On to Nicaragua

Right now I am on an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. Catch up time.

So my last day in La Fortuna, I checked out of the place I was staying at with Ruth because she left and they were going to charge me double, so I checked into another hostel called Gringo Pete´s, which is a great place, only $3 a night for a dorm bed. On the way to this hostel, I ran into Slovakian guys who I had met at a disco in La Fortuna a couple nights ago. They told me they were leaving today but I had to see the lava, and I told them that´s what I wanted to do. Then they sat me down and gave me a detailed plan of how they were able to go around paying the expensive entry fees for either the National Park or for the Arenal Observatory Lodge, another place tour groups go to either to see the volcano or it serves as a hostel as well. So I pretty much followed this plan to the T. I hitch hiked my way to as close to the Observatory Lodge as I could. On the main road in town, I pulled over this bus, and the driver agreed to take me to as far as he could go before he split off from the road. We drove past the Tabacón hot springs and past the National Park entrance, and then after crossing a stream, which the Slovaks told me I would cross, the bus turned right and I got off to continue going straight. Walking on this gravel path was really intense, because I had great views of the volcano through trees and what´s more is I could literally hear the rocks being shot out of the volcano and rolling down its side. It was pretty intense. Another car pulled over and was kind enough to take me the rest of the way, all the way to the Observatory. Right before the gates to this lodge though was a trail that led into the forest. According to the Slovakian guys, this trail would lead me right to the lava bath. They warned me though of an old woman who would charge me to go through. So as I walked this trail, I came across a little shack with a desk, chair, and notebook, but no old woman. Figuring this was where she charged people, I ran past it before she came back from wherever she was. The trail continued for about another 2 kilometers, as I passed by signs that said "Enter at Your Own Risk". The sounds of the explosions coming from the volcano got louder and louder, and that combined with the shrieks of all the different animals in this forest made the image of the movie Jurassic Park come right into mind. (Little did I know, I found out later that that movie was actually filmed in Costa Rica, on an island owned by the country about 500 km away from the mainland in the Pacific.) Eventually, I got to a sign indicating that I was entering on the dried up lava from the 1992 eruption. As I walked on top of the old lava, I saw the massive Volcán Arenal in clear view, clouds apart, spitting out hot rocks and watched them tumble down its side. It was around 1:30, and I was determined to stay until I could see red lava. Unfortunately, this can only be seen at night, so I was stuck there until sundown. Anticipating this long wait, I brought my book along. So after some reading and more hiking around the volcano, I went back to the old lava bath and just sat there, reading, waiting for time to pass, with this active volcano about 3 miles away from me. It started to rain, and anticipating this, I had carried my umbrella along as well. So just imagine, as tour groups so clearly saw this, coming to see the volcano and along the trail passing by a random guy, who looks like a local (and I was treated like one by all the tour guides), sitting on a rock reading holding an umbrella over his head with this active volcano right in front of him. That´s me. Looking back on it now, I must have looked ridiculous. But I was determined to wait until dark to see the red lava. Finally, around 5:30/6ish, I heard an eruption, and saw rocks falling down, and all of a sudden, sparks of bright red showed. I was so excited. As time went on, more and more sparks flew by, clearly visible from where I was, but unfortunately, too small and not strong enough to be photographed. So while I have no physical proof of seeing lava, I can assure you I actually did see it. By 7, I had run into a tour group and was kind of ready to go, after really seeing lots of lava (in my opinion) at this point, considering I had no ride back and was banking on hitch hiking my way back. The tour group said they could give me a ride, so I walked back with them, all the while listening to the thunder of the volcano. This sound by the way sounds just like real thunder, which is a bit scary because you don´t know if that is thunder or the volcano. We got out of the jungle trail around 7:30 and as we exited, a group of girls ran up to us asking if we saw lava and how bad the trail was and if the guide could go with them. Keep in mind, it is very very very dark at this point. The guide said it would be $30 per person and the girls were obviously saying screw that, and I told them I really didn´t want to go back because I had just spent over 6 hours there and didn´t have a ride back, even though they had a rental car and would be willing to drive me to my hostel. So I walked over to the tour group, and the guide all of a sudden said I would have to pay to go back with them. I said screw that, so the tour group drove away, and I´m left there getting ready to hitch hike. Then, the girls come up to me asking if they gave me $10, and a ride home obviously, would I take them along the trail to the volcano to see the lava. I said sure, not haggling over the amount of money, since they were paying me after all, and I was getting a ride. Plus, I recognized they were speaking Hebrew (they were a group of 4 Israeli girls), so once I told them I was Jewish and had been to Israel, they jumped and cheered and felt much better, despite their surprise that I wasn´t Tico. So I led them through this jungle-path again, for the 3rd time, and learned all about them: how they keep kosher and so cook all their own food (including using their own pots and utensils) and follow the Sabbath and had volunteered in the States with Jewish communities doing stuff for an Israeli organization after being in the National Service (a substitute for the army which religious girls can opt for). I was a bit scared though at how they continued to pester me, asking me why I didn´t know Hebrew since I´m Jewish or made aalyiah yet. Nevertheless, they were still a lot of fun. So we got to the old lava bath that I was just at, saw the lava coming down from the volcano, made our way back to the car, and headed back to town. I told them though I would take them to the natural hot springs I had found because I really wanted to go there as it was my last night in town. So we went back under that bridge and it was just as gorgeous as the first time. Of course, the Israelis loved it also. After about an hour, we headed back to La Fortuna and they invited me to their dinner, which they were going to cook as soon as they found a hostel. I took them to Gringo Pete´s, but for some reason, the private room for $5 didn´t satisfy them (I figured it was some religious reason; i mean they went into the natural hot springs with all their clothes on). So for the next hour, we drove around searching for a place that was cheap enough and with a room good enough for them, me acting as translator most of the time because none of them spoke Spanish. Finally, they found a place, and started making dinner. I struck up a conversation with a guy there, who turned out to be from Nicaragua, and he told me he was a guide for a rafting company and said next time he would take me on a tour for free. I asked him when and he said next Sunday. I thought this was fucking cool, even though La Fortuna is a bit out of the way, it might be worth to come back for a free rafting tour. Unfortunately though, I love Nicaragua so much I don´t think I´m going to make it back. Anyhoo, he brought out his pet, an elephant beetle, the largest beetle on the planet, named Enrique. It was quite entertaining. Finally, after a nice kosher meal, I got into bed, knowing full well I had to make the 8 am bus out of town to get to Nicaragua the next day.

And of course, I woke up at 7:45 and rushed my ass out of the hostel, just barely making the bus to a town called Tilarán. From there, instead of waiting for a bus to the next town, I shared a cab with some people to a place called Cañas, which is on the Pan-American highway. And about 10 minutes later, a bus going north all the way to the border (the border town is called Peñas Blancas) showed up and I hopped on. It was completely packed though, and for the first time, I had to stand up. Really, I had always seen people on buses where they were forced to stand because there were no seats, but it was the first time I had to do it. And for about an hour and a half, until we reached the town of Liberia where hald the bus got off, I had to stand in the aisle of ths jampacked bus. I then slept the rest of the way to the border, missing the drive (I´m sure it was gorgeous, as always). Immigration was no problem, and walking in between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I met an Australian guy named Pete who was planning on going to the same hostel (Bearded Monkey) in the same town (Granada) I planned to go to. So we got our Nica stamp and got on a bus to head there. I turned to put my big pack down, and when I turned back around, I saw a familiar face come running towards me with her arms wide open. It was Nour, the Turkish girl from Santa Elena I went to the waterfalls with. She was so happy to see me, I was a bit surprised. Then she told me of her story getting into the country, and I realized why she felt so great to see a familiar face. She had signed up with a private bus to go straight to Granada, but the bus never showed and after she called back, it still didn´t show and ended up having to spend the night in Liberia. When another bus didn´t show, she met some a Tico family who was nice enough to drive her all the way from Liberia to Peñas Blancas (that´s a long drive, 2 and a half to 3 hours). Then she handed her passport to the immigration officer still in Costa Rica, and the officer was so shocked by a Turkish passport that he ripped the spine of it. Then he refused to stamp it because it was ripped. Then she had to talk to the officer´s boss´s boss and ended up crying because she was so upset over everything she had gone through. In her own hilarious words, "Being a woman and single, I used my most powerful weapon and cried. I cried my way into Nicaragua." Pete then laughed and said, "That´s the name of your first album right there!" Funny stuff. So the 3 of us made it to the Bearded Monkey in Granada and spent the night with another Australian Pete had met in Panamá named Nick, drinking Nicaragua´s famous 7-year spiced rum, Flora de Caña, on the steps of some random building across the street from our hotel, jamming on Nick´s guitar and making up songs from all of our crazy adventures. Nick had been traveling for 5 months already, going from Chile to Argentina to Uruguay a bit to Bolivia to Peru to Ecuador, flying to Panamá to go to Costa Rica and finally in Nicaragua and finishing up all the way in Mexico. What a guy! When we got screams from the hostel saying we were too loud, we went inside and talked for another couple hours about everything. It was such a chill night, I had a blast.

I woke up early the next day, naturally, upset that I couldn´t sleep more. Eventually, I made my way into the town of Granada, walking throughout the beautiful Parque Central. The town is very colonial, all the buildings are painted different colors (from blues to greens to pinks to yellows) and the park is a really nice place with well-planted trees and little tiendas selling everything. Hot dog stands are even scattered around. I walked to several churches, including one that had a bell tower that I climbed up and got a fabulous view of the entire gorgeous city of Granada. I walked to the shore of the lake and around the market. I am surprised at how the people will wear anything that has English on it, no matter what it says. If there´s English written on a shirt, then it´s cool. One big construction guy I saw working and was walking past wore a shirt that said, "I´m suffering from PMS." Great shirt!!! The difference between here and Costa Rica is also as clear as night and day, the place just reeks of poverty as well as culture though. I don´t think I´ve been to a place in Costa Rica that is as natural and not nearly as catered to tourism as much as Granada. Eventually I got super hot and tired and went back to the Bearded Monkey and just chilled and organized myself a bit. That night was a lot like the previous one, except that when the worker at the hostel told everyone they had to be quiet, and there were 3 other people jamming on various musical instruments, literally the entire hostel, about 20 people total, joined together and made way to the gazeebo in Parque Central to sit in a circle and just jam. One guy was just incredible at guitar and an Irish guy had a little flute/recorder with him and together they were just going off. And every single person had a drink! It was so damn awesome. We were there till about 1 at night, singing everything from Bon Jovi (Livin´on a Prayer) to Guns ´N Roses (Sweet Child o´Mine) to Chili Peppers (Under the Bridge) to originals people had written. It was by far one of the coolest nights I´ve had, maybe ever.

I passed out and woke up early, having packed the night before because I wanted to go to this island that I´m at right now in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, Isla de Ometepe. It has two volcanoes on it. I took a bus from Granada to a town called San Jorge, and from there a fairy to a town on the island called Moyogalpa. I was tired from a short sleep and fairly long trip, but I am not planning on staying long and want to see the island. So I rented a bike for the afternoon and rode about 12 km to a beach, took a nap, and rode back. There are a few British guys here who I had dinner with and celebrated the American Independence Day with no drinking, because I am getting up at 6 tomorrow to go hiking up to the island´s largest volcano, Volcán Concepción. My plan for now, because I am enjoying Nicaragua a lot and there seems to be a lot of cool stuff to do, is to stay on the island until Friday and then spend the weekend in Granada, to check out the night life there (it´s supposed to be absolutely amazing). Then I want to go check out other volcanoes more north, where you can actually go volcano surfing down after hiking up. Then do some other stuff around Granada and finish up Nicaragua with a few days at the beach and surfing in San Juan del Sur. Then I´ll head to Panamá and the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. I will now almost for sure skip some beaches and climbing I wanted to do in Costa Rica, but I´m willing to do that for some new experiences here in Nicaragua. Happy 4th of July!!!