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.