From the Beach to Volcano Island

After the chilliness of Esteli it was time to warm up - I headed to the Pacific coast and ended up spending a lazy week on the beach at Maderas. The closest town is San Juan Sel Sur - famed for it's surfing culture.

San Juan Del Sur

The surf beaches are actually north of the town so I headed up there. It was a long sandy walk to my backpackers - called Matilda's but well worth it. It was the quiet end of the beach - just a couple of beach bars and lazy travelers

Entrance to Matilda's

Some backpackers liked to stay in these "dog kennels"!!

I spent my days on the beach and my nights in a hammock listening to the waves crash on the shore. Some people preferred to sleep in the 'dog kennels" Tiny little huts about 3 feet high - just room for a mattress and your backpack!

Beautiful beautiful Maderas beach - I could have stayed for months....

But this was essentially a surf beach and I was determined to get up on a surfboard and ride a wave! The only thing I learned is that surfing is a very difficult sport! I had an hours lesson followed by lots of practice for the rest of the day - ended up feeling like I'd spent 6 hours in a washing machine! I did get up on the board for 10 seconds - obviously there is no footage to prove this!

Would love to be able to tell you this is me - but it isn't!

With my board - where it's safe - on dry land!

Too soon it was time to move on but not before one of the beach dogs at Maderas needed a bit of dentistry - see my Beach Dog Dental post on my Vet work blog! I moved onto Ometepe - an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua

Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua

The island is made up of 2 volcanoes - Concepcion and Maderas and is full of little laid back retreats where you can eat good food, do yoga (which I didn't do - not bendy enough!) and relax. For the more adventurous there are bike rides and volcano climbing to be done.

Volcano Concepcion

Volcano Maderas

Petroglyphs on the volcano slopes

Crested Blue Jay (I think!) 

Concepcion volcano from the shore of Lake Nicaragua

The nearest I got to climbing it!

                             Best shower in Nicaragua!

But there's only so much relaxation to be done before my feet get itchy - time to hop on a ferry and head towards the border with Costa Rica...

Frio up North!

"It will be "frio" in Esteli" the man selling the strong and delicious Nica coffee on the bus told me - he shivered for emphasis - "Soy de Escocia - no y problema! " I replied

When I got off at Esteli there wasn't a problem with the temperature - a few degrees cooler but not like Scotland that was for sure!

The further north you go - the more real Nicaragua becomes - you can see it in the faces of the people - in the memorials in the streets and the colourful murals on every available wallspace

Esteli  itself is a working cowboy town - since the rebuild murals have sprung up all around - the earliest ones depicting revolutionary struggles - newer ones showing the current issues - the rights of education & healthcare, the emerging women's rights movement and the importance of environmental protection

The Murals of Esteli

This cowboy town near the Honduras border was at the forefront of the Sandinista Revolution and the subsequent Contra War - the Contras attacking from their mountain hideaways in Honduras - Esteli taking the onslaught - bombed to nothing..but it has rebuilt and fences have been mended physically and emotionally.

Singing Revolution songs in a local cafe

Cowboy Town

Saddle Making

Sandinista Memoriial

Sandinista Museum

Hey it's Che! (with Sandino and Jose Marti) 

Women's rights are just starting here....

Esteli is blessed with beautiful countryside - waterfalls to swim under, deep canyons to float down, hiking up to miradors to see the Maribos volcanic chain sweep from Honduras to Managua and then into the mystic cloud forests to see nature at her most primeval. A highlight was stopping to see Alberto Guiterrez - the rock carver of Tisey who spent 36 years carving designs into the rock face that is his back garden!

Somoto Canyon

Before the leap into the canyon!

During the leap - it was a mistake to look at the water!

Leafcutter ants in action in the cloudforest

Delicate fungi in the cloudforest

The Miraflor Cloudforest

The Maribos volcanic Range

Alberto Guiterrez - the rock carver of Tisey

Here's one I did!

The highlands also produce lots of Nicaragua's coffee - Cue a trip on the chicken bus...

The Chicken Bus!

Child worker on the Chicken Bus

So what the hell is a chicken bus you ask - well a chicken bus is a Nica institution - no trip here would be the same without a ride in one  - they are old US schoolbuses - brought down here - given a funky paint job and set on the road - add in lots of locals blaring music - anything from Mexican mariachi to the Bee Gees - add in vendor (unfortunately some of them children but not as many as I was expecting)  selling enchiladas peanuts plantain chips etc - oh and the occasional chicken - and you're good to go - they are slow - they stop for anyone and everything  but so much fun especially on bumpy roads out of the Miraflor

Well back to coffee - the chicken bus dropped me in Jinotega - a really real cowboy town in a bowl of hills - lorries full of wet coffee beans flow in here - "Compra Cafe" the signs say - as soon as the beans are bought they are bagged up and lorries out to the surrounding coffee factories for drying and roasting

Jinotega

Cowboy boot maker - Jinotega

Jinotega

Real poverty on the outskirts of Jinotega

The other big draw here is the cool temperatures - my fleece was dug up from the depths of my backpack and worn - for the first time since I took it off arriving in Havana 3 months before!!!

Well you can only wear a fleece for so long and my yearning for the sun soon called  - I headed south...

Leon - the other side of Lion Town

The vet work took up a lot of time in Leon but we did find some time to play and look around - thanks mainly to our great Nica Vet friends Jorge and Erick. They gave us a flavour of Leon I would never have experienced if I hadn't been with them

Leon has 18 churches - you will be glad to know I have not got pictures of them all!

Leon has a lot of culinary specialities which we sampled - here are a few!

Gallo Pinto: most people in Nicaragua eat this almost daily and it is considered a national symbol. It is composed of a mixture of fried rice with onion and sweet pepper, red beans boiled with garlic. They are mixed and fried all together. It is often eaten for breakfast with eggs - quite often eaten for lunch as well - occasionally for dinner! To be honest you can get quite sick of it...:-)

Gallo Pinto

Vigorón: . A plate is covered with a part of a plantain tree leaf, on top of which yucca, pork,  chicharrón and a salad made out of cabbage and tomato is placed - this is delicioso!!

Vigoron

Nacatamale a dough which is prepared with ground corn and butter. This is then filled up with small pieces of pork or chicken, rice, potatoes, tomatoes, onion, sweet pepperThis mixture is packed in leaves of plantain trees (not edible), tightened with a small thread, that makes it look like a tiny pillow. It is then cooked inside the leaves and boiled during five hours - also really nice

Nacatamales

Eating my nacatamale at the beach!

Sopa de Mondongo: this soup is yucca, cow's reticulum (tripe to you and me) and calves feet! You can see the calves foot at the bottom of the bowl the reticulum abobe it and the yucca to the left!! I ate the yucca!!

Close up of the calves's foot!

Quesillo: originally from  the department of León. The quesillo is easy to prepare. A piece of cheese (which is named quesillo) is placed inside a tortilla. This is then wrapped up in a plastic bag. Onions and vinegar are added, and the finishing touch is to put fresh cream and a bit of salt on top.

Quesillo

Raspados - now time for dessert - this guy shaves the ice and flavours it with syrups - the 2 favourites are a red one - not really sure of the flavour but I'm sure it's all natural ha ha - the other one is caramelised condensed milk!!

Raspado Seller

Health food!

So when we weren't experimenting with the cuisine we were drinking the beer - only 2 to choose from in Nicararagua - Tona or Victoria - both tasting fairly similar in my opinion! 

Swift beer after work Luis Erick Jorge and me

Eating late night in Leon!

Jorge Luis and myself enjoying yet another beer

Local band in Via Via music venue

Luis singing at Via Via

Yep Leon has a Volcano - this one you can sandboard down!

Another Leon Church

Leon is also a place where a lot of revolutionary activity went on - they have a Heroes and Martyrs museum which tells the story of the conflicts here

Revolutionary tank which rolled down the streets of Leon

After our project finished we headed back to the beach for a bit of R&R

The beach at Penitas near Leon

Surfboards at Penitas

Luis making ceviche for us at the beach place

After our weekend at the beach it was time for goodbyes - Luis headed back to Peru, Yelena (who runs the vet project) headed back to the US and I headed north...