Greetings from Granada

Been a while since we've posted anything.  We are currently holing up in Granada, Nicaragua for a couple of days.  It's hard to believe we are already in month number five!  Time is flying on by but we are enjoying every day, meeting lots of friendly locals and fun travelers.  We hope you're all having a great Summer, and thanks again for following along with our adventures. 

After Copan, Honduras we spent some time on Lago de Yojoa, a beautiful lake with tons of funky birds and other creatures including toucans, orioles, quetzals and even a lake otter.  I think we saw a crane.  One thing we definitely saw was a doctor.  As you may remember, Jules had some creatures of her own in her tummy, off and on, since our trip began.  A visit to the clinic was long overdue.  Luckily, the couple who ran our hostal knew a reputable doc and drove us directly to her office.  The diagnosis: bacteria, but no parasite.  More meds and another list of foods to avoid, and off we went.  After Julie recovered, we hiked to an amazing waterfall, Pulhapanzak, and checked out a national park.  And, speaking of meds, we started taking Malaria pills. Side effects include dizziness, nausea and best of all: nightmares!   It's cool, though, my wife is a counselor.

Western Honduras was super lush and green.  It was the beginning of rainy season, which meant teeming buckets every night (perfect for sleeping) and then clear and cool during the day. Pretty sweet. After the lake, we hit a town called Gracias and then crossed the border into El Salvador to style it up with our friend Natalia Maria, and her familia.  It was an amazing visit and it was especially nice to see some familiar faces, and to chow down on some home cooked meals, including Tita's awesome cerviche! 

fightin' for fries: Natalia's boy, Matteus, and Julia's little guys. 

Jules diggin' on some cocunut

Natty and Dave

Yuca, papusas and Pilsener

On to Nicaragua: museum hopping, volcano boarding and some more time en la playa.        

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, lemme see that calculator, hombre!"  Jules changing money at the Nicaraguan border

In Managua, the capital of Nicaragua: 12 sets of 6,000 year old human footprints, appearing to be a migration outta town.  Can't blame 'em.  We didn't like Managua either.   

Leon: many "imagenes de la revolucion" like this one throughout town

Don't be afraid to try the greatest sport around...  hiking up Cerro Negro (still active, last eruption: 1999) for some badass Volcano Boarding. 

straight outta Guantanamo

We spent some time in a beach town called Jiquilillo and volunteered for two weeks at a Kids Club -- a safe place for kids to hang out, play games and just be kids. They cheated at Uno and pick-up sticks but were otherwise very respectful to us and (on good days) to each other.  Lots of fun to be around. If you ever visit Nicaragua, please stay a few days at Rancho Esperenza.  Nathan Yue, the owner, is dedicated to helping the local community. He started "Esperenza Kids Club" years ago and he also runs a surf camp for teens who have grown out of cheating at Uno, etc. He teaches them to swim and surf, and most importantly, the value of responsibility: if they agree to clean up a stretch of the beach for a couple of hours during the week, and go to school every day, he allows them use of his surf boards; if they ding a board, they have to learn how to repair them, etc.  He buys and hires local, and he helps other Nicas, young and old, run tours and activities nearby -- everything from kayaking the estuary to crab hunting and coconut tree climbing!   A real caballero, indeed.

Rancho Esperenza - Jiquilillo, Nicaragua

Jules and Jeffeny taking turns reading at Kids Club

fellow volunteers Mike and Ashley holding court

rainy season...

exploring the estuary in Padre Ramos

We headed South after Jiquilillo and ran into our Aussie friends, Nate and Elly, and our Swiss friend, Manny -- we had originally met them in Guatemala a few months back. Spent a fews days in the cool little surf town of San Juan del Sur, made a pilgrimage to bar named Big Wave Dave's (I had to straighten a few things out) and we even chilled out for a day at the official "Survivor Nicaragua" beach, Playa Hermosa. Julie got voted off the island after one hour.  Brett told her: "I'm sorry Julie, but tour ends here..."  No, wait, that's different show...

Elly, Nathan and Jules braving the mighty Pacifico

Next, we jumped on a ferry across Lago de Nicaragua (largest lake in Central America) to Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by twin volcanoes and the lava that flowed between them.  Lots of cool animals and petroglyphs.  We stayed on a very cool permaculture finca for a couple of nights where we slept in bamboo huts with outdoor Japanese showers.  They had all kinds of funky activities like bee keeping courses, and they sold yummy homemade bread.  The next hostal for our last two nights had, uhh, rum.  This allowed for noisy marathon rounds of Phase 10 and Scribbage and an impromptu dance party (or potty, as the Aussies like to say).

Isla de Ometepe: Volcans Concepcion and Maderas

our hidden hut at Finca el Zopilote

when in rum...

If you don't rent a jeep or motorcycle, you're most likely waiting for sporadic scheduled buses or hoofing it around the island.  We got pretty lucky hitching rides with generous locals in pick up trucks and vans who came to the rescue at just the right times.  We could do all of the research in the world: read guidebooks, look online, map out itineraries, talk to other travels, etc, but we could never plan to be picked up by workers in a watermelon truck who were happy to take us right to the trail head of Volcan Maderas, cut a couple of not-so-scenic hours out of our trek, and feed us along the way!





the simple joys of travel: munchin' on melon on the way to trailhead

mono

buggo

cooling off under a waterfall during the Volcan Maderas hike

local kids line fishing at sunset

 

Tomorow, Julie and I make our way East to the Corn Islands and then down to Costa Rica. 

Hasta pronto!