore was tropical rainforest with overhanging palms waving in the breeze.  It was different from the beaches of San Blas and truly a beautiful place.  A quick dip just a little way in to the sea cooled us form the stifling humidity of the day.  Heading back to the boat, we spotted some lazy sloths in the trees just hanging out.  I love sloths, they are just so cute!

The extremely cute sloth hanging 
out in the tree tops!

The small, but highly poisonous red tree frog.

Red Frog Beach

The second day in Bocas was quite busy.  Amy and I took a chocolate tour in the morning back on the main land which was so fascinating.  They took us around a chocolate farm and told us all about how the chocolate is made and went through all the processes.  The best bit was tasting the most delicious chocolate at the end.  We had watched the beans being roasted, ground into a paste and then melted over an open fire.  It was all 100% organic and oh my goodness me....it was sooooooo yummy!!!!  Back down at the bottom of the farm we were treated to a local lunch of the leaves and roots from one of the plants that we had seen growing on the farm.  That was really good too, although not as good as the chocolate!!

Believe it or not, this is how 
chocolate begins.

Preparing to eat the most heavenly 
chocolate I will probably 
EVER taste!!

In the afternoon we decided to hire bikes and head to Playa Bluff.  It was an 8km cycle along the main road so not too much of a challenge.  The journey there was half the fun.  It was road for most of it, but then turned to a seriously sandy road where you needed your wits about you in order to stay on the bike!  Our journey was interrupted when Amy got a puncture but we returned to town, changed bikes and set off again.  The rain decided to descend upon us so we were rather wet when we arrived at Playa Bluff but were greeted with yet another pristine beach and this one was deserted!  Sadly, our time there was short as the light was fading and we knew that we had the challenge of the sand road.  The rain was heavier and distant rumbles of thundered filled the sky.  Needless to say that we peddled home rather faster than we peddled out!

The girls and the bikes!

Playa Bluff, Bocas del Torro, Panama

It was time to leave Panama after Bocas and head north along the Caribbean coast into Costa Rica.  First stop was the touristy town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca.  Renowned for amazing beaches, good surfing and a laid back feel, it was a must stop on a trail along the coast.  We were not disappointed with what we found.  Quaint little streets were filled with nice shops selling their wares and the beach stretched for miles.  We decided to rent bikes and head further along the coast to the Punta Uva beach.  This was similar to the beaches of Bocas with the jungle running along the sand.  The obligatory dip in the sea turned into an hours float and wave riding as once again the humidity had worn us down.  The pretty cycle ride home through the jungle was broken up with a delicious milkshake and afternoon piece of cake in the cute little chocolate cafe along the side of the road.

The scenic road from Puerto Viejo to Punta Uva.

Amy and I having a cool off in the 
Caribbean sea at Punta Uva.

With rather sore bottoms from two days of riding bikes, Amy and I headed out in search of more adrenaline fun in the form of whitewater rafting.  I´ve rafted many times, but it was Amy´s first go and my goodness me, what a good river to start on.  The scenery on the Pacuare River was some of the best that I have ever seen.  The virgin rainforest forest grew wild along the banks of the river, birds flew over head and waterfalls gushed and trickled into the river at various different spots along the way.  The rapids were fun too with some exciting grade 4´s and a lot of fun grade 3´s.  Top the day off with a scrumptious lunch (I am always amazed at what they manage to bring in for us to eat on a raft!) by the side of the river and it really was a perfect day.  I just love whitewater rafting, can´t say anymore than that!

Looking like I´m about to take off 
through the rapid!

One of the many waterfalls along the 
gorgeous Pacuare River.

Our final stop on the Caribbean coast was in Tortuguero.  Our usual form of transport around the countries is public buses, however, we were travelling over Easter so booked a private transfer from Puerto Viejo to Tortuguero.  This involved a car then a boat.  We were under the impression that taking a private transfer would be easy and hassle free.  It turned out to be anything but and we were completely messed around from start to finish.  However, we did arrive in Tortuguero on time so even with the hassle, we did get from A to B.

The only reason for taking the 4 hour boat ride along the Tortuguero canal is to hope that you are lucky enough to spot a sea turtle laying eggs along the beach at night.  There are 4 of the 8 species of sea turtle that lay their eggs on the beaches of Tortuguero throughout the year and at the moment it is the season of the Leatherback turtle.  We had a guide that took us out at 10pm and we walked for what seemed like miles along the beach, in the dark, without a torch.  With no sign of a turtle anywhere, feeling rather disheartened and very disappointed, we headed back inland off the beach and walked along the airstrip back in the direction of the town.  About 5 minutes later, there was a phone call, followed by an exclamations from the guide of ´RUN, RUN!´  A turtle had been located and was in the process of covering her nest of eggs before heading back into the sea.  Running was certainly tricky in almost 100% humidity, on sand and in the dark but luckily we made it in time and were rewarded with the astonishing sight of the huge female leatherback turtle meticulously covering her next of freshly laid eggs.  Mother nature really is an amazing thing.  We stood close, but behind so that she could not see us.  The force at which she moved the sand was so powerful that at one point, she had buried my feet from flinging so much sand behind her!!  When she was content with her work, she hauled herself back over the beach and floated off on the waves back into the sea.  Experiences like that are things which are so very special and that you rarely forget.

Leaving the Caribbean coast behind us and hopefully the horrible humidity we have headed inland to La Fortuna and the stunning spectacle that is Volcan Arenal.  The most highly active volcano in Central America.  We are here for a few days and hope to see something exciting from the volcano!