Nicaragua Vacation Days

Anne and I took advantage of our stocked-up vacation days and headed to Nicaragua for two weeks. We got a Wednesday to Wednesday deal with Transportes del Sol, so we hopped on the bus and executed our escape. Below is a day-by-day account of our two weeks.

photo credit: Marcia Dempsey

Tuesday - Pre-trip sleepover at Marcia's, which included my joyful introduction to 30 Rock and awesome campo capresse after our out of control super selectos shopping spree. This spree included things like goat cheese, gouda, basil, gnocchi, and many other completely unnecessary but glorious foods that I do not regret even a little bit.

Wednesday - Day 1

Woke up with a head cold that persisted throughout the day

10:30 Transporte del Sol bus from "el triangulo" San Miguel

I spent the bus ride reading We Were Here by Matt de la Peña, author extraordinaire, and watching Dangerous Minds (pretty good for one of those high school teacher inspirational movies), Blood and Bone (terrible), Tree of Life (I don't even know - there were so many long Planet Earth type scenes that I had no idea what was happening), and 3 metros sobre el cielo (bad boy good girl romance that I enjoyed). From the bus I saw a guy walking along the highway wearing a giant marionette, light-up trees and huge revolutionary face made of lights, more trees than in all of El Salvador, and a late night basketball game in the park after turning past the palacio nacional. The hostel had an adorable mini pinscher and black cat chasing each other all evening, and was a block away from the Peace Corps Nicargua office.

Lodging: hotel maracuya, $12.65 per night

Thursday - Day 2

9:30 bus to Granada, about an hour $1
We spent the day sweating and wandering around the parks, churches and squares in Granada and watched fathers biking home from school with their kids on the handlebars. Granada has pretty clean streets, but a gross polluted lake. Granada has endless parks and classes, universities and activities. I think one of the things El Sal lacks is extracurricular activities for kids, and safe spaces to play. I love that the historical spaces - old churches, trains, parks - have been converted into free fun learning opportunities. Two eight-year olds climbed into the old train car at the train station next to poet's park that is now used for night classes. One wore a conductor's hat and climbed from the closed passenger car into the open box car, nimbly jumping the gap and motioning his companion to follow. They raced to the end, lost in their imaginary world of intrigue and adventure. My childhood was filled with Indians, cowboys, scouts, animals, magic and storybook charcters that lived in my imagination just as vividly as any real person. When Hector asked at the Men as Partners Conference why we give girls brooms and kitchen sets rather than books and puzzles, I realized again just how quintessential and empowering my childhood was. My birthday gifts were books and puzzles and art projects, and I grew up thinking I could be whoever I want and do absolutely anything. Gender roles in El Sal are depressingly strict, and children are a source of labor in the house, not creative little beings to nurture and delight in. I was talking with Anne, and the talk inevitably turned to books, and eventually to childhood books. We were and are avid readers, and one of the things I am most excited about having children is to read books out loud to them and revisit all of the stories I adored growing up. 

Lodging: Oasis ($10) - lots of people, small pool, free water, hammocks and lots of space, but probably equally grungy in the dorms or a private room. I haven't been around so many white people in so long, and I forget sometimes that sorority girls travel too, and get into full volume conversations about wether they will go bungee jumping naked and what about their vaginas and will they hold their boobs for literally an hour, repeating every single statement ad naseum every time another member of their group wanders over. I try not to judge anyone anymore, but I was hardcore judging those broads. It just goes to show that traveling doesn't make you a worldly person, or necessarily a good one.

Friday - Day 3

All-day lounging at Laguna de Apoyo, about 30 min away. It was good to swim and the lake was beautiful, though I burned the hell out of my shoulders and legs. Made friends with a Nebraskan law student, Max, and two girls traveling after finishing their army service in Israel. One must have dual citizenship or something because she was blonde, blue eyes, New York accent, and also spoke perfect Hebrew. They helped out with our planning for visiting Ometepe. 

These boys thought they were too cool for school. Oh, teenagers.

Saturday - Day 4

Ometepe didn't happen (probably good because the volcano spouted off gas and rocks that night), but we spent the day at the Masaya artisan market where I got some paintings and shirts and a smoothie, then heading up to the Catarina lookout point over the lake I visited yesterday. Hot, but a pretty chill day overall. I finished Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman.

photo credit: Anne Ruelle

Sunday - Day 5

Travel day from Granada to Managua ($1), taxi to the station ($4) then Managua to Matagalpa ($3)

Because we're cheap, we decided to walk the fifteen or so blocks from the bus to the hostel, and happened upon a creamery at the corner of parque Dario called Besame (kiss me). Walking in was a sort of epiphany. This is my dream made manifest. It's one room with a big fridge, big oven, freezer, lots of shelving and containers for ingredients and whatnot, a big center table with containers full of cookies for ice cream sandwiches and handmade cones with bar stools along one side, and about enough space for 15 people inside. The decoration is simple and mostly pink, which I definitely wouldn't do; what's the point of having a friend who's an amazing artist if I don't get her to make vibrant murals on my walls? I don't want to be overwhelming, but at least one wall needs something incredibly intricate that your eyes keep wanting to retrace. 

I'm getting away from myself, and I haven't even explained! I've had this niggling desire for a long time to start a bakery, but I'm not terribly keen on complicated desserts, cakes, or all the fancy decorating. When I walked into the creamery, something clicked - here's a way to make desserts without overextending or having to create anything horribly complicated. Ice cream lasts for a while, and can be accompanied by fruit, cookies, brownies or bars. I could make one special item a week, anything from cheesecake to brownies to eclairs to cake. Served with good coffee or tea and of course a good wifi connection, it's a good place to hang out and enjoy an afternoon. Put it in a place where PCVs are starved for Internet and sweets, and you have a loyal customer pool that will spread the word. Now all I need is a place I love to live, seed capital, business knowledge, good recipes, and the know-how to make good ice cream.

Lodging: La Buena Onda ($7) no free breakfast, but good space, helpful staff and good vibe, great book exchange, a pet rabbit, free water, PCV preferred, and around the corner from the best Italian place - La Vita e Bella

Monday - Day 6

It turns out everything is pretty much closed on Mondays. We spent most of the day hiking in Selva Negra. You get there by hopping on a Jinotega bus (12 cordobas) and getting off when you see the army tank on your right, then walking in for about 1.5 km until you reach the guard shack (50 cordoba entrance fee) then you have free reign to walk anywhere you want around the ponds, up the mountain, around the coffee plantation, and through the greenhouses and vegetable patches.
We met up with a current PCV for a delicious dinner and more smoothies and compared our service, programs and posts. Life would have been so very different if I was posted in or near Matagalpa. *sigh*

Tuesday - Day 7

At the Chocolate castle in the morning we lucked out with a great tour guide who took us through the history - it's all tied up with coffee and Germans - and the small production of chocolate, all of which, from grinding to packaging, is done by two women. The chocolate is okay, and the tour was fun. The afternoon found us back at the Italian place for a reunion with my college friend, Sarah. For some reason I did not get a picture of us to mark this momentous occasion, so we will never know if it actually happened. It was fantastic to finally catch up again and talk about the job, the fiancée and the grad school work. I miss getting unsolicited advice, editing papers, and feeling a little like I had a very cynical advisor who really didn't believe me when I said I admired her. I still do. The sarcasm has toned down a bit, though maybe that's just the Spanish, but the brain is still analyzing away. 

In the end we just chilled the rest of the day, which mostly meant I re-read Divergent by Veronica Roth, surfed the Internet for Mindy-related things and ended up watching 28 Hotel Rooms because  Chris Messina is the main character. I liked it, mostly because I love watching him act, using all the silences and the little expressive movements to convey so much. It's about two people carrying on an extended affair.

Wednesday - Day 8

Since we were determined to ride horses at least once this trip, we went back to Selva Negra on Wednesday to go on an hour-long ride. The horse master asked if we wanted a guide...ummm yes? Can I just gallop away with this horse without you even knowing if I can ride or if I will bring it back or (more likely) if it will come back riderless? The saddles were incredibly hard and uncomfortable, but the ride was great. We had lots of space to gallop and I never realized how much everything smoothes out when a horse is racing. I went from feeling like a sack of potatoes to surging with the rhythm of the hooves, and then I totally understood why people get obsessed with riding. It was only after the horses took off on their own that the guide said, "Oh, you guys are pretty good. Usually the riders just flop from side to side and lose their balance. Sometimes they fall." That made me feel pretty awesome and somewhat terrified, truth be told. I think it's something that we have about safety, and the same reason that playgrounds now are so boring and ultra safe without letting kids fall or fly. I realized that I've never been on a horse with so much freedom - usually there's a huge line all stuck together at walking pace with guides at the front and back making sure the pace never exceeds a gentle trot - and it was the best experience I've ever had riding. We visited the entire terrain (owned by a German guy I think), passing the coffee fields, greenhouses, vegetable gardens, cows, chickens, a view of Matagalpa, and the original Selva Negra restaurant. Cuba (the guide) pulled us down a lemon the size of my head to take back with us, and we took our fruit and sore legs back to the hostel. They washed our clothes, and that was as big a highlight as any on the trip. Everything came out soft and clean and so fresh, and it was a joy. I don't want to ever wash my shorts again, just so they stay so silky soft.

In the late afternoon we caught the bus to Cascada Blanca, a waterfall with a natural cave in the side, a chilly pool at the bottom, and a little bit of walking trails to explore. Really all we wanted was more food, so the trip was pretty short. Also, the waterfall was nothing compared to the amazing hidden pool in the DR that I visited with my sister last year.

After another Italian dinner (yes, we may have finished an entire large pizza between the two of us with no regrets whatsoever), we met Grace. She is an Australian traveling for a year who just finished three months working/hiking with queztaltrekkers and our meeting was the perfect excuse to introduce her to Besame. She's pretty awesome and very expressive, and solidified our desire to do a hike with Quetzaltrekkers once we reached Leon. We talked about food (when don't we?) and laughed about gaining weight. You get in the mindset of "I'll hike for three months so I'll totally lose weight!" but then forget that hiking makes you hungry and you're still hungry on your days off, and no way can you be a good hiker and a tiny wisp of a thing. You need some solid weight and strength, and that's still healthy and fine. 

Thursday - Day 9

Bus to Estelí (~$1)

We arrived around 11 am, confirmed our trip to Somoto for the following day, then wandered a little bit around town. I can't put my finger on why I loved Matagalpa and had no problem wandering for hours, but in Esteli I walk down one street and I'm ready to turn around and chill in a coffee shop for the day. Neither are particularly beautiful cities, but for some reason the vibe made me so happy in Matagalpa. We spent the day at the restaurant next to the hostel reading Count of Monte Cristo and American Gods respectively, drinking tea, and trying nacatamales (tasty and mostly like square Salvadoran tamales filled with some rice, veggies, cheese and usually chicken or pork), dahl, and some strange variation of gallo pinto (beans and rice - we call it casamiento). We ran into a couple of people from our hostel in Granada, and from our hostel in Matagalpa. It looks like we're all circling around the country together, taking it all in.

Lodging: Hostel Luna ($9) hot showers, but no free drinking water :( My least favorite of everywhere we stayed, but I liked the restaurant food

Friday - Day 10

Wilson at Namancambre tours ($17) took us up on a four-hour trip to Somoto Canyon. In the winter you can float most of the way down through the rapids, but since Nica is as starved for water as El Sal, we hiked for a couple kilometers, alternately waded and floated down the canyon, and got a couple of good high jumps in where the water deepened. Wilson was an awesome guide, pretty quiet and undemanding, but open and knowledgeable and willing to talk about his whole life. He lives right at the end of the canyon on a huge parcel of land he farms and cares for with his brother and sisters, and has been saving his earnings (they have a guide co-op/union and all pool their earnings then do an even split) to buy his own gear. He just got some life vests and a waterproof backpack so he doesn't have to rent anymore, and takes his craft very seriously. You can request guides, and I highly recommend him. 

I witnessed a beautiful impromptu concert as I munched on delicious spicy french fries at the restaurant that lasted until about 10 pm. The little girls were singing and the Spanish girls too, and three men strummed their chords and shared their voices. I talked with the lead singer afterwards and found out that there are various artisan guitar makers in Nica, though the quality isn't as good as the Japanese makes because the wood (a type of pine, I think) doesn't grow in Nica so they substitute it with cedar that doesn't resonate quite as well. 

photo credit: Anne Ruelle

Saturday - Day 11

Travel day to Leon (70 cordobas)

We talked briefly with other PCVs in the hostel before leaving who are at the six month mark and it shows. The girl wanted a sympathetic ear and the guy looked put upon. I think he's pretty happy in his site and is integrating well; she's not. Six months feels like eternity and like you have an eternity left, then you hit the year and everything is flying by too fast. Don't worry, it's a passing thing. I've been having great sister chats throughout the trip via facebook - she's out of school and waiting for the summer sessions to start, writing, reading and just living life. 

We wandered a bit in Leon around the park and the numerous churches, then stopped in for sandwiches, great juices, and chocolate croissants at Pan y Paz. I read some more of American Gods. All the hostels seem full of Germans. 

Lodging: Colibri ($8) free breakfast, no free water - just buy a gallon at the supermarket - it's cheaper. 

view from the top - photo credit: Anne Ruelle

Sunday/Monday - Day 12/13

We shelled out about $60 for a two-day camping trip to El Hoyo with Quetzaltrekkers, and it was amazing. I am currently (Tuesday) almost too sore to move, but such is life when you decide to hike up and down a volcano after months of lazy campo living. The first day was breakfast with the guides (Cormac and Eric) then a trip to cerro negro on a pickup where the rest of the group hiked up then in their ridiculous suits and sleds rocketed down the black volcanic rock - volcano boarding, if you will. I know the adrenaline junkies love that sort of thing, but I just can't rid myself of the idea that after sweating profusely the whole way up then cursing steadily in my head for half of the ride down as it goes far too fast, I will try to bail out and end up with road rash like you wouldn't believe. Also, I've already been dune boarding a few times, and that's plenty. So I stayed at the base playing cards and getting an unexpected view of Telica as it erupted again (no late night lava hikes for us, I guess). We started the hike at 12:20, absolutely dying the first two hours from the heat and the incline and the full-weight packs. I think I spent an hour at least feeling weak and saying "Damn it, you are strong!" to myself in my head as I forced one foot in front of the other and wiped my sweaty face on my sweat-soaked shirt. As everything leveled out after lunch, we passed between two hills and made our way up to the "Hoyo," a massive sinkhole on the side of the volcano, where we set up camp and took pictures of the incredible views of the volcano range and lakes across Nicaragua. Blessedly without packs, we made our way up to crane our necks over the sinkhole, which has some vegetation inside and an astonishing number of colored layers of rock all the way down, then continue our hike all the way to the top of the volcano and the crater within. I just want to say that after a day of hiking with a pack, that last hike up to the top felt like floating. I never realized how strong I must have been when I went backpacking in Chile, but I clearly am not that strong or fit anymore. We made it down to camp (I would say we raced, but after falling down Cerro Castillo I take scree one baby step at a time while alternately telling myself I'm fine and cursing under my breath at my shaky legs) just before the rain hit. Thankfully it cleared up enough for us to enjoy a fantastic meal of pasta and cooked veggies and tomatoes made into a pasta sauce. One of the great things about hiking and camping is that food invariably tastes amazing at the end of the day, and I appreciate everything: the sun, the fire, the food, nature, and my own tired body, so much more than on a normal day. Cormac (our Irish guide) accidentally bought peppermint marshmallows, which may be the weirdest things ever. They are cute (they have the peppermint red and white spiral), pretty bad on their own, but pretty good toasted. I think they would be a treat in hot chocolate - peppermint hot chocolate is definitely tasty - but really marshmallows are meant to just be white, sugary and fluffy, not flavored. I know I should be focusing on the hike, but it was weird! 

Anyway, we spent a rainy night in the tents and packed up at sunup the next morning for our hike back down. The first part was a little slippery with loose volcanic soil, but pretty soon we entered a low forest and the hiking was fast and easy. Looking back after an hour and a half downhill, our campsite was just a speck on the mountainside high above us. Another hour and a half brought us to a freshwater lake that washed away our black grime and provided a beautiful respite for sore legs and feet. I'm pretty okay with treks, but it was about this point when I lost all steam and moved from the front to the back of the group. Cormac's legs are a lot longer than mine and his pace is fast, which was okay going downhill for a while, but unsustainable for my poor untrained body. Luckily, after a hearty lunch and the painful short climb out of the lake over the ridge, it was all flat trails and dirt roads back to the highway and the bus. Two bus rides later, and we were back in Leon swapping out out gear, shaking hands with the guides to thank them for a hike well done, and picking out our awesome tank tops, which I will happily wear to promote the NGO and their business. They spend about 60% of the money they make on operating costs, and the other 40% goes to youth and women's development programs. It's a little bit like voluntourism for the guides, but at least the program has roots and Nicaraguan counterparts and I guess I'd rather my hiking fee go to those programs than just profit. Also, the shirts are cool. 

I was dead on my feet and only got up for dinner of cake, bread and cheese before collapsing in a hammock for some Internet and sleep.

Tuesday - Day 14

It's a lazy day for venturing out only to visit the Ruben Dario museum and eat occasionally. My body is punishing me for pushing myself, and I am sore from my toes through the backs of my legs up my thighs around my lower back to my shoulders. What can I say about the hike? It made me desperately want to learn another language - two isn't enough when everyone around you is speaking French to each other (French Canadians and the Irish guide) and passably can speak English and Spanish too. The degradation of the natural world is tragic and terrifying - all the waste and deforestation and contamination will destroy us in the end. The hike was almost completely trash-free until we crossed the barbed wire onto private land, and from then on plastic bags and bottles lined the path. One of the biggest differences throughout the trip between El Salvador and Nicaragua is that although there is still trash and waste, there seems to be an effort to keep public spaces clean and not destroy the ecosystem with waste. I think the mass exhaustion of arable land through peanut farming and other things is still a huge problem, but at least waste management is on the national conscience more than in El Salvador. Buses have little trash cans attached to the hand rails in an attempt to avoid using the roadside as a trash can. Every town has signs up everywhere saying "keep our city clean."  One of the things I hate the most about driving to San Sal is the cliffsides covered in trash, gullies filled with trash, roadsides scattered with huge bags because the truck couldn't be bothered to make it all the way to the landfill, people of all ages throwing bags and bottles out of the window as if "out of sight, out of mind" was a sustainable mindset. Your grandchildren will walk by that bottle you threw out on the way to school. That's disgusting and disturbing and it should be a wake up call. I don't want to live in a world like Wall-e, but that's not too far from what I see many days in El Sal. I wish I could scare kids like I was scared with the story of the wizard who made trash stick to all the litterbugs, but I don't know how. We need to take care of this planet because it's the only one we have and it's gorgeous. During Ken Robinson's TED talk about education and creativity, he mentioned "There was a wonderful quote by Jonas Salk, who said, "If all the insects were to disappear from the Earth, within 50 years all life on Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish." And he's right." He's right. We need to stop being parasites on our planet and start being its guardian and champion. 

Tomorrow we're back on the bus to San Miguel, leaving beautiful Nicaragua behind. Some other time I want to come back and visit the other side - Bluefields and the Corn Islands - and more of the Pacific coast, but for now it has been a good vacation. Aside from the traveling, I also watched a ton of TED talks most nights, which I love, because who doesn't want to be inspired by new tech, new ideas and amazing people? Also, if you're looking for books to read, We Were Here is a YA fiction with an awesome narrator, American Gods is really weird fiction/fantasy, Dark Wind is a great mystery novel set on reservation land in the American Southwest, and Lean In is a fascinating look at women and leadership and why so few women are in leadership roles in business.

New books read: 90
Total Books read: 129
Books read on vacation: We Were Here by Matt de la Peña, Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman, Divergent by Veronica Roth, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg