Nicaragua and Central America wrap up

Ladies and gentlemen, as promised here is the talented and always entertaining Ross Myers and his waterfall jump (Montezuma, Costa Rica).  The French judge gave him a 6....no comment.

The last few days in Costa Rica were spent mainly in Santa Teresa soaking in the sun and playing endless hours of frisbee in the surf.  We caught some photo’s of howler monkey’s that were quite curious and made their way right into our hostel

There's no balls about it folks, this monkey is male

If you wonder why they call them howler monkey’s, just youtube them and listen.  Now that will keep you up at night!  Departing Santa Teresa we made our way back up to Liberia to stay the night as Ross was departing the next morning back to Toronto from Liberia Airport. 

The crew taking a ferry from Playa Naranjo to Punteranes

Nothing exciting about Liberia really, except for this picture I snapped in my hostel.

Somehow I don't think this would pass the safety inspection back in Canada...

So just like that Rossco was headed back home and we were headed north to Nicaragua!  We returned the rental car at the border and proceeded to cross on foot.   There is some on-going tension between Nicaragua and Costa rica due to border disputes among other things.  Also Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere (next to Haiti).  Traveling to a very poor country is relatively new to me, but I can already see that it’s kind of a double-edged sword.  On one hand it’s extremly cheap to travel (meals for $3, 40oz of local rum for $6, accommodations on the beach for $8, 30 minute taxis for $10) but you lose a lot of the infrastructure support systems that help you along the way (electricity, good roads, clean water).  It's a great way of traveling if you can pass up those things you've come so accustomed to living with.

Since arriving in Nicaragua on the 25^th we headed straight for Madaras beach, which is a 30 minute cab ride north of the main city of San Juan Del Sur on the Pacific side.  Chris spent 3 months here a few years back and had an amazing time.  The hostel we’re staying at (Matilda’s) is directly on the beach, and is run by a super friendly husband and wife team (Matilda and Antonio).  Although lacking in some of the ammenaties I’ve seen in most Costa Rican hostels (no wifi, pool, ac, eletricity often goes out for hours at a time) it makes up for in location.  Days just melt away chating with other travelers, playing with the local dogs, getting crushed by the waves or catching some sleep in a hammock.  This location also offers some of the best surf conditions in central america, so it’s easy to understand how people can spend months here.

Matilda and Antonio....I fit right in

There is also a very friendly local woman who serves up homecooked Nicaraguan food on the beach, right beside our hostel.  What else do need really?  Oh and the local beer is Tona, it has a unique finish to it that I can’t explain but don’t really care as it’s too inexpensive to matter.

We spent about 8 days here in all, and I managed to snap some pretty awesome sunset and beach shots.

Chris and Sarah doing their thing

Matilda beach - completely empty :)

So where to next?  Ometepe Island, which is smack in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (largest lake in Central America and 19th in the world). What’s the big deal about Ometepe Island you ask?  This:

Ometepe Island

On the left we have Concepcion (1610m), and on the right we have Madaras (1394m)  Both climable to the top, however after May, Concepcion often starts spewing ash so you can only ascend half way up.  So Chris and I decided on besting Madares.

Bested baby, bested

We did climb down into the crater after to check out the fresh water lake as well, good stuff.  Now I’m no rookie to hiking as I hiked the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu in 2007 (84km over 4 days), but this hike was much more difficult due to the 29 degree temperature and humidity.  It took us 4 hours to climb the 8k to the top and 3 to get down....not an easy task, but well worth it.

We also spent an afternoon hiking up to see a fresh water waterfall (56m high), and beacuse Madaras volcano isn’t active, it was ice cold which was sweet considering the ocean down here is as warm as the outside air.

A great sunset pic I snapped from the dock at the hostel.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ant-eater in the wild either....so here’s one.

And that about does it for Nicaragua and Central America.  Currently I’m on a bus watching the new Karate Kid in Spanish, with Spanish subtitles (wtf) it’s heading to San Jose where I’ll spend the night and catch a 9:30am plane tomorrow bound for Frankfurt Germany.

Things I’ll miss about Central America is the gillo pinto, awesome beaches and very friendly people.  Things I won’t miss is the power going out every 2^nd night (no ac, no fans....think about it), the bugs and having to drink bottled water instead of tap.

Sauerkraut and good beer here I come!