New Town - New Year

So I was back on the continent  - the first day of a journey which will take me from within a stones throw of  the Honduras border down to the Darien Gap and onto South America

As before all these posts read from the bottom up so scroll down to what you last remember reading and you'll be good!

First stop was the old colonial town of Granada - created by the Spanish - the tiled roofs, adobe frontages and cobbled streets are a huge tourist draw. After the austerity of Cuba the volume of products and food in the shops was amazing - Nicaragua had had its share of 20th century trouble - a revolution followed by the civil war against the US funded Contras left the country in ruins but things are looking good here - although the places I visit are not totally representative there is definite optimism  in the air - especially in Granada

Granada

Lots of Churches here!

Typical Granada street

Parque Central

Colonial House with internal courtyard

Sandinista wall plaque celebrating the revolution

Propaganda mural from the ruling FSLN party and it's leader Daniel Ortega

As well as the colonial attractions it is full of good bars and restaurants - I was back in the land of backpackers and wi-fi - which definitely gives a boost to your social life You mix with people if all ages nationalities and backgrounds - traveling for all sorts of different reasons - many have - for me anyway - fascinating stories - there is no averageness here. We travelers are a lazy breed - watching other people relaxing is inherently relaxing - like watching cats sleep...

Mombacho volcano from Lake Nicaragua

View back to Granada from the lake

View of the Isletas of Lake Nicaragua from top of Mombacho

Stages of Coffee Production

Coffee being dried halfway up Mombacho

Howler Monkeys in the trees on Mombacho

Like a lot of cities in Nicaragua a volcano is not far away - in this case Mombacho - sleeping thankfully!
My trip there was an exercise in "Lost in Translation" - thought I'd booked a tough 6 hour hike round the crater - ended up doing an easy 1 hour walk to a viewpoint - the clues were there when I got on the minibus - everyone in flip flops and someone with a 3 year old in tow - ah well an incentive to practice my Spanish more...

The slopes of the volcano are also a great place to grow coffee and home to the Howler Monkey - the world's loudest land mammal (OK 2nd loudest after Keith Watson) with a vocal range of 3 miles!

New Year brought good things though - I met some people through Couchsurfing and rather than spending New Year in amongst the tourist crowds we went to a locals street party which was great fun even if confusingly celebrations seemed to begin at 11.50 - the only time Nicaraguans have been really early in my experience - all timing is done here on "Nica Time"

15 mins late = early
30 mins late = on time
45 mins late = a bit late
60 mins late = late!!

Nicaraguan New Year street party

Kids trying to break the Pinata

New Year involves lots of fire!

I guess they just couldn't wait to let off more fireworks - similar safety policies to the Cubans i.e. none They also seem to like running round holding burning burning bamboo frames with firecrackers attached! I have a good souvenir of the evening when a firework veered off at 90 degrees - it set the dress on fire of the pretty girl sitting next to me and burned a hole in my trousers - it broke the ice I guess!

After the excitement of New Year I headed north to the town of Masaya - a town with no excitement whatsoever - you have to make your own fun in that town! It did have a couple of great craft markets though and if you want to buy a hammock look no further - not an option for me to carry round unfortunately - and lazy days in a hammock in the UK - not sure that really works..!

Making hammocks in Masaya

Masaya has it's own volcano - always useful to know the evacuation route!

All too soon it was time to pack up my backpack and make my way north to Leon where I was meeting fellow vets for a neutering project - I have put all my veterinary exploits on a separate blog  It's Vet Work - but not as we know it! as it might not interest everybody, some of the text is technical and there are op photos that might not be everyone's cup of tea!

So long from the lowlands of Nica!

Island Dreams

Yeah I know this is a lazy old blog - but when it's sunny outside who wants to stay in cropping photos and composing witty(ish) prose! Well guilt has got the better of me and just in case people start scanning the obits I have put pen to paper...

As before all these posts read from the bottom up so scroll down to what you last remember reading and you'll be good!

Little Corn Island

Let me rewind to just before Christmas - the plane turned away from Havana and as I looked back I felt a sudden sadness - maybe I had fallen a little in love with that funny little island...

Island Laws

Half a day later I was on the last leg of my journey to another island - Little Corn - a tiny place 60 miles off the Mosquito Coast of Nicaragua. This last bit of the journey had to be done by boat. If you were lucky you caught the yacht. If you were less lucky you caught the big boat (they call them pangas here) and if you were very unlucky - like me! - you caught the little panga

The sea journey from Big Corn to Little Corn is wrote in urban myth - stories of green gilled tourists drenched to the skin and the occasional backpack lost overboard abound...in the event is was quite hair raising - the sort of ride people queue up for hours at a theme park. There were some pale faces and but for the plastic sheeting we pulled across a drenching would have been certain. But as we disembarked at the jetty all passengers and backpacks were accounted for and we wandered off to find our accommodations,

Map of Little Corn

So began a week of lazy indulgence - the only interruptions being to get up for a beer or go for a swim! Little Corn is a tiny place - at it's narrowest point you can cross the island in 10 minutes!
There are no roads just a series of pathways criss crossing the island. For the first few days I busied myself with a diving course - there are lovely corals here and plenty of nurse sharks eagle rays & lionfish - no turtles spotted sadly

Eagle ray

Little Corn Power Plant

Easy livin'

There was even a little bit of veterinary work to do - with one of the beach dogs having an infected tail Surprisingly there is a veterinary clinic on the island  Umas-Little-Vet-Clinic no permanent vet though! It had been built by an Italian lady called Paula on her beachfront property Farm Peace & Love A couple of times a year vets come across from Italy or the States and help treat and neuter the islands' dogs

The Clinic

Island Dogs

Christmas Day was most un-Christmassey - they tried to play a few carols but when it's 80 in the shade and the palms are swaying reggae is best and they soon switched back

Like all paradises things are not always what they seem - the islands Little and Big Corn have problems. Cheap drugs especially cocaine and marijuana are a  huge issue here - not so much with the tourists but with the islanders Another issue is rubbish - a lot is washed up on the beach but the bulk comes from local people.  Nicaraguans are lovely people with a ready smile but when it comes to rubbish I can't believe how they spoil their beautiful country - it staggers me to see a pristine beach strewn with plastic - of course my photos don't reflect this sad reality - maybe I should be more honest with my photography...

Routine sunset!

Soon enough I was back on the panga - this time the sea was a millpond - no chance of losing your luggage or your breakfast!

Check In at Big Corn international Airport (seriously!) took for ever - the plane was full so every piece of baggage and every passenger(!) was weighed! The check in allowance was a measly 14kg - no limit on what you carry on tho - so found myself bizarrely taking things out my backpack and squeezing them into my carry on which then in the absence of scanners took them 20 mins for security to go through - of course the total amount I took onto the plane was the same regardless!!!  Work that one out if you can!!

Pretty soon I was in the air leaving another island behind - one that definitely captured my heart

Cuba - it's all about cars, cars, cars!

Although it's been a couple of months since I left Cuba I found these photos of Havana's cars I forgot to post....

As before all these posts read from the bottom up so scroll down to what you last remember reading and you'll be good!

If you love old cars then you'll love Havana - Ford's Pontiac's Chevvy's Dodge's Plymouth's Oldsmobile's and more - some falling apart some in great shape  - 

Most of them are taxis now - the nicer ones taking tourists on rides along the seafront - the beat up ones working the routes back and forth across the city They are called "Ruteros" - they run set routes  collecting and depositing people as they go - not as cheap as  the bus but a lot faster 

Often the bodywork is a multicolored patchwork of different paint colours and filler - the engines are another story - not many are original - the Rutureos could never afford to run their routes on petrol so it's a diesel conversion or a new modern engine

What is really great to see is the original badges and bonnet art...

The cars have few of the original fittings inside - certainly no seatbelts which keeps your fingers crossed when you are flying along the Malecon at 60! Es Cuba!

 

 

 
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