A week has gone by and we haven't been near any Internet to keep in touch. I will try to post this as soon as possible.
We have had a good week here in Nicuragua. The town after San Jorge was granada. A very pleasant town situated right by the lake . We were able to park up right by the lake and were lulled to sleep by the waves which were being whipped up by the wind. This meant that there were no insects which was a relief!
From Granada we headed towards Managua and through to Leon.we were able to stay in the park by Volcan Masaya. This was a huge crater that gives out sulphurous fumes, but you can drive up to the edge and look into it. There are several craters and we walked around two of them. Despite the park officials in the car park we were surprised to return to the truck to find that someone had tried to open the door with a screwdriver. Fortunately we had the padlocks on the inside and so they were unsuccessful. Still it was a lesson about being careful at all times.
From here we travelled to some bubbling mud pools and found somewhere to park with a good view of the mud. We then booked a guide and did the 7 hour hike to the top of Volcan Tilica. Again a huge and very impressive crater with lots of smoke and you could hear the lava bubbling in the crater. The walk was difficult and we were exhausted at the end. We set off at 6 am and it was 1.30 when we got back!!!!!!!! fortunately it wasn't too sunny as that would have made it unbearable!!!!!!!
we are currently at a lodge called Esperanza Verde, high up in the cloud forest. It is 16 kms from the nearest town and the road was so awful it took hours to drive up. however it is very beautiful up here and when it stopped raining the views are fabulous. There are lots of paths to follow and we have heard and seen lots of butterflies and birds. Tomorrow we will head down again and go towards Estell where we hope to do some washing as the washing bag is now enormous and there could be more dirty than clean clothes left!!!!!!
we are very brown and are living in shorts and t shirts in the day and then covering up at night ! Only because of the biting insects and the ants which seem to get you however much cream you have on.
There is even a hot shower here which is very exciting and rather a novelty as usually it is all cold.
I think that the lodge is well known, there is lots of coffee grown and there are lodges to stay in. Obviously we are living out of the trucks which is a different concept for the people here!
on to Honduras in the next week or so . Let's hope it is easier to get into than Nicuragua was and that we don't have to pay so much in fixers and bribes. Coming in cost us over 100 dollars including the insurance on the truck.!!! Mind you we did manage to avoid the 5 hour queue and we didn't get searched.
So far we haven't had any problems without the police but we have been warned that in Honduras it is routine to be stopped all the time and then have to pay for 'infringements' that they find!
We will see.