Heading Home

Nanette:

Our visit with Bermania in Managua was something were thought might not happen as the address she gave us seemed quite imprecise.   Carratera Norte, km 8, next to Subasta pharmacy.  Well, I guess it was precise enough because we found the pharmacy but there didn't seem to be any place next door where someone might llive. The people at the pharmacy sent me to the hotel next door and they were good enough to call Bermania for me.  Within minutes she and Brian were greeting us and directing us to their home.  It was right next to the pharmacy only it was behind  a tall wall with a closed gate. 

Birmania, Brian and Cesar

We were pleased to meet Brian's father Cesar and spent a few hours relaxing (some more than others) here as our flight was quite late.  Luckily for us Cesar was able to borrow a car and drive us to the airport so we  avoided the hassle of getting a taxi once again. 

Eileen decided to take another week of vacation and stayed in Florida to visit with friends.  I came home to the cold...Brrrr!! 

Eileen had a bit of a nap

Cattle truck on the way to Managua

A comfy hammock in the living room

Laguna de Apoyo

Laguna de Apoyo

Nanette:
Well, and isn't this a fabulous place to be spending our last couple of days in Nicaragua?
After a day in Masaya to visit the volcano and do a bit of shopping at the market, we bused down to the bottom of this crater to  the Paradiso Private Hostel.  The name is justified because it is a little slice of paradise for sure!  Hot sun, a stiff breeze, shady places, and wonderful, warm water to swim in... who  could ask for more?

The beach palapa

Eileen on an upper terrace

Such a relaxing spot!  Use of kayaks was included in the price of the dorm so we went out a couple of times.  It was in no way easy going. The wind is fierce and I, for one, felt like I could paddle all day and never make a bit of progress.  Eileen is a strong paddler and was often far ahead of me.  I must say, though, that it was fun to be riding the waves!  We managed to get out the second time just after sunrise when the wind was not yet up and got ourselves halfway across the lake before having to turn back.

Our mostly empty dorm



View from my bed

Sunrise

Ahh... such sorrow to have to leave!  Met a fellow Canadian, Jeremy, from Ontario who offered to drive us in his rented truck to Managua.  What a treat!  No buses or taxis to have to figure out.  Jeremy first took us back to the market in Masaya so we could pick up a few things then it was on to Managua to drop in on Birmania and Brian for a short visit.

First class chauffeur



Nicaragua - Land of active volcanoes

Nanette:

Nicaragua is filled with volcanoes, both active and not.
While we were in Masaya, we visited one of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes, Volcan Masaya, which erupted just a wee bit in 2008.  Check out this footage!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaChWgbn18Y&feature=related

Cars must park facing out for a quick get away.  We were up at the very same spot where this video was shot.   Only noxious sulphur billowing up on the day we were there.  They say that in 2001 there was an eruption that threw out a boulder which crushed a car in the parking lot (couldn't find any video of that)

There are actually 3 craters within a short hike of each other and we had a look at 2 of them.  Masaya, so they say, is extremely dangerous because the layer of earth covering the lava is very thin.  It looked very peaceful on the day we were there. 

Masaya Crater

Nindiri  and San Pedro are both constantly spewing sulphurous gas.  It's fine when the wind is blowing it away from you but is hard to take when it's coming right at you.  

Nindiri crater

Climbing to Bobadilla cross

Bobadilla cross

This has always been a fairly active volcano and the natives used to offer sacrifices to appease the devil that they belived lived in the crater.  In the 1500's a priest erected a cross to exorsise that devil and, I imagine, as a way of stopping the sacfifices.

Nindiri Crater

Farewell to Ometepe

Nanette and Eileen:

The day has finally arrived! We must leave the island if we want to stop in Granada and Masaya. 
Lots of little last minute things to get done... shopping,  checking the progress on the earthbag house, packing, saying good-bye.  Gee we might just have to stay a while longer to get all that in!

Things are going quite well at Wilbur's place.  A couple more rows of bags are up and the door is in place, although the one volunteer who is a contractor in real life noticed that there will be a problem with the door as they continue to make the dome.  Don't know if they got it figured out but will check with somebody in a few days to find out and to maybe get pictures of the finished product.

Each row has to be tamped down and levelled

Barbed wire between layers are necessary to hold it all together

Christopher is back in town from the monestary. He and Nate are leaving today for Costa Rica where Chris's mom has a house.  He begged us to go shopping with him to help him choose some clothes.  Did we ever mention that Chris had everything but his passport stolen just before we arrived on the island?  He's been making do with very little but feels he needs something decent to travel in.  We had fun checking out his choices and stopped in at the "Divine Baby Jesus Variety Store" (I kid you not!) to see what was available. Nate loves this storename and it's been  invaluable to us as we found Alejandro's soother there as well as the 4 baseballs we purchased to leave on the island with Juan (our hotel receptionist). He met us with a request on this last morning from adult unemployed male friends who had noticed we 'gringas' visiting at his home. They have put together a team they want to have compete with other pueblos but are short of equipment ie.baseballs, to practice and play with. Juan wouldn't have asked for himself but saw this as an outlet to channel some positive energies for these guys. We were happy to acquiesce, especially as we had witnessed a lively game on our street one evening with adult participants wielding mop sticks and a mostly disintegrated ball in a tiedup plastic bag! (We're already wondering where, and then how, to get gloves and bats to them).
Once we got Chris looked after we headed up to say our good-byes to the family.  They are very sad to see us go. We made no definite promises for a speedy return.

Saying good-bye

 When trying to leave a tip with Juan we were somewhat surprised and impressed with his reluctance to take anything from us. He said he doesn't like to take tips because he doesn't want guests to think that he's helpful and nice just to get something from them.  He is grateful that these friends can make use of his knowledge of the area.

Juan recoiling in refusal of a tip

We know that Mario, his counterpart, is happy to take tips as he always puts a big tip jar out during his shift. He assures us this is a necessity to him as a student. He's been on scholarship for his maximum # of years.

Mario, the other receptionist

 Juan had invited us out to his house earlier in the week, so one morning we found ourselves on the 7:30am bus passing through Los Angeles on our way to Sacremento.  The driver let us out at a dirt road entrance and we walked the couple of kilometres down to the lakeshore then along it till the houses ended. The name he had printed on a card  for us had a neighbor usher us right to his door where we found him sitting with his little daughter and wife.

Our near refusal of food was taken as an insult so we accepted and were served up a huge breakfast of Gallo pinto, fried plantain, and fish.  There was so much food that we didn't eat another thing all day!

Breakfast at Juan's house

Our hosts for breakfast

We left on the 4:00pm ferry and caught the bus to Manaagua.  They were not going by Granada, so we'll leave that for another time.  We were, instead, dropped off at  Masaya, where we had to walk quite far and sometimes in circles (what with getting conflicting directions from different people) trying to find a  hostel. Finally found a place and settled in for a couple of nights.

"Stuck" on La Isla Ometepe

Tooth brushing station

Eileen

We are still in Moyogalpa but thinking to move on tomorrow. It seems the same way with everyone here, 'I'll leave tomorrow'. We've been totally packed once already!

We came straight to this hotel, 'Arenas Negras' (Black Sand). Location..Location..Location- only steps from the boat landing (We still had to hire someone to haul our 50 pound bags here, full of clothing to give away). I had stayed here 3 times before- alone (2000), with Mom and Carol Cunningham(2006), and with Michael Phillips(2008).

The Landing Hotel

Not so easy to find this time. It has been purchased by an American, John Tansy, and totally redone. No more  dark grey walls and questionable cleanliness. John hired a talented artist, Sioux Ryan, to decorate the rooms and hallways with flower motifs and cultural scenes. Hopefully she'll agree to come to Canada to FINALLY do a mural on my sidewall. The dirt floor is replaced with tasteful ceramic tile, a second and third floor built, with hammocks, exercise machines, and seating area with satellite television. The new name- The Landing Hotel (they're on Facebook and http://www.tripadviser.com/

- we did a critique).
We're staying in a 6-bed dorm. US$5/night





 


The Cabina Mom Stayed in- nice enough now for a honeymoon



Urinal







Our dorm. Nanette has the bed with the
mosquito netting







Caught Eileen Writing a Blog



Main lobby and restaurant




The bar







One of Sue's Works in our hallway



Nanette's bed with privacy screen

Earthbags building

Nanette:

Well, I guess plans are only meant to be changed!  Today (Monday) was to be our day to leave Ometepe.  Our bags were packed and we were all set to say our goodbyes to everyone.  Alas, as we were sitting out front this morning the church group that John brought in to build a house for Wilbur's mom stopped by on their way out to the house.  Well, being a curious lot, we (Nate, Eileen, Chris and I, as well as Nancy and Gary, who arrived yesterday)  set out after a while to see how things were going. 

Wilbur (on right) and his mom and brother

Very interesting!  They are building an earthbag house.  So far they have a circular trench dug and all tamped down.  They will be filling bags with sand and clay to build the walls.  Barbed wire gets added to the top of each row to hold it together and tamping happens on each new row.

Foundation trench

Well, anyway, we decided that we would like to see how things progress so we will be staying on Ometepe for another few days.

Went back to the earthbag house on Tuesday and they had added 3 more rows. their progress slowed considerably on Monday afternoon because they were waiting on a load of gravel.  They are planning to have it all completed by Friday.  I'm not too sure about that but we'll see.

Spoiling Myself

Eileen

I just returned from my second massage. The therapist is really good- fullbody including scalp, fingers and toes. She uses lots of oil and I feel like a greased pig just now, but a relaxed one!

She has a bonafide massage bed in a tiny room behind her family's beauty salon. It boasts a ceiling fan and round fluorescent tube light. Partway through, the power went off and I thought I'd swelter to death!

$15 US for an hour.

Cashew fruit and nut

Eileen and Simba

Birthday party and acupuncture party

Jalinsa

Nanette:

A birthday party!  Yay!  Today (Saturday) is Jalinsa's 19th birthday and we were invited to lunch! Excited to be going to her birthday we climbed up the hill, gift in hand, and presented ourselves at the door.

There was no evidence of a big birthday lunch laid out so we hunted down Jalinsa and gave her the gift.  She was thrilled and surprised to be getting something! (A spandex top, some sweets and $10.)
Brian tried to make us promise to return for his birthday in November.
 Once again we were guests to a feast set out only for the two of us.  The whole rest of the family had already eaten-again! They had gone all out with deepfried tortilla slices, queso(cheese) and plaintain pieces,along with rice and beans We shared crab chips which they seemd hesitant to try.





Me on the floor of the lobby



Oh, my aching achilles tendons!  Everyday is full of hill climbing and brings fresh pain.  Today Alan  (John's business partner out at the monestary and a retired veterinarian) was talking about how he has been studying accupuncture. I sighed, "Oh, I could use some acupuncture!"  He must have been eager to practice because he ran right off to his house to get his needles (single use, sterilized).  Eileen and Nate dragged a mattress out of our dorm and when Dr. Alan came back we were ready!  He got the needles inserted in me then moved on to Eileen, sprawled across the couch in the lobby, Nate and a couple of others.  Maria Josee gave Nate a neck and back massage.  Kate (who arrived today and is a massage therapist) offered to give me a hand massage. It was a regular spa!  We wonder how the owners would have reacted had they walked in to see all this going on in their lobby.

Alan and I

Maria getting a treatment for her shoulder

Just Chillin'

Nanette:

The road trip must have worn us right out because we didn't get a whole lot done on Thursday.
Hanging around the hotel all morning doing nothing seemed like a good thing to do.

Berta had offered to do our laundry because she has a washing machine so we took her up on the offer and bundled our filthy clothes up and delivered them in the afternoon.  Turns out that Berta was working so it fell to Bermania to do the laundry. Juan helped her to drag out the washing machine and she got started while I was given the run of the kitchen to make liquado de sandia (watermelon juice).

Nanette making liquado de sandia...Yum!

We felt bad about having Bermania do the laundry when we saw how much work it actually was.  She doesn't like the job her washing machine does so when the laundry comes out of the machine she washes it on the washboard before throwing it back in the machine to spin.  Then she hangs it on the clothes line.  They often use barbed wire for a clothesline here because the clothes won't blow off in the wind.

Can you see the barbs on the wire?

Check out how much work is involved in washing 1 pair of panties!

Did I ever mention that La Isla Ometepe is formed by 2 volcanoes, one of which blew ash a couple of years ago so is considered active? Moyogalpa can be found at the foot of Volcan Concepcion ( on the left in this picture) and there is an evacuation route sign-posted so everyone knows which way to go in case something untoward happens.  It heads over to Volcan Maderas on the right.

I can't imagine that very many will get to safety because the evacuation route ends up traveling along the very same pot-holed, washed-out road to San Ramon that we crawled along a few days ago. It also is directly on the edge of the lake so if flooding would be the problem there is no alternate. It will bottle-necked in no time flat!  Rumour has it that they plan to pave this road, it being an election year and all.  That would certainly be a good thing for people fleeing a natural disaster not to mention tourists wanting a smooth ride.

Road trip to San Ramon

Nanette:

We managed to tear Ricky away from his video games to accompany us to San Ramon on Monday.  The plan was to take the bus at 8:30 and to climb up to Las Cascadas when we got there.  Luckily it doesn't bother either of us too much when plans change. Oh, we did take the early bus and it turned out to be a brutal 4 and a half hour ride to San Ramon. Even with my short little legs there was not near enough leg room.  Add to that  the fact that I had my backpack on my lap to allow room for someone else to squeeze in. Did I mention the deplorable state of the roads on the other part of the island?  Bouncing and swaying through potholes big enough to swallow a whole car.  Fun!  At some points I was surprised to note that the road was actually on the beach, only a few metres from the water.  The rainy season is just recently finished so the lake is still quite high.   

Anyway, by the time we got there we were tired and the guy at the gate said it was about a 5 hour hike so in our wisdom we decided to check in to a hotel and to spend the afternoon swinging lazily in hammocks... a very good decision it was, too! 

Bright and early on Tuesday morning we were up and fortifying ourselves with a typical Nicaraguan breakfast of beans and rice, eggs, bread, and cheese.  Up, up, up we hiked on a steep but not too difficult trail.  Why is it that they always save the most difficult part of the climb for last?  We had to clamber over huge rocks in a dry stream bed and skirt around under overhangs, hoping all the while that the loose rocks advertised on the warning down below would  stay put till we passed.  Obviously, those rocks did behave and we eventually got to the top.  The waterfall is very high but we were a bit disappointed that there wasn't  more water coming over.  The pool at the bottom looked very refreshing and I did soak my aching feet for a bit ( Eileen soaked her head).

Eileen

Nanette

Ricky and Eileen

We finished this hike in well under the 5 hours we were told it would take so we spent a few more hours in the hammocks until the bus passed by at 3:00pm. Thank goodness that Ricky was with us.  He has been great about making sure we don't end up paying extra for our bus fares and in making sure we get off when we are supposed to.  He got us off the bus at Santa Cruz and we walked to an Eco Farm called Zipilote.  We thought we would climb to the top of Volcan Merida the next day but I backed out because I kind of know what I am capable of and I knew I would only hold the others back.  Eileen decided that she couldn't do it either because her knee was a bit out of whack.  Ricky breathed a sigh of relief because he found out that is at least an 8 hour climb and it would have meant staying another night.  I'm kind of getting the feeling that he would rather be at home with his video games...go figure!

Pizza oven

We were lucky in that Tuesday is pizza night when they fire up a big stone oven in which to cook whatever kind of pizza you want (for a price)  Enjoyed our pizza with a couple from Canada, or maybe they were from Wisconsin, and a girl from the UK.

Going potty at Zipilote was an experience!  Number one was supposed to be done in this little squatter.  stinky at best!  The only protection from prying eyes is the none too thick row of tall grass around the urinal.

squatter/urinal

Number two happened in the dry compost toilets- 3 stalls complete with a boxed in toilet with toilet seat and a huge bag of rice husks.

The directions for using the toilet were posted on the door to ensure we did things properly.  Well worth a read!

Arrived back in Moyogalpa on Wednesday and were not too surprised to find that Christopher is still here.  He's been planning to leave for days but just keeps putting it off. It's great for us because he's lots of fun and a good dorm mate. 

Eileen
I thought I'd had enough of Blue Bird buses out of Ontario until I saw these- retired school buses from North America in a rather dubious state of repair.  It was a surprise to see the tread, or lack thereof, of the tire, and the wires worn through.  On our way to San Ramon we heard the explosion of, and experienced 2 flat tires and then one more on the way back. Luckily the rear tires are double. Drivers must get loads of  experience because they shoved that small jack under the bus and had us back on the road in no time! The spare looks no better than what it replaces but at least doesn't expend air.

Note the bulge in this tire

Every morning I awake early and wander to the bano, half asleep. One day, as I was piddling, I was surprised to hear plopping from whence I knew not. I flushed, peeked into the toilet bowl and wished for the FROG to have enough strength to fight the downward swirl! I'm hoping Nanette was wrong and the guy from reception did not plunge him to his death.

Petroglyphs at Zipilote

More petroglyphs



Our dorm at Zipilote