Day 10: The Calm Before The Storm

Two posts in one night!! Oh boy!

We have arrived at Ometepe Island!  Our shuttle driver picked us up (30 minutes late), we said goodbye to our favorite bellboy, Carlos (for whom our first child will be named after), and loaded up our 2 suitcases, 2 backpacks and 2 oddly-shaped packages of ceramics and made the 1+ hour drive to San Jorge's Port.  From there we caught a ferry with our new friend, Eric, and spent 1+ hour on the choppy waters of Lake Nicaragua. 

Ometepe Island is a body of water in the middle of the fresh water lake with 2 volcanoes, Volcan Concepcion and Madera.  We drove to Chorco Verde and ate lunch on the beach before taking the worst "guided tour" EVER around the area.  We like you, Eric, but you're supposed to tell us what we're looking at!  We went to the Oja de Agua, "Eye of the Water," a natural spring lagoon and took a dip with the locals and other tourists.  We saw the petroglyphs and idol status outside the local church.  We saw pigs, horses, bulls and passed a funeral procession that was walking and carrying the casket to the cemetary. 

We finally made it our hotel, Finca San Juan de la Isla.  It is a working farm, mostly a plantain plantation, and our room is in an old, converted cheese factory.  There are only 6 rooms total and the Finca is set 2km back from the main road - right on the beach!  Since rainy season just ended, the lake is still a bit high so the actual sand part of the beach isn't very plentiful.  They make all your meals in their onsite kitchen and have rental bikes available as well as hammocks all over the property.  Travis "checked out" a book from their little library so we're sitting on the porch reading/writing, listening to the sound of the waves, watching the fireflys dance in the yard and enjoying total relaxation.  Life doesn't suck.

By the way, the tour they signed us up for tomorrow involved a 8-10 hour hike up the volcano.  Ummmm, no thanks, we're on vacation.  I think we've managed to talk our way into a coffee/chocolate plantation tour instead...

PS. This is normal in Nica:

Day 9: Feliz Ano Nuevo!

We survived the new year's celebration and ensuing random firework display that actually started around 8pm.  The plaza wasn't as crowded as we expected but we still enjoyed watching all the action.  We slept late this morning (8am - WOW!), enjoyed our buffet breakfast and started our tour around 9:30am with Camilo.  It was a private tour and Camilo was amazing.  His English was great and he shared his life story of being adopted by a man from New Orleans when he was 16.  He comes from a very poor family so this man, who was traveling through Nica, adopted him and his brother to help them get an education.  He moved back after Hurrican Katrina and is seriously one of the smartest people I've ever met.  He gave us quite the history lesson and even related the C.R./Nica animosity to the conflict in the Middle East.  We went to the town of Masaya which is one of the few places in the world where you can get up close and personal with an active volcano.  The gaseous (CO2) smell was a bit overwhelming but the sight was amazing.  The smoke was billowing out of the crater the entire time.  We (and everyone else) had to back into the parking space "just in case something happens and we need to get the hell outta here."  There is a large cross next to the volacno because, when it erupted in 1772, the people thought it was the mouth of hell (the didn't know it was a volcano, obviously) so they baptized the mountain and the cross still stands. 

After the volcano, we stopped at a fresh fruit smoothie stand with super tall chairs.  The people spoke no English but were very friendly and the smoothies were great.  We were supposed to go to the handimarket but they were closed - apparently today is a holiday.  We went to lunch at a place overlooking the Lagun de Apolo.  It was beautiful! 

We then went to a  ceramic factory where the owner, Valentin, demonstrated how they made the ceramics.  He made it look effortless and his stuff is amazing.  We went a little crazy buying a few things but were happy to support him.  After we were dropped off at our hotel, we made the walk to a nearby chocolate factory/shop that Camilo told us about. I mostly wanted samles but the history of chocolate was cool, too.

Carving with a bicycle spoke.

Fun facts of the day:
* 70% of the Nica population is <30 years old - mostly due to poverty and lack of sexual education.
* The rest of the world likes the US more since Obama was elected.
* C.R. claims they have no army but (according to Camilo) they spend way more money on weapons than the Nica army.
* Nica is the 2nd poorest country in Central America.
* When Camilo was adopted and moved to the US, he had to get married to gain citizenship.  So he did what anyone would do.  He paid a taxi driver (who he met in the cab) $3,500 to marry him.  They're still legally married. 
* Things are way cheaper here than in C.R. so we had another 3-course meal at the Euro Cafe.  Waffle on a stick, anyone?

Day 8: Bienvenidos a Nicaragua

The staff at Trapp Family Lodge was very nice to us this morning and made sure we got our huevos revueltos before our shuttle arrived - even though the restaurant wasn't technically open yet.  Our first driver, Geraldo, was great.  He hardly spoke any English but we were able to have a great convo for most of the ride.  We made it to the border in about 3 1/2 hours after a short bano break during which the autobus wouldn't start up again and we were attacked by macaws.  Travis tried to play mechanic and whatever he did worked!

The border was sketchy, to say the least.  Lots of people, nobody looked like tourists (except us!), people with big wads of money (to exchange, perhaps?) and other bizarre sightings.  We "signed out" of C.R. and walked about 100m to get to the Nicaraguan side.  This is when our friend Geraldo handed us off to the new driver, who never introduced himself and didn't seem to like us.  We then had someone take our bag, the driver took our passports and the country of Nicaragua tried to rip us off.  It took all the espanol I could muster to ask why we gave him $40 for the $24 in taxes and didn't get any change.  After a brief debate, we were given $10 back.  We sucked up the $6 loss and moved on... to a country side that was not so pura vida.  There were school buses literally packed with people to the extent that men were hanging on to the back of the bus.  The animals did not look nearly as happy or nourished as the C.R. animals.  And the people... well, they didn't know what to make of a tourist bus.  We passed 2 volcanoes and arrived in Granada after about 90 minutes.  Our gorgeous hotel is across from the main town square, full of people peddling their goods, selling food and trying to get you on a horse and buggy ride through the city.  The city is actually quite lovely with old, colonial architecture and multi-colored buildings.  But the poverty is apparent and the whole vibe is a little less than we were expecting.  Travis is scared.  True story.  We do have an amazing balcony that overlooks the whole town center so we're sitting in our rocking chairs enjoying our pina coladas (happy hour!) and watching the action below.

We met the folks two doors down - a couple from North Carolina who have obviously been here before.  We ran into them later downstairs and they offered us their reservation at "the best restaurant in town."  We gladly accepted and walked two blocks across the plaza to El Zaguan.  Turns out it's a steakhouse.  Good thing I've perfected vegetariano.  My custom meal was nothing short of delicious.  The gallo pinto was some of the best so far - and that's saying a lot for rice and beans!  Travis had the filet mignon and says it "was the best steak I've ever had in my entire life."  It was $12 USD.  Just sayin'.  We added flan and tres leches at the end and walked home totally satisfied.  The front desk opened the bottle of vino that we bought at the liquor store around the corner so now we're waiting for the clock to strike midnight and the new year to begin...

Day 7: Zip Lining!

Oh man, my blogging is totally slacking.  Sorry!  I have so much to report on so hold tight while we get through the last week of our amazing adventure...

Today was a great day!  It started with our first non-buffet breakfast since we've been in C.R.  We went for a nature walk through Monteverde (with our friends Chris/Shannon) which was beautiful - essentially a walk through a forest.  We saw giant fig trees and avocado trees, hummingbirds, jays, lizards, tarantula holes, a wasp that kills tarantulas and spent awhile searching for the quetzal - to no avail. 

The wasp that kills tarantulas.

After our walk and coffee stop, we had a short lunch break at our hotel before our 2nd tour of the day started... zip lining!  We took one "practice" line before taking an aerial tram to reach higher ground.  It. Was. Awesome. The views were incredible, the adrenaline was rushing.  There were 10 lines total, some single and some double.  I hit my knee on the cable during the first double ride so the end of each ride scared me after that.  I took one ride with one of the workers, going backwards while he videotaped.  Best part of our trip so far! 

I'm trying to upload the zip lining video but it doesn't seem to be working... hold tight.

We met our friends for dinner in town at a place called Morphos.  The food was fantastic and we had a really good time chatting with our new amigos. 

Side note: Travis ordered meals en Espanol today and has decided he wants to learn Spanish.  We'll see...

Another side note: Our tour guide at Monteverde, Oscar, was wearing a Rocky Mountain National Park hat.  We asked him about it at the end of the tour and he said he went there in July 2010 with the local boy scouts.  Apparently Monteverde and Estes Park are sister cities.  Crazy!  We told him that we got married there and he thought that was pretty cool :)

Off to Nicaragua in the morning!