Living it up in Nica!

So as most of you may have heard we have had a pretty sweet few days! We were in León again for a week after returning from Guatemala where we caught the bus out to the beach for the day and stayed to watch the sunset on the pacific ocean. We pointed in the vague direction of NZ and thought of everybody at home! There was a small (5.1) earthquake just off the coast last Friday and it caused all the power and water to go off for ages, which is awful when you have no fan and are trying to get to sleep! I ended up pulling my mattress onto the floor because it was a little cooler down there! Needless to say we didn't mind leaving the next day when there was still no water...

We took the bus to Managua (the capital) where the driver met us and took us to a huge market in a town 30mins from Managua that is well known for it's hammocks. We spoke to a lady who supplies hammocks for our friends and we chose what colour hammocks we wanted and she is making them for us and we are going to pick them up tomorrow!

After that he took us out to Jinotepe towards the coast where our friends own a coffee farm. They also grow oranges, plantains, mangos, coconuts, avocados etc. It was a beautiful house with a big swimming pool and lots of land around it so you felt quite isolated. That afternoon we had a BBQ with the most amazing meat we have ever tasted and the table was laden with all sorts of treats. We drunk homemade ice tea and ate homemade caramel sorbet after lunch. We then took a tour round the farm and visited the horses etc and in the evening we played cards and drunk nica libres with 12 year old rum and ate gullo pinto until around midnight! Best sleep in a comfortable bed also...

The next day we had fresh fruit salad, hot bread and butter, gullo pinto, cheese, bacon and eggs and coffee for breakfast and then they took us in their amazingly flash 4WD with beige leather seats to visit a volcano. It was one you could drive all the way up through the forest and then walk around the craters at the top, amazing view of Granada and the lake from the top!

We then went back to the farm for a huge lunch before heading back to their house in Managua. We then spent the night there and the next day the driver took me to the hair dressers then he took us to a music shop for Harry to look at guitars and then dropped us at the bus stop to go to Granada.

So we are now in Granada for the next few days before going to stay on the island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua! This is a lovely little colonial town with some good spots to check out, we are especially looking forward to the all you can eat buffet breakfast from 7am-12. It's $5.75 and if you go early and stay until late and use the wi-fi you can have breakfast and lunch! They serve waffles and pancakes and omelets and fruit etc... So excited!

So that is the latest update, it is now Tuesday the 25th of January and we leave Nicaragua next Saturday the 5th of February - only one and a half weeks! - then we are in the States for a week before coming home :)

So yes we are having an amazing time and wishing you could all come and join us here!

Google Map

Map of our travels so far!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=212821527297960112908.000499eb0ec34ee8ed379&t=h&z=7

Lanquín and Semuc Champey

After our time in San Pedro, Lake Atítlan we decided to take the 7/8 hour bus ride to the region of Alta Verapez to stay in a small village called Lanquín and the nearby attraction of Semuc Champey. We hunted around some travel agencies for a good deal on a shuttle and finally found one that included a free nights accommodation at a popular hostel in Lanquín. The travel agent told us it was a direct bus all the way there and gave us our ticket... Happy travels! Well maybe not...

Getting on the bus in the morning we were told there were huge protests going on that were blocking the roads and guys with machetes etc so we would have to take a different route, this would make us a couple of hours late... No problem... We arrived in Antigua where we were to stop for lunch before continuing on. The bus driver tells us we have to get off and wait by the lamppost where another bus would pick us up in 15mins, apparently this wasn’t a direct bus after all! Along with another three backpackers from England we waited and waited... and waited... Two hours later the shuttle arrives to pick us up. Instead of arriving at 8.30pm, we turn up to the hostel at around 11pm. This was fine, all we needed was a good nights sleep so we asked the driver for our tickets to confirm our free nights accommodation... The driver says something about needing the tickets to get paid and takes off, great! When we get to the hostel the guy says we have to pay tonight and then we get tomorrow night free... the catch! The other three people with us already had reservations for the next night so they demanded their free night and then when the boss came down, they all suddenly changed their mind and said that no-one ever promised any free nights and we all have to pay for every night! Apparently they’d never heard of the travel agency offering free nights... Our first scam... It was all quite exciting really! I secretly enjoy hearing people get angry in Spanish because it’s such an expressive language, I was quite keen to join in but a little too tired and weary. We headed off to the other popular hostel that was literally packed to the brim with people sleeping in hammocks and in lofts etc and finally by about midnight found ourselves a hostel!

We spent three days in Lanquín and the main attraction there was the caves full of bats and lit up spectacularly. We also did a day trip to Semuc Champey where we began by exploring these caves kind of like Cave Stream at home but with more water and they’re much bigger. Our guide insisted on us rubbing the colour from a plant on our faces like tribal paint and we headed through the cave with candles, quite exciting! We had to swim quite a lot, often holding the candle above your head with one hand and swimming with the other. We were climbing up ladders and ropes hanging over waterfalls and then you reach the point after which you head back out where you can climb up the side of the caves about 3m high and jump into a pool below. Needless to say I was not so keen for this but Haz was the first one up there! He then played a cruel trick by floating slowly to the surface face down... Not funny! After heading back out of the caves we walked to Semuc Champey where there are these amazing natural pools formed that are bright blue and kind of look like the pink terraces as the pools go down all different levels (google Semuc Champey to see pictures, it’s hard to explain!).

Since then we have made our way back down south to the beautiful colonial town of Antigua, 45mins from Guatemala City. We are here for one week and I am so glad! It is just stunning, surrounded by volcanoes that are really close; it has a huge market and dozens of beautiful churches and ruins. We are going to do some shopping at the market and take a tour round a coffee farm and coffee museum next week before heading back to Nicaragua. We have our own private room for $5 a night for both of us and we are eating pancakes, granola and fresh fruit for breakfast every morning! We can get chicken burgers for dinner for about $1.20 for dinner or cook our own pasta with sauce and avocados for two for about 80c for both of us!

We really love this city and would love to come back here, you can rent apartments super cheap as well and so if you’re thinking of traveling, we recommend Antigua! We have been away for 6 weeks now and have another 5 weeks to go, over half way through the trip! Please leave comments to let us know how you all are (if anyone is reading this now that you’re all on your own holidays!)

Ruby & Harry :)

¡Feliz año nuevo de Guatemala!

I believe our last update was about our time in León around Christmas etc and now I am writing from Guatemala! It is currently 6 o’clock on New Years Eve and there are fireworks going off outside that sound more like bombs, they are so intense and they echo throughout the narrow streets setting off dozens of car alarms within a few blocks... These things could cause serious hearing loss!

We planned to take the 20 hour journey to Guatemala in a nice bus with air con and TV’s etc but after the guy from our hostel messed up the booking, we were told we had to go by CHICKEN BUS...

When we learned this unfortunate news, everybody from the hostel sympathized with us strongly and recounted their horrendous 9 or 10-hour bus rides and how they couldn’t imagine 20 hours... So we psyched ourselves up to leave the next day on what would be quite the trip!

As you may have heard we were pleasantly surprised and the trip was actually amazing! Their were only two other tourists on the bus so we got through the borders really quickly because locals didn’t have to clear immigration, they planned funky Latin music and chatted to us all the way and one guy bought us a hot coffee when we arrived in Guatemala City.

From the city we made our way to San Pedro la laguna, a small hippy town on the side of Lake Atítlan. This area is the heart of the Mayan indigenous culture and each town on the lake (there are a lot of small towns surrounding the lake) has their own Mayan language and in order to understand each other they all speak Spanish, so for most people Spanish is their second language and they speak so clearly and slowly that is simply beautiful to understand compared to the lazy slurs of the Nicaraguans! All the men and women wear indigenous clothing and always have a smile on their faces. They are such nice people!

We have spent the last four days here eating amazing food, kayaking across the lake, jumping of the rocks into the lake to go swimming (well there was no way I was going to jump off any rocks but Haz did) and we climbed to a peak called the Indian’s Nose to watch the sunrise. It was amazing walking up in the dark with beautiful stars and then seeing all of the lake and at least 5 volcanoes along the horizon. We also spent a day at the biggest market in Central America in a town called Chichicastenango. It was a 2-hour ride through the mountains on horrendous roads but quite a stunning market filled with colourful locally made things from blankets to hammocks to clothes, food and flowers. We spent a decent amount of money and now we are enjoying lounging round in our new hippie rags so we fit in quite nicely!

We have been traveling with an Austrian girl named Nina since the bus ride to Nicaragua and a Mexican guy named Jose, both of whom left today. It was nice to have some others to share the experiences with! We are here until Monday and then going up to a place called Lanquín to explore amazing caves filled with bats... Until then amigos...

¡Feliz año nuevo a todos nuestros amigos en Nueva Zelanda!

(Happy New Year to all our friends in New Zealand!)

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas to all at home and those jetsetting around the globe! We've seen the BBC updates of more aftershocks at home so we hope that you are all well and that there wasn't too much damage.

Our Christmas celebrations were very nice here, we had a big potluck dinner at the hostel. Harry and I made Naan bread and honey BBQ chicken with avocado and tomato etc and others made big pasta dishes and traditional Nicaraguan dishes. There was about 15 of us from various places like Australia, Germany, Singapore, Holland, England, America, Canada and Belgium. We haven't met any other kiwis so far though!

After our dinner we all went out to a bar and listened to live music and drunk Flor de Caña (the popular rum that is made here in Nica) and then moved on to a kind of night club. Finally we went to someones house where we hung out on the patio until about 10am the next morning!

Needless to say, this was rather exhausting and when we arrived back at the hostel, Harry was asleep in the hammock within a few minutes. However I, being the party animal that I am, joined a few others from the hostal on a trip to the beach for Christmas Day. The 30min bus ride there was on a chicken bus which has a capacity of around 60, needless to say in Nica the capacity signs are more of a challenge than a restriction... After a few calculations I decided there must be at least 110 people on the bus!

It was lovely to spend some time drinking juices, sunbathing and swimming and it reminded me of home! I started feeling a bit average at the beach but just put it down to lack of sleep and food... After getting off the bus it was getting worse and when we got back to the hostel I spent the next few hours leaning over the toilet throwing up! I crawled in to bed at around 7.30 with a bucket and now it's midday on the 26th and I think I have recovered but feeling pretty exhausted. Not sure if it's something I ate or general exhaustion but whatever it was it wasn't so much fun for Christmas evening!

Overall the celebrations were good but I did miss doing the traditional thing at home. We enjoyed skyping all the family on Christmas day, was lovely to see everybody's faces!

Tomorrow morning we begin our 20 hour bus ride from Nicaragua through Honduras and El Salvador to Guatemala where will spend about 3 weeks before returning to Nica :) We have been here for exactly 4 weeks now and have just over 5 weeks to go and a week in the States!

So feliz navidad and a happy new year to you all wherever you are! Missing you all, will update you from Guatemala some time soon!

Somotillo

After our time in León we decided to head up to Somotillo to visit the family with whom I stayed with for 5 weeks last time I was in Nicaragua. Somotillo is not a huge tourist attraction, it's a rural town with nothing more than a small market, some shops and a central park with a church and basketball court. Our main reason for spending 10 days up there, other than visiting friends was to practice our Spanish as next to nobody up there speaks english!

It was strange heading back as when I left last time I really thought I would never return. Two years on and all the same faces were there, a few adjustments to the house with an extra room added on and a little shop in the entrance way.

The house is home to 8 people but as it is close to christmas, there were a few extras from the extended family and when I say a few... There were 15 of us living in the one house...

Inevitably when one of us got sick, we were all going to get it so I had a cold most of the week and now Harry has it too! But I'm not complaining, I will take a couple cold over dengue or malaria!

Our "alarm" in the mornings was when our room was so filled with smoke from cooking on the open fire that it was hard to breath, then you knew it was time to get up! True to form we had water for the first couple of days and then we went without for another 3 or 4 days before it came back on again.

Most of the time was spent reading, eating, Harry practicing guitar and playing frisbee and football during the evenings. As for our spanish... It didn't quite go as planned and the main thing we learnt was how to insult each other... Obviously hanging out with young people and playing sports we spent the time just hassling each other. One of my personal favourites was when you just say their mothers name in a really aggressive way such as "Marta!" "Mariana!" and this is quite a sufficient way to abuse somebody.

On our last day we bought a gallon of icecream, bananas and chocolate sauce and had a big treat with everybody staying in the house. It was a nice way to spend 10 days and now we are back in León to spend christmas here before taking the 20 hour bus ride through Honduras and El Salvador to Guatemala. We went to see Narnia at the cinema yesterday for less than $2, what a deal! We also had a day christmas shopping, the clothes here are super cheap but it means our bags are getting heavier!

So I guess we should say Feliz Navidad to you all at home, we will miss you very much over christmas and new years and it just won't be the same without friends and family! It will be a different christmas but a happy and exciting one none the less.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the christmas break :)

Volcano Boarding and La Gritería!

Up at 5am on the 6^th of December to catch the bus to Cerro Negro, the volcano. We went with a Nicaraguan guy from our hostel and three other girls from France, England and Holland.

We had to go so early because you can’t hike up the volcano any later as the heat is too intense! So after an hour or so on the chicken bus and an hour walk to the bottom of the volcano, we picked up our boards (to use for sliding down) and headed up Cerro Negro!

It was amazing to see the contrast in the landscape, as we were walking on volcanic rock and to our left was the huge grey/black volcano whilst to the right there was a mass of bright green vegetation. It last erupted in 1999 and you could clearly see where the lava had come to a stop and the vegetation began.

After the half hour climb to the top, we stood on the rim of the sulfur smelling, hot crater and you could feel the ground getting hotter under your feet. An amazing view in the distance of numerous other volcanoes smoking away and the sea somewhere far off.

The hard work was over after walking to the top and we jumped on our boards to slide down the scarily steep slope of the volcano (at the top you couldn’t see the bottom because it was so steep!). It was an amazing view and we didn’t end up going as fast as expected so we got to enjoy the view. What a crazy experience!

Then yesterday was la gritería, a festival celebrated throughout Nicaragua, but particularly in León to celebrate the conception of Mary (note: not of Jesus but of Mary who seems to be of far more importance here in the Catholic tradition than Jesus himself).

It began at 6pm with the bells of all of the churches being rung constantly for a few minutes and lights and fireworks etc. During this time I was talking to a guy beside me who was from Nicaragua and had been to this festival 15 times and he warned me to beware of “los toros” when they come running into the crowd and told me to run quickly... This concerned me slightly but I was glad to be prepared (los toros in english means the bulls!) It turns out los toros were not actual bulls but people in bull like structures made from wood with fireworks tied all over them. This was actually not that much less scary than actual bulls as these were decent fireworks and they just shot straight into the crowd... Horizontal, not vertical! People fled the centre of the square to make way for the bulls and grabbed plastic bags etc to protect their faces, the fireworks landed in little artisan stalls and had to be stomped out very quickly – these people are totally crazy sometimes! This was all followed by and amazing fireworks display beside the giant cathedral, coming from all directions and covering the sky. They put New Brighton to shame! Then the orchestra played in the square as well!

The next part of the festival is like the catholic version of trick or treating where everybody of all ages wanders the street going from door to door asking “Quién causa tanta alegría?” or in English “Who causes much happiness?” and the people answer “La concepción de María!” or “the conception of Mary.” Then they give you random treats, we collected lollipops, ice blocks, traditional sweets, matches, marshmallows and even cups and plates! Pretty much, it is trick or treating on crack, way more intense and way more exciting... You have to fight your way to peoples’ doors and grab on to the iron bars over the door and shout the loudest to get the treats!

We then went out for tea with Helio and Maria who took us to meet the ex president of Nicaragua, Arnoldo Alemán – a very controversial figure in Nicaraguan history! See my FB for a bit of an explanation or wiki him, it’s quite interesting!

Anyway, this is already way too long and I haven’t even got everything down but that will do for now! More photos to come and probably no updates for the next week or so as we are heading to a more rural area to practice Spanish tomorrow for a week or so.

Hasta luego amigos!