Apparently my post from my phone about the first two days did not make it onto the blog. I will try to upload it when I find wifi again.
Day 3 (Sat) – in the morning I did a canopy tour, which means I went on a series of zip lines in the forest. It was pretty fun. My favorite parts were 1) watching the guy ahead of me hold onto every tree, head bowed (and I assume praying) because he was scared of heights and 2) at the end you have to rappel down and I said I wanted to go “muy rapido” and they let me free fall most of the way down.
Saturday was the last day of the poetry festival in Granada. In the evening a few thousand people were sitting in chairs in the central square listening to poetry being read. There was also a panel of what may have been judges or maybe just VIP poetry fans. Afterwards there was a band and in general the whole city was a big party. I am completely incapable of moving my hips the way Nicaraguan men do, so no one was really interested in dancing with me. Don’t worry, I didn’t let that stop me from dancing.
Day 4 (Sunday) – 7:30am rolls around and I am snoring away. Hotel owner has to bang on the door yelling to get me out of bed. My kayak tour guide is outside waiting for me. Ugggghhhhhh, ok. We kayaked through some volcanic isletas in Lake Nicaragua. It was more like an episode of Cribs than Planet Earth. Many of the islands have houses on them and the rest appear to be for sale. One island is big enough for at least 4-5 hammocks and costs $100,000. Let me know if anyone wants to go halvesies on Hammock Island. We saw some monkeys on Monkey Island. I love monkeys, but it was a little less cool when we found out the 4 monkeys on the island had been kidnapped from the mainland and put on the island for tourists. While we were there 3 different boats full of fat Americans and Europeans came by. We splashed them with our paddles.
In the afternoon I went down to catch a bus to Rivas on the way to Ometepe, which is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. I went to where the bus was supposed to be and asked when it would get there. They told me they thought the last one had already left, but if there was going to be another one it would pick up around the corner. I started walking that direction and a school bus pulls out, taking a left onto my street (so going away from me). This dude running in the road next to the bus points to me and yells “Rivas?” and I say “Si, Rivas” and he points to the bus and says “Vamanos.” The bus isn’t stopping though. I literally had to run and jump on the bus. After a while the dude comes over and tells me I have to change buses. I get off at a fork in the road, he tells me to go to the other side. Hmmm. I really have no idea where I am. I am not in a town or anything. I am just on the side of the road. After a few minutes a guy walks by and I ask him if this is where I wait for the bus to Rivas. He points down the road and says something. I think he looks trustworthy so I follow the direction he pointed. Thank god. The bus picked up about 200 yards from where I was standing. I have to run to get there, same story. Bus doesn’t really stop for me and I have to sprint 50 yards and jump on. I never would have made it from 200 yards.
On this school bus there’s a little kid. He gives this long speech. Something to the effect of he has a very hard life and someone in his family is sick. He is a cute little kid and I feel sorry for him. Then he proceeds to start singing. Three songs. The kid can’t sing at all. No tune, no rhythym, but good volume. After he’s finished I give him all the coins in my pocket hoping if he earns enough money he won’t feel inclined to sing more.
I get to the ferry outside Rivas. It takes an hour to get to Ometepe. The island is surreal – two huge volcanic cones connected by an isthmus. There are a few towns, but mostly it’s just forest and beaches. From the island you can’t see the other shore. The water is really warm, probably 70 degrees. It’s odd to see the horses drinking out of it. Big watering hole.
Day 5 (Monday) – I went to see some petroglyphs, one of which depicts what is thought to be an alien visiting earth (I will post the picture when I figure out how). These stone carvings are over 1000 years old. So I guess the Scientologists are right. I spent the rest of the day at a natural spring with cool water called Ojo de Agua (eye of water). I asked this guy there where the water came from. He just goes “It’s an eye. An eye of water.” Thanks for clearing that up for me. The other tourists and I debated if it was really a spring or was pumped in from somewhere. Not that we really cared, it was great. Apparently I look ten years younger after an hour in the spring. Yeah, I more look like a beet after being out in the sun for an hour with no sunscreen.
The seafood on Ometepe is unbelievable. I eat fish or lobster or both at each meal.
At sunset I walked out into the water. It stays very shallow close to shore, even a hundred yards out it was only to me knees. The water is incredibly calm tonight as the wind has died down. The forested volcanos above the smooth lake create one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. I have decided to stay another day and hike to the top of one of the volcanoes tomorrow morning.
Sounds awesome dude. Though you haven’t posted since your unplanned volcano hike. Hope you are still alive. Keep the updates coming if you are.
-Jeff