I squeezed myself into the back seat of the top deck of the Lancha and immediately got chatting with 33 year old German Frank. He was 6 months into a year long holiday, having started with 2 months of Spanish school in Cuba then worked his way down to Nicaragua.

He was heading to Santa Cruz on the island to meet some friends he made - I was heading to Santa Domingo because the guidebook said it was a beach, and I was hungover so thought that sounded great!

When we arrived we were approached by many cab drivers who advised us we were going to need to catch 2 buses that would take us over an hour to get where we were going ... We didn't want to pay the $25 he was asking to drive us & fortunately held out as he found 3 others for us to share with.

He led us to the car where we were joined by 3 other Aussie girls - one who happened to be the one I was talking to at Barrio Cafe the previous morning (Ang)!

At that stage neither of us were planning on going to Omentepe, but Tobias had told me it was not to be missed, and her friends had also talked her into it.

The girls were also heading for Santa Cruz so realised that must be the place to be, so abandoned my plans & decided to follow them to their hostel, Little Morgans.

The place was gorgeous! Our dorm was a tree house style, 2 stories made with bamboo & tree branches.

Aussies from Melbourne, Tess & Anton, ran the hostel along with Irish owner, Morgan.

I headed straight for the lake when I arrived to cool off with a swim - the views were magic as not a soul in sight and you could see all the way across the lake to the volcano.

After I found a hammock & read my book then caught up on some sleep! (Hopefully not snoring out loud for all to hear - so paranoid now!).

All at the hostel were friendly and after my nap I joined them up in the main communal area, meeting New Zealand Saffron & English Becks.

We were also joined later by Franks mate Adam - another American in Film & TV - a progammer for E Entertainment.

There was no power at the hostel, just the generator, so we sat by candle light chatting and getting great travel tips.

A storm rolled in with thunder & lightening making the setting even more ambient. The rain was pounding down and was beautiful - that was until we went to bed & discovered 3 if the 6 dorm beds in our room were soaked!

That's what happens I guess when you sleep in a treehouse!

The hostel was fully booked so Becks bunked in with Saffon and Frank and I were moved to mattesses on the deck above the communal area and used lace curtains for makeshift mosquito nets.

I woke in the morning to gorgeous views of the volcano & rainforest, so wasn't all bad after all.

That day I wanted to join a group fo a hike up Volcano Maderos but as the only person interested, the guide wouldn't go.

Instead I planned to just walk to the lookout alone. Initially I walked from my hostel to El Porvenir (where the trail started) and met a group of guys & their guide who were planning on hiking the volcano.

They asked their guide if I could join them, and of course for $10 I could!

Two of the guys, Tony & Paul were from Scotland and here on uni holidays. The other two, Gus & 'never caught his name' where here from Puerto Rico although originally born in the US.

The hike up to the lookout was very muddy and the weather so hot and humid that we were dripping with sweat.

On the way we saw a group of Howler Monkeys - l was very excited as have been wanting to see a group of them like this since Costa Rica!

Getting to the lookout took us 2.5 hours - then it was still another 2.5 hours to the summit. The boys bailed on doing the climb to the peak which I was glad for, as was now 10.30 so the day was heating up and I'd only packed enough water to go to the lookout!

I'd also heard views were just as good from the lookout as they were at the top - so that settled it for me!

That afternoon I hire a bike from the Santa Cruz hostel and road the 30 minutes to Ojo de Agua - this was a cold water therapeautic pool that was supposed to have similar properties as the thermal pools.

The ride was great - waving and yelling out 'Hola!' to the locals as I went. One guy even rode with me for a while and pointed out the entrance to the park for me.

When i arrived, I ran into the 3 Aussie girls but they were just leaving to head back to San Juan Del Sur. Frank was also there but left shortly after for a 1.5 hour walk back to the hostel.

I had a nice swim, a read & fell asleep in the chair for a bit.

I had to drag myself back onto the bike to head home.

I stopped for a drink at the hostel when I dropped the bike back and watched the sunset and chatted to Paul from Earlier in the day who was staying there.

I also met another couple of American nurses who were working in Belize and were in Nicaragua for a weeks holiday. I chatted to them again later that night as they turned up at my hostel for dinner.

I also got chatting with another new group of people - Franks friends that he came to the island to catch up with, American Chris (Andy) & Simpson (Amanda), then later in the night chatted with Californian Chris.

I also remember chatting with Tess for a bit too, but as she makes a wicked Flora De Cana Rum & Orange - after 4 things were getting hazy & it was time to head for bed!

The hostel garden that night was absolutely magic and filled with fire flies making it look really surreal!

The next morning I realised Chris and I were both heading for Granada, so I was happy to have a travel buddy to negotiate the journey!

First up there were 10 of us heading for the ferry and we all managed to squeeze ourselves and our packs into the back of Morgans ute for the 45 minute ride.

Riding in the back of the ute is always lots of fun but can tell you that bugs hurt when hitting you at 60km an hour!!!

We all arrived unharmed and had another 1 hour + wait for the ferry.

One hour ferry trip - there was a Tv on the boat and the news was showing graphic images of a body lying in the street, a pool of blood lying under the head! Nice safe country!

A cab from there to the grubby little town of Rivas where Chris and I were the last ones left, and we wait another half hour for our chicken bus to Granada to arrive.

We board when it does then wait another 30 minutes in the sun sweating it out on the humid bus, now starting to wish that maybe we should have just paid extra and got a cab to avoid all this heat & waiting!!!

The bus is filling up now and a man comes round and advises a minimum of 3 to a seat! Thankfully I'm against the window and Chris gets to have the sweaty local squished in beside him! Not to mention sweaty me squished in on the other side!

We're now at the point where we're taking turns in who leans forward & who leans back as there's not enough shoulder room for us all!

Chris comments it's one way of gettin to know each other better! I would have preferred over a drink in an air conditioned bar ... but he is right. Between all the waiting and another 2 hours to Granada we chat lots & tell lots of stories and find him to be great company.

Basic bio ... he's 27, originally from California but working in Panama in the Peace Corps teaching English to the local kids, he's in Nicaragua for a short vacation and best pre-requisite for a travel buddy - he can speak Spanish well!