Tuesday 4th May

After a small lie in, we quickly grabbed breakfast and then went to explore Leon. After a quick walk round we returned to the hostel and booked ourselves onto a tour for the following day. We then relaxed for as bit, Andy and I played some pool to satisfy our competitive natures and we then headed back out in the early afternoon. For a long time Leon was Nicaragua’s Capital and along with Granada is one of Nicaragua’s two colonial jewels. It is situated in the North Western region of Nicaragua which is the most volcanic region in Central America and is dominated by the Cordillera de los Maribios, a chain of 10 volcanoes, some of which are still active. That afternoon we visited Leon’s Cathedral which is the largest in Central America and took over 100 years to build. As well as the cathedral we explored another church which offered great views across the city and out across the neighbouring volcanoes from its bell tower.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon/early evening continuing to explore the city and it was well into the evening by the time I headed back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of the guys. We then went out for a bite to eat for dinner and to explore the city by night before returning to our hostel.

Wednesday 5th May

We woke early to continue exploring his old colonial town. Andy and I went off to explore the local markets and then visited a museum which we were informed had previously been a prison. The museum detailed the history of the prison as well as information on Leon and Nicaraguan Culture. In the 1900s the prison was used to house some of the country’s worst criminals, many of which were subjected to horrific tortures which were documented in the museums archives. We were shown the old prison cells which would house 50 people in an area the size of your standard living room, with not enough room to even sit down. As well as the prison’s history, the museum also explained a lot about Nicaraguan Culture. Our English speaking guide explained the numerous myths and legends that are believed by many of the locals.
That afternoon we headed off on our ‘Volcano Boarding’ Tour. As we loaded onto the back of the truck to make our trip to the volcano we were joined by a mix of English, American, Australian, Swedish, Dutch, German, Swiss and Italian. It took us just over an hour of bumpy off road travelling in the truck to get to the national park which was home to the volcanoes. The journey was a good opportunity to get to meet some of our fellow boarders and we had a really interesting bunch of people. Whilst paying our entrance fee for the National Park I realised that the entrance building was also home to a number of snakes that were kept in cages. Next thing I know our guide has taken one of the snakes out of its cage and was holding it. As we neared the volcano itself it made for a stunning sight. Named ‘Cerro Negro’ which literally translates to black hill, it gets its name as it spews out ash and cinder than the fall and deposit around it giving it its black colour. As we unloaded off the truck we grabbed out boards and suits and began our climb up to the top of the volcano. In all this took about an hour with a few stops for photos along the way and a good look at the two craters. At the top we were able to take in the stunning scenery of the surrounding area before being briefed on our ‘descent’. We were told how the volcano had been used as the site for a world record attempt during which a crazy Frenchman attempted to break the land speed record for a bicycle. On his first attempt he broke the record, but along with it broke a number of bones and ended up having a lengthy stay in hospital, during which his new record was incidentally broken. Apparently he has since gone on to retain the record by cycling down the side of a snow capped mountain somewhere in Europe but if anything it hopefully helps to indicate that the sides of this volcano were pretty steep. So having been given our tutorial on the techniques for how best to board we set off on our way down. We went down in two’s on two separate runs and boarding was very much like sledging, just instead of on snow, on ash and cinder. The descent was great fun, reaching speeds of around 30-40kmph and lasting a decent amount of time as it was a pretty long descent. The trick was to keep your mouth closed; otherwise you’d end up with a mouthful of ash and cinder (not pleasant) and then use your feet to control your speed and direction. As well as being a lot of fun, Volcano Boarding could prove to be pretty dangerous too with a few falls among the group, and most had a few grazes as war wounds to compare by the end.
Having all made our descent we headed back onto the truck where we were treated to some nice home made granola bars, all included in the price which was nice. We then set off on our journey back, picking fresh mangos from roadside trees along the way.
On our return we organised to head off for showers and meet back in an hour for some pizza. After taking our much needed showers we arrived back for some delicious pizza before heading out into Leon for some live music which was really quite good.

Thursday 6th April
Danger Warnings & Missed Stops!

We left Léon early to catch the bus to the capital of Managua. In my still very basic Spanish I was delivered a very interesting warning by our taxi driver on the way to the bus terminal that morning. He was asking where we were from, what we had been doing, where we going etc and when I mentioned we were taking the bus to Managua he then said something that I failed to understand. When he realised I wasn't understanding what he had said he took out a pen and began to write something on the palm of his hand. Having completed whatever it was he was writing he turned to show me his hand and there was the word 'danger' boldly written by has pen. Now as with the reputation of most Central American capital cities, they are known as dangerous, unsafe, unpredictable, unattractive. However in my experience so far I have not found this to be wholly true, although it must be said that we have spent little time in the regions capital cities. However after this warning I was pleased that we would only be going to Managua in order to catch another bus straight out of the city. For me the main thing about Central American capital cities is more that they don't have much to see/do in comparison to everything else that is on offer and all the talk of danger and a lack of safety are more issues that could be pointed out for any world city.
So having taken our bus to Managua we got straight onto our connecting bus due to take us to Masaya, a small town in central Nicaragua. However we obviously weren't paying much attention during our bus journey as we soon realised the bus was terminating and we had in fact arrived in Granada. All was not lost however as we had planned to go to Granada next anyway and Masaya was still only a fairly short bus journey away so could be visited on another day.
So we arrived in Granada, a beautiful colonial town around mid-afternoon and a guy we had met on the bus recommended a hostel to us so we checked in and got settled. The same guy then told us of a great place to eat, so having been on the road all day we happily followed as he led us to a local little restaurant which turned out to be a real gem, serving tasty food, in good portions, at great prices. Having satisfied my stomach with a tasty burrito we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the town and deciding on our plans for the next day. Having arrived late in the afternoon a lot of places were closing for the day so instead we worked out what we wanted to see and planned to squeeze it all in the next day.
That evening, having eaten at our new favourite restaurant again ( we would become regulars their during our time in Granada) we looked around the town before ending up at a really cool bar that had live music. The band played a whole mixture of Latin American music mixed in with a few western classics including Radiohead among others.

Friday 7th April
Crazy Markets & Chicken Buses

Andy and I got up early this morning (which proved quite the struggle) and took the bus back to Masaya. Masaya is famed for its sprawling markets and cheap prices and we had been informed that it was pretty easy to locate. We simply had to take the bus back to Masaya before jumping into a taxi that would cost us 10 Cordobas (about 30p) and would take us to the markets. However on arrival we decided we would ask where the markets were and having asked in our best Spanish we were pointed in the general direction so we decided to set off on foot and have an explore. On arrival we came across a large market that at first glance just seemed to have an abundance of fresh food stalls and other such attractions but none of the gift stalls that we had been expecting. However we decided to explore further and see what we could find and having gone past numerous stalls selling everything from knock-off DVDs to Nike trainers we eventually found the section that seemed to have the gifts and things that we had expected. By now we were in a maze of indoor markets with stall after stall of similar items so we set out to put our best haggling skills to the test. However we found that the Nicaraguans drove a hard bargain and that lowering the price was quite the task. This came as quite the surprise as in previous locations our haggling techniques had worked wonders (in some cases just walking away from the stall could see the price lowered by 30-50%).
The other thing that I began to notice was the lack of other tourists in the market which we hadn't been expecting.
Walking through the market we could both feel the eyes following us, and I had numerous street traders trying to grab me and get me to check out their stalls. This could be seen as understandable but not when I had some locals grabbing me and trying to get me to check out their stall, which sold female shoes and trainers! So having bought a few gifts, we decided to make our way back to Granada.
Our mode of transport for our return trip was the 'Chicken Bus'. Termed so because when buying chickens to eat, locals will often buy them still alive, this way keeping them fresher for longer as not all families will be able to keep food refrigerated. However when transporting their produce home, the chickens will often be placed on top of the bus in order to transport them home and hence the name Chicken Bus has come about. Pretty grim I know, but fortunately for us there were no chickens on board. Now the other interesting thing about these buses are that the majority of them are old American school buses. By these I mean the yellow school buses you will probably have seen in many an American film but by the time they make their way down to Central America they are a little more rundown and dilapidated but they then seem to be given a bit of an external face life once they arrive in Central America as many of them are then painted with bright colours and extravagant patterns which is always cool to see.
Having returned to Granada, we grabbed some lunch before spending the afternoon exploring the town. We visited an old colonial fort, churches with great views from the bell tower of the surrounding area and a really interesting archeological museum. At the museum they were using animal engravings found on remains in the surrounding area to try and understand more about the ancient cultures that once inhabited the area. This was pretty interesting stuff and had been the subject of numerous university studies that were great to read.
Having completed our whirlwind tour of the town that afternoon we then headed out for dinner. We then headed out for some more live music which was great to see.

Saturday 8th April
Lanchas

We had a bit of a lie-in today. Having eventually rolled out of bed, breakfasted and showered we caught the bus down to Rivas.
Having arrived in Rivas we grabbed a taxi to the nearby port where we caught our boat, locally called a 'Lancha'. This turns out to be an open topped boat that was exposed to the elements and more often used by the locals rather than tourists but we had a nice smooth crossing that lasted just over an hour or so. This journey was taking us to the island of Ometepe. An island formed by two volcanos in the middle of a great lake. The views on our journey over there were fantastic with the two volcanoes dominating the skyline.
On arrival to the island we took the hour long taxi ride to our hostel which was in a really remote location right next to the lakeside beach which made for stunning views. Having settled in we set out to explore the surrounding area which as I said proved pretty remote, with only a few shacks, shops and places to eat along the way. We did however stumble across a really cool little bar that was run by an Australian couple (typically) and we relaxed there for a bit, playing some pool, and finding out a little more about what the island has to offer.
As darkness set in (as it seems to do really early in Central America, typically around 6.30pm) we headed back towards the hostel and found a really quiet little restaurant on the way back so decided to stop for some food. We ordered our food with a lovely old woman who then proceeded into the kitchen where she began to cook all 7 meals from scratch. Having been cooked in her home kitchen the food took quite a while to arrive but was certainly worth the wait as I tucked into a delicious plate of spaghetti and vegetables. Yum Yum! Having been suitable fed we headed back to our hostel and grabbed a good nights sleep as we had a busy few days ahead.

Sunday 9th April
Waterfalls and Petroglyphs!

After having got up early and had a fresh fruit salad for breakfast we hopped into the minibus to begin our tour of the day, led by our local guide, Francisco. Our first stop was the Madera Waterfall and having been dropped off by the minibus we had an hour or so trek part way up the volcano in order to reach the waterfall. This proved a pretty pleasant walk with a few tricky climbs but eventually we reached the waterfall which must have been more than 60ft. We then spent some time cooling off under the waterfall and taking a dip in the pool at the bottom. It had been hot during our ascent so the cooling waters of the waterfall were much welcomed and also provided many a great photo opportunity. Having completed taking our photos and filled our water bottles under the waterfall we made our descent back down to the minibus.
From here we took the minibus to our next stop, the local petroglyphs. Petroglyphs as I found were old carvings completed by old local tribes depicting the various ancient gods that they once worshipped. These were upwards of 1600 years old and still surprisingly well preserved to say their age.
From here we headed to some local springs which provided a great location to relax for the afternoon as well as a great place to grab some lunch as I tucked into my tacos by the springs. After a relaxing afternoon by the springs we headed to the local football court early that evening. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the local’s skill of football and they even asked me to play, but unfortunately I only had flip-flops on so I would have had to play bare foot and my feet would have got shredded so I reluctantly declined their offer. Having spent a good couple of hours enjoying the football we then headed back to our hostel, grabbed some food and then grabbed an early night as we had a big day ahead.

Monday 10th April
Hard Trekking & Cloud Forests!

Another early start as we were picked up at 7am and taken to a small restaurant that would act as the start of the days climb. Having quickly demolished a delicious rice and beans breakfast and grabbed some sandwiches and water we began the days task, a trek up the Madera Volcano. The Madera Volcano is in fact the smaller of the two volcanoes that make up the island of Ometepe but the larger volcano, Concepcion is still active, regularly omitting sulphur clouds and therefore dangerous to climb. Despite climbing the smaller of the two, we still had an 8 hour trek ahead of us so I was pleased for a hearty breakfast, after which we set off on our way.
Andy and I were the only two from our group who decided to do the trek and we were joined by an American couple, two girls from Norway, a Hungarian woman and once again our guide Francisco. We began our ascent around 7.45am but already the sun was out in force and made for a tough climb. The first few kilometers proved a relatively easy climb and took us to the edge of the forest where we were provided with some stunning views of the island. From here we entered the forest and the climb became much steeper and I was definitely thankful for a good pair of trainers. Walking boots would have been better but unfortunately I did not bring any in my travels. As we continued further up we then entered what is called the 'cloud forest' as effectively we had climbed so high that we were now in the clouds. This meant that you couldn't see very far, the humidity was stifling and the ground underfoot became very moist and muddy. This made for an interesting climb, but really felt like we were properly trekking as we made our way through mud and rocks and used roots and vines to pull ourselves up. On reaching the top, we weren't met by any spectacular views as we were still right in the middle of the cloud and therefore visibility was very low. However from the summit, we took the 10 minute descent down to the old crater which had now formed into a large lake. Unfortunately the sediment in the area is very loose and going into the lake would be like entering quicksand so we weren't able to take a cooling dip however it did provide a great spot to stop and have lunch and I must say that after 3.5 hours of trekking, a salad sandwich has never tasted so good.
Having spent some time relaxing by the lake we climbed back up to the summit before beginning our descent. Not long into our descent the heavens opened and unfortunately began to rain. Being in the cloud forest meant that it wasn't long before we were absolutely soaked but in a strange kind of way this was a rather pleasant experience as it helped to keep cool. However it became very slippery underfoot and there were numerous near slips and falls on our descent but in the end we all made it down in one piece, albeit a little muddy and very tired. The trek had been great fun and we had experienced some fantastic vegetation and some incredible wildlife including howler-monkeys, leafcutter ants, butterflies and birds. We had also had a great group who it was great to spend the time getting to know during our trek and despite being very tired at the end we had had a great time.
On our return to the hostel we went straight to the beach and washed ourselves down in the lake before relaxing and taking photos on the beach as the sunset. Having then showered and properly cleaned we then headed out for a delicious meal as it was Claire, our new tour guide’s birthday. Having spent a nice relaxing evening we then headed back to the hostel for our last night on Ometepe Island.

Tuesday 11th April
Rain Twice in Two Days! Not What I'm Used Too!

Another early start as we caught the first bus to take us to the other side of the island. Having caught the local chicken bus this meant the journey took much longer than expected as it made frequent stops in all the little local villages en route but having made it to the port we then grabbed our lancha to take us back to the mainland. So far the weather today had been unusually overcast and it remained so as we made our trip across and we were then very unfortunate for it to begin to rain when we were just a few minutes from shore. Now as I have explained previously, Lanchas are open top boats with little protection so our stuff quickly got wet and we were grateful to reach shore and get back on dry land and under shelter. I had become so used to waking up in the morning and simply expecting clear skies and beautiful sunshine that it had become a bit of a shock to the system to experience rain two days in succession. Despite the rain though shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops were still the order of the day as it was still very hot and humid. We took a taxi to Rivas and by this time it was early afternoon. We booked into our hostel and had a quick explore around the town, quickly realising that it didn't have too much to offer so spent the evening catching up on the internet and my blogging.