Back in Nicaragua

Day: 249

Well, good news and bad news, although the bad news is fairly minor. I lost the USB cable for my camera while walking down a country road here in Nicaragua, and despite going back over the route we took twice combing it with two sets of eyes, we were unable to find it. So, for the time being, the pictures I took will be safely stored on my camera, with no way of getting them on the computer. Until I work out a way to get a new cable, I will be using Tamarah´s but for now, no pics which is a shame because I got some really good shots.

The good news being that we are now in Nicaragua. I was Puerto Viejo´d out and am very excited to be moving again. We are going to be going at a pretty fast pace for the next week and a half, only spending a few days in various spots, then we will be flying out to the Corn Islands where Tamarah has a family friend that owns a resort and is being gracious enough to let us have a $100 dollar a night room for $25 a night. And just for comparisons sake, a $100 dollar a night room in Nicaragua is like staying at the Ritz back home, so I am pretty excited for that after months of either my tent or a bed in a communal sleeping space.

Getting here was a pain though, we left Puerto Viejo at 7 in the morning on 12th, and after 10 hours of traveling got to Liberia, which I would guess as a total distance of maybe 300 miles. It just takes ages to go anywhere in Central America. We spent the night there in a terrible hostel (Hotel Liberia) which was beat up even for a Central American hostel and run by the most obnoxious slob of a man. He really managed to kill what little charm the place had.

The next morning we got up early hoped a bus to the border, struggled through the interminable red tape, hustlers, touts and slow moving bureaucracy of the border crossings here, to get on another bus, to a cab to a boat. That took us another 5 hours to only go about 100 miles! To make the trip even more exciting, I caught a guy trying to steal stuff out of Tamarah´s back pack on the chicken bus we were taking (and true to form, there was a chicken under my seat pecking at my shoes). He had his hand in one of the pouches of her bag and was trying to take stuff out and put it in his own backpack but I had been watching him as he looked really suspicious and when he put his hand in her bag I gave him a whack and yelled at him. He tried to play it off like nothing was happening like a true scum bag, and I had to stop myself from pumeling the guy and let it go as he looked about as poor as they come.

After that, when we were on the boat coming to Ometepe Island (where I climbed the volcano las time I was in Nicaragua) the sea was pretty rough and a kid in front of us, about 3 years old, didn´t take it so well and got sick. The poor little guy tried to make it to the window to throw up but didn´t quite make it and ended up throwing up on Tamarah´s leg. I tried not to laugh because it was gross, but it was petty funny. Mostly I just felt bad for the kid as he looked pretty green under the gills.

We got to the island, which was as beautiful and full of nice people as I remembered it to be, got on another bus that was packed to clown car in a circus limits with people sitting and standing in every available space inside, and with about a dozen guys sitting on the roof, and finally got to Charco Verde, which is a beautiful little beach and lagoon with a hotel on the water. We are staying here for a few days relaxing at the really great and characterful hotel (and only $15 a night!) and after this we plan on exploring some more of the island. I am really enjoying myself here as it is such a great place and last time I was here I was only in one town and didn´t see any other parts of the island.

After this we are going to head up the coast and check out some more spots we both want to see.

I will get pictures up as soon as I can, so until next time, all my love!