Nicaragua is a country rebuilding itself after a bloody civil war and reinventing itself as a major adventure tourism destination. With its thundering surf breaks to ride and breathtaking volcano's to climb, it has plenty to offer adventurers. We came with all good intentions to experience what it had to offer but unfortunately a few medical issues got in the way.
　
With time ticking away on our Central American adventure we had to choose our Nicaraguan destinations wisely to get the most out of the country. We decided to have a short city break in the colonial city of Leon, surf the waves in the world-class breaks of Popoyo and relax on the tranquil volcanic island of Omotepe.

Lazy days at Lazybones
　
We loved the Lazybones hostel; it did exactly what it said on the box! In fact, if anything, the Lazybones hostel was just a little too good as the majority of travellers residing there were reluctant to leave the free comforts of the pool, internet, unlimited freshly brewed coffee, DVD rentals and plenty of comfy lounging areas to plant your backside for the day.

Our break in Leon was perfect for recuperating; Shay had an ankle/heel injury from her final surf session in Las Flores, which made walking a painful experience so climbing a volcano's was definitely off the agenda for her. We bumped into a Mexican couple that we met whilst climbing Vulcan Pacaya in Guatemala and spent our days splashing in the pool and playing cards in the evenings with a few beers. We did venture out on a couple of occasions to see a bit of the city, usually when we were feeling peckish and needed food!

The Lazybones Hostel is another place were days could become weeks but we knew we didn't have time to spare so we tore ourselves away and headed to the remote surf break of Popoyo, rumoured to be the best and most consistent in Nicaragua.
　
A Lover and a Thief
　
A never ending, muddy, pot-holed track links the Pan-American Highway to the beach at Popoyo. Ollie was excited to engage the 4-wheel drive on the truck and plough through trails that would make Jake and the Syncronauts drawl. Our trusty companion attacked the muddiest of pits with pure grunt and we never once felt that we would get stuck. Finally, after what seemed like hours, we arrived in the surfing village of Popoyo with its beautiful golden sand beach with various accommodations and restaurants dotted along it. We were originally going to find a peaceful spot to park up and camp but accommodation, along with everything else in Nicaragua, is very cheap so it made sense to get our own cabina with private bathroom just for a few bucks extra and not worry about organising showers and toilets.
　
Unfortunately we hit Popoyo in between groundswells so the waves were mediocre at best. The small waves would have been perfect for Shay to continue practising on but with her heel still very much in pain all she could manage was the odd hobble down the beach to take a dip in the ocean. Ollie had been feeling a little crook himself but managed to put it aside for a single surf session on the reef so he can say he had surfed Nicaragua. Whilst Ollie was practising his back-hands out in the water, Shay was dishing out a few of her own on land. After hobbling all the way out to the beach and across a river, camera in hand, wanting to take some surfing pictures of Ollie at Popoyo, a hormonal teenage local took a liking to her and proceeded to court her in Spanish. At first Shay thought he was being nice and making conversation so she nodded and stupidly agreed, not understanding a word of what he was saying. When he ducked in for a snog, she realised his intentions and when no amount of "No's" were doing the trick she made for a hasty hobble back to the safety of the truck.

Maybe it was the experience with the randy local, or the rumours of quick-fingered Nicaraguans from other travellers, or it could of been the very rustic accommodations that we were staying in, complete with crabs scurrying around on the floor, geckos on the ceiling and all sorts of unidentified insects flying round the joint, but Shay had a bad feeling about the security of the truck and thought she would get a better nights sleep out there. Proving that you should always trust your gut instinct, between 1-2am, she was awoken by a scraping sound. Straining her eyes through the darkness she thought she could see something at the window. At first she thought it was Ollie playing a prank but when her eyes adjusted to the light she could see whatever it was, was cutting through the mesh on the window. Turning on the light and shouting "Oi", the dirty little paw was gone in a flash, and hot footing it into the darkness. The whole experience was so surreal that if it hadn't been for the visable cuts in the mesh Shay would have thought she had dreamt it.
　
Any ideas about extending our Popoyo visit to wait for the next swell disappeared with the break-in. We both decided it was time to move on and were itching to get to Costa Rica. Guilt of not making the most of Nicaragua while we were there, made us reluctantly decided to take the time to visit Isle de Omotepe.
　
Island Paradise
　
Omotepe is an island set in the middle of the huge lake 'Lago de Nicaragua'. It was formed when the two twin volcanos within the lake were joined together by lava flows. The majority of tourists visit Omotepe to climb either Vulcan Concepción (1610m) or Maderas (1394m) in a gruelling day long hike. Of course, this was out of the question for us, Shay's ankle really getting in the way of a lot of things we had intended to do, so we decided to do as much as we can with limited walking and time. We decided to fork out for an island tour, promoted as seeing the best parts of the island in a day, it would be nice having someone do all the thinking and navigating while we just sat back and enjoyed the view.
　
Our day started with a long and bumpy drive with our guide, Harrington, behind the wheel. He took us to a lovely property with amazing gardens filled with brightly coloured flowers and teaming with butterflies. There were also some ancient rock carvings from their ancient ancestors (petroglyph's), Harrington gave us a bit of a run-down on each carving and we snapped off a few pics then were keen to get to 'Highlight no.2'.
　
Santa Domingo is the islands beach paradise, advertised as having miles of golden sand and described as 'fabulous' by Lonely Planet. Maybe it was because it was rainy season, but all we saw was a dull, grey, sad excuse for a beach with a couple of pasty tourists trying to get a tan on an overcast day. I think our guide was thinking we would want to experience this marvel for hours on end and he would have to drag us away but we were ready to go in under 5 minutes!
　
Next up was the 'Ojo de Agua' (Eye of Water), this was a natural swimming pool at the base of the volcano, where we were more than happy to jump into the refreshing water and cool off from the humid afternoon heat with the rest of the raucous holidaying Nicaraguans.
　
Charco Verde (Green Puddle) was our lunchtime stop. We relaxed for an hour at the busy lakeside restaurant then went on a short walk to the lagoon in the hope of seeing some wildlife. Luck was on our side and we came across a family of howler monkeys that came to observe us from the safety of the trees. By this time Ollie's attention and enthusiasm for our 'Island Tour' was beginning to wear thin so we decided against the two museums filled with pottery (not really our thing anyway) and made our way to the last and best 'Highlight'.

Punta Jesus Maria, a long spit of sand which juts out into the lake was nothing more than a stub of dirty sludge when we were there. We took the obligatory photo and were ready to go. In fairness to the Isle of Omotepe, I'm sure these amazing highlights are lovely in the dry season, it was unlucky that we had a very grey and miserable day to see everything and medical conditions which prevented us from doing what we really wanted to do, which was climb the volcano, had got in the way.
　
Funnily enough we completed our 6 hour Island Tour in record time so we debated whether to just get the ferry back to the truck that evening, we had parked up in the (hopefully) secure port parking and were slightly anxious about our other travelling companion. We had already booked and paid for the hotel in Ometepe so we made the decision to stay and enjoyed fairly decent pizza for the second night in a row at the local pizza joint.
　
Perhaps a real unexpected highlight of our Omotepe island experience (and one they should consider adding to the brochure), was a few beers at the local petrol station in Moyogalpa! They actually had a great little bar attached to the service station, obviously so you can fill up both your tanks before your drive home. During our second beer the entire towns power was shut off plunging us all into darkness, all we could see was little firefly's buzzing around and the odd headlight from passing vehicles. Ear-busting discothèques were silenced and all we could hear were confused dogs going ballistic. This must be a regular occurrence because all establishments have a handy supply of candles and soon were lighting them all up and getting on with whatever they were doing. By the time we finished our third cerveza the power was back on again and the town buzzed once more with Friday night festivities.
　
We were up early the next morning, and caught the 6.30am launcher across the lake back to San Jorge. After a bumpy hour pitching up, down and left, right on the swell we were relieved to be back on terra firma and to see that our truck was still intact. We now only had a short drive to the Nicaraguan/Costa Rican border, our second to last Central American border experience. We were eager to get on with it and primed ourselves up for this one. This time we were not going to get taken advantage of... we were going to show them who was boss.....