Nicaragua-Granada, Isla Ometepe, San Juan del Sur

2/13/11  -  2/22-11

Our first stop in Nicaragua was the lakeside town of Granada.  Luckily, we happened to arrive just as Festival of the Poets was beginning.  The town square plaza was bustling with food, music, handmade jewelry and hammocks.  Even with all the action, we didn't have to share the town with many tourists.  We did meet a fun couple from London that we spent a lot of time with at the festival and around town.
There wasn't much to do in Granada which made splurging on a fantastic hotel the ideal option for celebrating making it through 1.5 months of bug infested/dirty hostels.  For two full days we did nothing more than lounge around at our huge and empty palm-tree lined pool, drinking cold margaritas and planning where we'd go next.  It really felt like vacation more than backpacking through 3rd world.


Our laid back hostel for the first night in Granada


Streets of Granada


sports field in the city


Ancient church


Our fancy hotel pool

Granada is a beautiful and moderately clean town but still home to a lot of poverty.  We decided a while back that since we really haven't done the volunteer work we hoped to, that we would feed anyone we came across who was hungry (they beg you not to give money as it has created a HUGE problem).  This town gave us a great opportunity to feed!  The adults are happy to have you buy them a real meal while the little ones associate foreigners with sweet candies or cookies.  Instead of "don't take candy from strangers" it's "ask strangers for candy".  We've made sure to stock up on the healthy foods as well as all the Oreos we can find. The kids come up trying desperately to sell you a shell or handmade doll.  When instead you offer them cookies and cheese crackers (or something with protein)...their big brown eyes get so wide and smiles spread across their faces...they forget all about wanting to sell you something for ten cents.  Filling a hungry belly is much more satisfying.  Another noteworthy observation is how much "sharing" goes on in these third world countries.  It is very common to see a family of four all crammed onto one motorcycle for a trip to town.  Even more unusual (and disturbing) is that infants are not exceptions to the family motorcycle outings. Early in the morning and late in the afternoons, its normal to see two full grown men cruise by on the same bicycle to/from work....one pedaling and one sitting between his legs upfront. The same thing is seen countless times a day via horse or cow.


Our last night in Granada we took a horse-drawn carriage ride at sunset while it rained softly on the town.  It was a treat to see so much of the city in style:)  Later that night we came back from our evening famished (at least I was).  Not paying much attention, I hastily shoved a few good sized handfuls of granola into my mouth while we we watched something on our fancy television.  When I finally looked down at the granola bag, I realized swarms of ants were frantically attempting to escape being eaten.....by me!  It wasn't one or two ...or twenty or thirty....it was swarms!!!  I laid face down, choking back the urge to vomit while Adam read me everything he googled on "why eating ants isn't dangerous".  A late night dip in the cool pool cured the nausea...and of course...it just ended up being an alternative form of protein.


After Granada, we took buses and boats to the Isla de Ometepe.  For the first time since our trip began, someone purposely put us on the wrong the bus for our $.  Thankfully we figured it out and flung out packs and ourselves from the rear of the moving bus (it wasn't going fast Mom). Isla de Ometepe is an island that sits in the middle of lake Nicaragua and is home to two large and breathtaking volcanoes.  Though the lake has some nice beaches, most shy away from swimming due to the only freshwater sharks in the world and piranhas.  The island is particularly precious because few travelers make the journey leaving it a great opportunity to just sink into the culture.  The only negative to this is that it's very hard to get where you need to go (it takes about 4 hours to get from one side of the island to the other) for hikes and exploring.  It was here that we did our first (and last Mom) hitchhiking.  Thanks to our friends the farmers, we got to hike Volcano Maderas where loud birds and monkeys accompanied us up into the wet jungle.  We also rented a motorcycle (upgrade from the scooter) to check out more of the island.  It was a hoot dodging cows, pigs, horses and many other farm animals as we cruised down the dirt roads.  We ended up at the hot springs where we soaked in mineral rich waters that trickle down from the mountains.


Our only fear with the motorcycle were that the rental place had no locks for it.  They laughed at our concerns and assured us nothing had ever happened nor would on the friendly island.  Later that afternoon, Adam saw 3 guys carrying our motorcycle right from our hostel!  He ran after them frantically.  After a series of hand signals and foot motions, he realized they were simply relocating the bike so that the evening soccer game could go on in the street.



One of the two volcanoes on Isla de Ometepe


arriving on the island..


stopping for the cows, dogs, and horses


natural hot springs tucked in the jungle...


1.5 months in and I could finally put Adam's hair in a ponytail...cute huh? :)




washing closthes


our friend at the hotel

Saturday the 19th of February we got to our third and final Nicaraguan destination, San Juan Del Sur.  San Juan del Sur is a beautiful and small stretch of beach that is very built up compared to the rest of the country.  Though built up, it's still lovely!  On either side of the sandy stretch are big rocks and cliffs perfect for hiking to for good views of the town.  Our first afternoon we met up with Becky and headed to the hills for a big reggae concert.  It was an odd feeling being on a chicken bus with 50 other gringos who had come to the beach for the big festival but we had a blast.  A big field with drink stands and local foods surrounded the stage blaring great music!


dinner at a tasty beach side restaurant with Becky and friends


throwing fire at the music festival

Hanging out with Becky for a few days was such a treat!  We ate plenty of amazing food at the market, caught some beautiful sunsets, drank good Nicaraguan rum wherever it presented itself and explored neighboring beaches via livestock truck. 


a cave we found exploring the beaches of San Juan del Sur


the beach from the view at Jesus statue

It's hard to believe we've been here over month and a half!  Time is flying by at incredible speed but we're loving ever minute and taking tons of pictures.  Tonight (at 1:30am) we'll pick up our first visitors for 9 full days of adventure!

Honduras-Bay Islands, Copan, Tegucigalpa

2/4/11-2/14/11

Our time spent on the island of Roatan was defined by white sand beaches, tropical sunsets, and amazing sea life. Our first full day on the island was Superbowl Sunday.  We started the morning at our hotel in West End with something we'd been craving for the last month...the biggest bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats that we could pour without looking like cavemen.  Cold cereal was a welcome break from a month of eggs and beans.  We started to make coffee when all the electricity on the island went out.  They told us it would be at least 4 hours.  This left us no choice but to rent a scooter!  You may be laughing...but this scooter had a 100 CC vs. the normal 50 so it could giddy up!  We cruised the island (HUGE compared to any island we'd been on) for four hours barely seeing half.  On our bumpy ride we discovered the beaches of West Bay where the rich and famous come.  What a beach!  It was impossible to access the beach (1/2 mile long) unless you entered through one of the exclusive resorts, restaurants, or arrived by water.

West Bay beach

scooter

snorkeling the crystal clear waters

shrimp?

Super Bowl Evening....certainly something to go down in the books! Because the only place in walking distance was packed, we decided to take advantage of the surprising fact that there was a TV in our room. We hit the store for munchies and ended up with makings for tuna fish sandwiches.  I know I know....pathetic!  However, this was the same store where our other products had been unbelievably expired and the imported cans with a safe date looked pretty good at the time. The fresh fish market was closed so tuna sandwiches on stale bread it was (and Cheetos Carl)! Luckily...every corner was selling ice cold game drinks.  One little detail we'd forgotten was that the game (on our TV) would air solely in Spanish. I did a lot of translating.  The game on the Honduran station looked liked it was taped by a teenager hopped up on Mt. Due the way it bounced from shot to shot never actually getting good angles.  This and the stale tuna sandwiches made us laugh so hard it hurt :)  We woke up sometime around midnight realizing we had actually fallen asleep sometime 3rd corner and had zero idea what had happened.  The odd thing is...neither of us remember being tired or laying down... poison tuna sandwiches??? maaaaaaaaaaybe....juuuuuust maaaaybe! We spent the remainder of our time snorkeling on the fabulous beach we'd found and catching the sunsets on the beach by our hotel.

Tuesday the 8th was another travel day that brought us to Copan (western side bordering Guatemala). Copan is where travelers and locals alike come to walk in Mayan footsteps amongst ancient ruins.  It's fascinating to learn about their lives so many years ago. After walking around the ruins we headed out on a horseback tour of the neighboring Mayan village.  Our tour guide Margarito ran along side our miniature and painfully skinny horses smacking them with long stalks anytime their trot turned into a walk.  Five minutes into our trip our worst fears surfaced.  There in the dirt road face up, arms and legs sprawled in different directions was a dead teenager.  To our horror, nobody was stopping to check him out.  I asked Margarito what the heck was going on.  He laughed up at the silly blonde gringo and told me he was only "borracho"...drunk.  He said whenever people get really drunk it's very custom to just pass out in the street. He wasn't lying, we've now seen it numerous times.  Cars, horses, police, and families swerve around the borrachos and pay them no attention.  When they sober up, they peel themselves off the ground and carry on.

cait and adam

Adam in front of the tree (he's hard to see!)

Our "horseback riding trip" was hysterical.  Adam insisted I ask Margarito a couple different ways if his horse (that looked like a little donkey) had ever carried this much weight.  To make it a little scarier the rocky dusty road to the village was incredibly steep.  Adam's horse fell to his front knees on the way down one particularly ludicrous hill....luckily all was fine.

Margarito

On Thursday February 10th we woke up hot and feeling a bit ill.  The electricity had gone out which meant the fan would not work.  It was so incredibly hot through the night we both kept wishing for morning.  As soon as morning came, we left the sauna and set off to swim in the river down the way to cool off.  At the river we were all smiles.  It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes to adapt to other's way of life but man does it make you appreciate what you have.  Not to mention, the hotels/hostels are palaces compared to the dirt floor homes with zero electricity and only 2 hours of daily water that most people are living in. The river was so peaceful. We sat eating our plantain chips and fruit and watching a few locals using huge nets to catch fish.  What a perfect day it was having nothing on the agenda just pretending we were part of their community.

fishing in the river

Walking back into town after swimming later that afternoon, Adam started feeling pretty badly.  What we first thought to be dehydration ended up being....."the bug".  We never did figure out if it was the street food we'd eaten or the river (he went under water and some said later it was dirty).   Either way the poor guy spent the next couple days in bed with the occasional ginger ale or pack of SODAS (Saltines.....thank goodness they make them here!).


At 5am on the 12th, it was travel time again.  As you always do here, we did a good bit of backtracking via chicken bus and then it was off to the capital, Tegucigalpa.  Much to our surprise, Tegucigalpa was much better than all the strict warnings we'd read and heard to "stay away" (we had to stay the night b/c of travel). We were in the city by mid afternoon and enjoyed walking around with the herds of people, listening to music on the plaza, and being the only gringos we saw the entire time.  There was one sketchy encounter but after pretending we understood zero Spanish, the weirdo gave up on trying to figure out where we were staying and left us alone.  The streets of Tegucigalpa are much cleaner than we read about and people seemed happy enough to have us as visitors in their town.  We explored (staying on the main streets) and grabbed some dinner at the only place Adam seemed ready to give real food a shot....Wendy's.  After getting violently sick for days, it takes some time to trust street food again.


Hanging out looking beautiful in the capital and dotted along every street with shops in Central America, are manikins advertising the latest fashions.  I wish more than anything the picture function on the blog would work for this blog entry.  You think from the front the manikins are just as they are in the states, until you walk by them from the side and BAM!!!.......J-Lo style butts.  It's unreal.  In the states, they advertise beauty as being stick thin with no butt.  In Central America, its different.  A big butt and a bit of a stomach on a manikin are typical.....love it!


Sunday the 13th was our second leg of travel that brought us into the heart of our 4th country, Nicaragua. So far, Nicaragua may be our favorite.  We're having so much fun that blogging has obviously been put on the back-burner!  If rain comes or we somehow can peel ourselves off the amazing beach calling our names as we sit and type...we will update!  Until then....we're playing in the sand, listening to Reggae, catching up with the amazing Becky :) whose also in this awesome town, tanning, and hiking the nearby rocky cliffs off the ocean....missing all of you....and SO EXCITED about our first visitors in 5 days!!!!!!

Belize-Tobacco Caye, San Ignacio, Caye Caulker

1/27/11 - 2/5/11

***written Saturday 5th of February. Posted Thursday 10th due to power outages :)



Belize has been nothing short of amazing. Tobacco Caye was our next stop after Placencia...what an experience! We finally caught our boat to the island with one other couple.  Our boat was thin but long (maybe 20 feet). and from the crack we could feel underneath us as we rolled along in the waves, we weren't sure we'd get there in one piece....and this was before we saw the monster waters out deep.  Taking off from Dangriga Belize was an experience in itself.  Adam and the other man on our boat had to jump out in the water and help guide the boat so it wouldn't beach...this should have been a sign.  This and the fact that a kid was driving the little boat like a maniac.  The rest of the trip was nuts. We were completely soaked from the first few waves...if only they had all stayed small.  Lucky for me, I date a boat man who seems to be fearless of the water.  The more he laughed at how ridiculous this was, the more I prayed.  Needless to say, we got there safe and sound.  The fabulous news that came out of our white water adventure, was that being hosed in the face by salt water for 60 minutes completely kicked my sinus infection!

Adam helping the boat not to beach

Tobacco Caye is a very funny little island (it feels half the size of a football field).  The waters are absolutely beautiful.  Looking out from shore, it seems God took a pallet of 12 different blues and stroked the waters occasionally adding a hint of green to the tip of his brush.  When we landed we had a choice of a handful of places (all of them include 3 meals a day as there are no restaurants).  We got a little bungalow and headed to lunch. What an interesting group that stayed at our place.  There was a couple from France, an older gentlemen from Canada and an older gentlemen from Israel.  Canada and Israel laughed at each other as much as they yelled telling the other what an idiot he was.  At first it was uncomfortable but then very comical.  We all sat and listened to them for hours passing the rum around the table. We met a few girls who worked on the island that insisted Adam should cornrow his hair (also wanting our money).  As the storm was in full swing at this point and the rain was pouring from the sky, it was perfect timing for cornrows.  I couldn't stop laughing at how tough the sweet boy from the country looked...nobody messed with us for days! With only one exception...the local marijuana growers.

 

so happy to be on dry land!

The rains and storm held on through the night beating down like heavy fruit on our tin roof.  After breakfast the next morning we decided to jump the next boat knowing that if we didn't, we could be stuck for days. We were bummed because the weather allowed us no snorkeling or swimming but hey...that's all part of the adventure.


Before the return trip, I thought the first trip was scary.  The waves had grown overnight from the storm and thrashed and pulled at our piece of junk boat for the duration of the trip.  This time, we were forced to hunch over as low to our knees as possible and "hold on" to the slippery chipping seats below us for dear life.  We would get so much lift off from the waves that we'd brace ourselves on every one to lessen the impact and stay in the boat.  Many times the lift was so great that upon our slam back to the water we could feel a dreadful crunching of our spines.


After the grace of God put us back on dry land it was off to San Ignacio, Belize on the western side (boardering Guatemala).  San Ignacio was just as amazing as my good buddy Donna had told us about!  We found a wonderful CLEAN hotel as soon as we got there.  We spent three nights there soaking up what the sweet little town had to offer.  Our second day there we met a really nice couple from Denmark and we headed to Jaguar Cave and went tubing (floating in tire tubes through cold waters and dark caves).  We explored the Mayan ruins of Cahal Pech the next morning and spent the afternoon soaking up rays and drinking cold Belikins at a resort on the hill.  There's never enough time to do it all. That being said, we one day hope to go back for the ATM adventure everyone raves about (jungle hiking and caves).

Adam floating

jungle on both sides

Cait by Cahal Pech ruins

paradise for the afternoon at a fancy resort we found

toucan looking for fallen fruit

Monday the 31st of January, we left San Ignacio Belize early in the AM and were on the island of Caye Caulker well before noon.  Caye Caulker is known as the backpacker's island (for its laid back vibe and decently cheap prices).  Caye Caulker is a small island that you can walk around in 35-45 minutes...perfect size!  Lots of tasty restaurants, cheap but delicious street foods, locals selling their handmade jewelry and hammocks, and tour guide offices line the water front.  The place to swim on the island is known as "the split".  The split is like stepping foot onto one of Kenny Chesney's music videos.  Once again we were greeted by caribbean waters that stretched as far as the eye could see.  A little open air restaurant sits at the tip of the point that blares reggae music and serves up ice cold beverages for the thirsty swimmer.  Everyone smiles the same "we hit the jackpot smile" as their toes dance in the cool water and a frothy beverage sits close.  We found a little restaurant on the beach that plays outdoor movies and spent one evening there watching "The Tourist".  On Caye Caulker we finally got to do some snorkeling.  Sean was our guide and had the longest, thickest dreads I've ever seen.  He knew the waters.  He took us to a few spots where we saw lots of fish, coral, barracudas, eels, ect.  We ended our trip swimming way out on the barrier reef amongst nurse sharks and big stingrays (he caught a ray and had us each hold it).  The remainder of our time on the island was spent riding bikes, kayaking, swimming, laying on the docks, and drinking fresh squeezed orange juice by the liter.

resting up for before a swim to the island

beauty

coral reef

bar at the split

Adam trying to catch a fish

sting ray

posing for sunset

Thursday and Friday were travel days.  Thursday brought us back down the coast of Belize to Placencia.  Friday (after nearly missing our boat) we crossed via water to Honduras.  We got to La Ceiba Honduras last night (Friday the 4th) after 12.5 hours of boat/bus.  Today (Saturday) we took our first big boat out to Roatan, one of the Bay Islands and got here by 11am.  The crystal clear water here is the best swimming we've had.  We hit the beach, explored the town to make sure there are at least a few bars on the water that will air the SuperBowl, and picked up fresh seafood that we cooked up for dinner.  There are a lot of details that remind us that we're third world (buying food that clearly expired while I was still in diapers, electricity coming and going as it pleases, being so careful not to swallow even a bit of water while brushing your teeth, not flushing TP, meeting people who make less than 15$ a week, lack of hot water, vehicles that wouldn't dream of passing inspection in the states, bugs crawling all over your rented room, stuffing 4 grown men onto one school bus seat).  

But...... stepping out onto that picture perfect beach....nothing else matters :)        

West Bay

on the ride from Belize to Honduras

lots of fresh seafood and veggies