As you can see I still have a long way to go before getting to South America. What this means is that I won't be able to get to as many places as I had oringinally hoped. It's simply impossible to see everything, but it just means you save what you missed on one trip for the next! At this point I think my Latin American adventure will be turning into a Central American adventure plus Brazil. I'll continue playing it by ear and see how much time I have left by the time I'm ready to leave Panama.
Anyway, it's easily been more than 3 weeks since my last posting so I have a lot to report on! After my mishap at the Honduran-Nicaraguan border I went to the beatiful city of León, which used to be the Nicaraguan capital in the 19th century until it was moved to the rival city of Granada. There was so much tension between liberal León and conservative Granada that the capital was finally moved to Managua in order to end the dispute. Both León and Granada were key cities in the war between the liberal Sandanistas and the conservative nationalists during the years of the US occupation in the 20th century, as well as the four decades of the Somoza dictatorship. While Nicaragua was one of the friendlies countries I've visited, there is definitely still an anti-US sentiment present as a result of the history between the two countries. Considering what happened, I'd say it's understandable! It is a very interesting history.
As I mentioned before, the first thing that grabbed my attention when I got to León was an activity called volcano boarding, which is exactly what it sounds like - sledding down a volcano. The day following my arrival I hopped on a bus with 10 or 12 other kids and rode to Volcano Cerro Negro, the youngest volcano in Central America and still very active (last eruption was in 1999).
The volcano is not high, only about 730 meters (2400 ft), and since we started our hike a few hundred meters above sea level it only took about 45 minutes to reach the top. We hung out and caught our breath at the top for 20 mintues or so while our guide, Hugh, gave us an orientation on volcano boarding safety and techniques. While it's not a totally dangerous sport, cuts and bruises are not uncommon, especially when going fast. The current record for fastest speed is 52 mph (actually set by a female, although I heard she didn't intend to attempt to set a record speed, rather she forgot to brake with her legs and was wildly out of control but managed not to crash until after her speed was clocked). No one set any new records in my group, but a few kids got close.
I decided to hold off on volcano-related activities the following day and head to the beach for some surfing. I went with 5 or 6 other kids and we had an entire section of the beach to ourselves for the whole day, perfect for beginners such as myself who aren't capable of manuvering through a cluster of surfers all trying to catch the same waves. We had great weather for most of the day and the waves were really good!
Having surfed only 5 or 6 times, I'm definitely still a beginner, which explains the 8 foot board in the picture. The better you get, the smaller a board you can use which allows you to catch more waves and maneuver the board better. Maybe in 40 years when I retire to a small beach town in Costa Rica or somewhere similar where I can go surfing every day I'll be able to consider downsizing. Since the day trip package was through the same hostel, included again were the two mojitos waiting for us at the bar when we got back. A perfect way to end the evening.
By the following day, I decided I liked León enough to stick around another week and take a Spanish class. After spending two full days with Americans, Ozzies, Kiwis, and Brits, I was in need of a way to go back to speaking Spanish. I thought it was interesting that I found myself signing up for classes on my so called post-graduation vacation, right when I thought I wouldn't have to set foot in another classroom for at least another year or two. At least the classes were held outside, so I didn't totally feel like I was back in a calculus lecture. The classes were organized as 1 on 1 instruction, so it ended up being a great way to practice my Spanish for the week. Additionally, the school provided the option of living at a homestay, so I lived with a local Nicaraguan family for the rest of my time in León, which gave me even more of an opportunity to practive my Spanish. The family consisted of my host mom, Ileana, and her daughter, Ninoska, who were two of the nicest people I've ever met. Oh and I can't forget to mention their dog, Scooby, who was of course just as much a part of the family! There was also another American guy named Austin staying in the house who was part of a group of medical school students doing an exchange program.
Ileana, me, Ninoska
Scooby (pronounced Ehskoobie)
Overall I had a great experience living with Ileana and Ninoska. Ninoska was nice enough to take me out for some typical Nicaraguan activities, such as singing karaoke and going to the movie theater to see Cars 2. It was nice being able to settle down in a single place for more than just a few days. To make the experience even better, I was able to find a local gym and pay for a week-long membership. The week cost me 65 cordobas, or about 3 US dollars, so the bank was definitely hurting after that one. Well not exactly, but the Spanish course did set me back a bit. I think God was watching out for me though, because I wandered into the León casino with a friend I had met in the hostel I stayed at when I first got to the city, threw some chips down on the Roulette table, and won $62 on the first shot. I collected my chips, cashed out, and walked out happy (Kuhn not so happy, as he had lost all his money almost as fast as I won mine).
Lyon Gym in León
With the way I've been eating, it was definitely a good thing I managed to get a few workouts in during the week. So with classes and the gym, I was able to get into a nice routine for a week, which was actually quite welcoming! Generally I woke up at 7:15, at breakfast prepared for me by Ileana, went to class from 8 until noon, came back, at a typical Nicaraguan lunch (usually rice and beans with some kind of meat), went to the gym, then came back and showered and relaxed before enjoying any of the nighttime activities.
Rice, beans, and eggs with chorizo
One night I went out with Ninoska, two of her Nica (short for Nicaraguan) friends, and the American med students to a bar to watch the US vs. Mexico soccer game (US got pummeled 4-2). Later in the evening, a TV crew from one of the local stations came in to interview people for what I believe was a promotional activity for the bar. They first went to a table of locals then decided they wanted to interview the gringos, so the next thing we knew we had a camera and microphone in our faces. Since we had all had one or two (but of course no more) Toñas (local Nicaraguan beer), I believe we provided solid responses to all their questions in fluent Spanish. Unfortunately we didn't get to see ourselves on TV, although maybe it's a good thing so I can continue believing that I spoke like a local that night.
While it was a really fun night, unfortunately it had to end with the first negative incident of my trip. It happened as I was walking home with Ninoska and her two friends. Before I knew what had happened, Nino's friend had her cell phone snatched out of her hand and I felt a solid blow to the face which took me down, and I managed to fall on something sharp enough to take a good chunk of my shin out. By the time I got up the two guys had already dissappeared. I won't post the before picture (it's in my Facebook album if you want to see it), but here's a good shot of my leg after I cleaned myself up:
It was an unfortunate experience, but it could have been worse! And luckily I had nothing stolen from me. I managed to get to sleep after bandaging myself up, then made a trip to the hospital the next morning. The best way I can describe the León hospital is very different. It definitely made me feel fortunate to have the kind of care we do at home. The nurse cleaned up the wound with some sort of liquid in an unmarked container, stopping at one point to send a text message, then gave me a tetanus shot, and I was on my way. I really wish they had given me stitches because it still has a good deal of healing to do even after 3 weeks. At least I'll have a nice scar to show for it once it finally does heal! Anyway, I suppose the lesson here is don't party until 4am in foreign cities (we'll see how well I retain the lesson).
The following Monday was my last day of class. Thanks to my arduous studying during the week, I passed the course and was awarded a diploma! Two diplomas within 2 months, not bad right? This one's definitely going on the résumé.
Receiving diploma from my "professor", Fátima
For the next couple days I hung around León to do some more exploring, but mostly because I wasn't ready to leave. Plus, I was invited out to dinner for Ninoska's brother's birthday with the whole family, and it would have been rude to turn down the invitation.
Here's some pictures of the city I took on my last day there:
Central Park
Cathedral - largest in Central America
This last picture is a famous mural outside of fire station; both are portraits of Agusto Sandino. On the left, Sandino is stepping on the head of Anastasio Somoza, the leader of the natinonalist forces (Contras) and Nicaraguan dictator during 4 decades following the assasination of Sandino. On the right, Sandino is stepping on Uncle Sam with the words "Sandino Vive" painted across his waist. It's definitely true that the the spirit of Sandino does still live in the hearts of many Nicaraguans!
On Wednesday I managed to pull myself from León and hop on a bus to Granada. It was a beautiful city, but I felt much more like a tourist there than I did in León.
Central Park
View from belltower of Iglesia La Merced
I split a hostel room with a guy named Matt from Seattle who I had met on the bus for $5 each. We did some exploring, ate a typical dish of chancho con yuca (pork with yuca), and made it an early night. The next day I made some museum visits then met up with Matt in the afternoon for a boat tour of Las Isletas, which are a cluster of tiny islands off the coast of Granada in Lago de Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. After some bargaining, we arrived at a reasonable price of $10 for an hour long tour and we were assured we'd be able to see the tourist favorite, la Isla de los Monos (Island of the Monkeys). However, upon boarding the boat and setting sail, el capitán informed us that an hour long tour would not be sufficient to make it as far as the Isla de los Monos, but that if we payed another $5 each for an additional half hour we'd have plenty of time to see the monkeys. I was unable to persuade el capitán that if he drove slightly faster than 1.5 knots we'd be able to reach the island in less than a half hour (simple d = v*t). Apparently he had never studied physics, so we ended up paying the extra $5 each. Despite being set up entirely for tourists, it was worth it to see the 7 monkeys in their tiny island habitat. When we approached the island, one of the monkeys dropped in from a branch and plopped into the boat, a quite unexpected maneuver.
I'd have to say that la Isla de los Monos was the highlight of Granada (I won't admit that to any locals). On Friday I hopped on a ferry to Isla Ometepe, an island in the middle of the Lago de Nicaragua formed by two volcanos: Volcán Maderas and Volcán Concepción, located on opposite ends of the island. The main activities offered by the island are hiking, volcano climbing, and relaxing, all of which were the things I was looking forward to doing. On Saturday I did some hiking along the beach with 3 French tourists I had met on the ferry. We saw several bird species and tons of lizards (but no monkeys unfortunately).
Paul, one of the French guys, and I decided we wanted to climb Volcán Concepción the following day. Concepción is the taller of the two volcanos at 1610 meters (almost exactly one mile). However, we had been told all day long that there was going to be a huge party in Altagracia, one of the two main towns and that end of the island, and that we couldn't miss it. We decided that maybe we could check out the party for a few hours and then get back at a reasonable hour to be ready for our 5:30am wake up time on Sunday morning. There was a large group from the hotel planning to go so we didn't want to miss out. However, it started raining just before we got in the cab, and by the time we got to the so called party, there were no more than 3 people there. Trying not to think about the reality that I should have been in bed already, we ended up going to another local bar where we were quickly put in the spotlight as we were the only tourists there. We all ended up having such a great time speaking with many of the locals that Paul and I forgot (or more tried not to think) about how quickly 5:30am would roll around. I'm glad Paul and I were in the same dorm room because without each other's motivation there's no way we could have made it out of bed, especially considering the 7 hour hike that awaited. We somehow managed, and were on the mountain hiking by 7am. We both felt like zombies in the beginning and were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. No more than 10 minutes into the hike it started pouring rain. Great, just what we needed. Fortunately we had both brought rain jackets, but for an hour we trekked upwards in a downpour in soaking wet socks and shoes.
We made the best of it, keeping in mind the end goal of reaching the top. The trail quickly became much more rugged until we found ourselves climbing over rocks and boulders with both hands and feet. Luckily, the rain let up, and by the time we reached the halfway point the sky eventually cleared up enough to give us a good few of the landscape below. After a total of 3 hours, we finally made it to the top where we had a fantastic view of the whole island and were able to stare down into the foggy abyss of the volcano's crater. It was definitely the most intense climb I had ever experienced, but was totally worth it.
We took a 20 minute break at the top to eat lunch, than began the climb back down. The climb down ended up being even harder than the climb up, as the rocks kept coming loose beneath our feet. It took us four hours to get down, making a total of a 7 hour hike. It was an amazing feeling to set foot on flat ground again, and to make it better, we were greated by several monkeys in the treetops at the base of the mountain! I passed out soon after getting back to the hotel, woke up to eat a massive dinner, then went right back to sleep again.
The following morning I caught the ferry back to the mainland, and from there took an hour long bus to San Juan del Sur, located just north of the Costa Rican border and famous for its culture of surfing and partying. After a quiet few days on the island, I was ready for a little more action! It turned out I was in luck, because without even realizing it I had arrived on the 4th of July, and the hostel I checked into had a full day's Independence Day celebration lined up (can you get an idea of the demographics of the town? I think the locals are outnumbered...) I mean, why not celebrate the American Independence Day in Nicarauga? It was definitely a fun day and I felt like I was back on campus at U of I. The following two days consisted of surfing, eating, partying, and surfing, so by the third day I thought I should take a break and actually explore the town. It's definitely a gorgeous place, well worth a visit even if you're not into surfing or partying.
The following day I was ready to escape the craziness of San Juan, so I caught a bus to the border and ventured on to La Fortuna, Costa Rica (again, triple checking to make sure I had gotten two stamps in my passport). La Fortuna is famous for the nearby Volcano Arenal and the surrounding hotsprings, basically several rivers delivering steaming hot water from the volcanos to the surrounding areas. I checked into Gringo Pete's Hostel, went to the local supermarket to purchase groceries to make the backpackers special of chicken pasta and vegetables, and crashed early. The next morning I got up early and went on a hiking tour around Volcán Arenal. Until a year or so ago, lava could be seen flowing down the mountainside most days, but it has been dormant since then so unfortunately I wasn't able to see such a sight. The lack of lava, however, was compensated for by an incredible variety of plant and animal species and we had a great tour guide to identify them for us. We ended the tour by taking a dip in one of the hot springs near the volcano. Now I understand why they're called hot springs and not warm springs; the water literally feels like a hot tub! Since it was so humid, I was able to enjoy the water for 15 mintues until I became overheated and had to escape quickly. If we could move these rivers to Chicago in the winter that would be fantastic.
The next day I was up for some more adventure so I signed up for a white water rafting trip on Río Balsa. We were told not to bring cameras so unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but it's definitely a trip I won't forget! We maneuvered through a continuous series of class 2, 3 and 4 rapids for three and a half hours, stopping once for a lunch consisting of delicious Costa Rican watermelon and pineapple (seriously I could move here just for how good the fruit is). Some of the rapids were pretty intense, but we only had one man overboard incident the whole trip. Not too bad I'd say. Additionally, we were able to enjoy some of the wildlife around the quiet sections of the river. We saw a ton a bird species and even a few three-toed sloths hanging in the trees. At the end of the trip, I had what I'd say was the most amazing meal of the entire trip so far, half because of how good the food was and half because it was buffet style and I was able to eat until I couldn't take another bite. The meal was served with delicious Costa Rican coffee and a shot of a traditional Costa Rican liqueor, which I believe is made from sugar cane and is very similar in taste to Bailey's Irish Cream. I can't remember the name of it, so if anyone knows please remind me! Following the meal, we sat in on a demonstration of juice extraction from sugar cane using a manual mill powered by two bulls. The bulls walk in a circle, spinning a large beam connected to a system of gears that are in turn connected to two cylindrical metal presses. The sugar cane is inserted in between the cylinders and gets squeezed through while its juices are deposited into a jar, ready to serve! As you can imagine, it was very sweet, delicious, and refreshing. So not only did I get in my adrenaline fix, but also a bit of culture which made for an excellent, well rounded day.
I woke up early the next day to catch a bus to Playa Jaco to go bungee jumping, but decided at the last minute I wanted to get off the beaten backpackers trail for a few days to get some more opportunity to practice speaking Spanish, so I got on a bus to the capital city of San Jose instead. While all the places I've visited have been amazing, they have also been enjoyed by many other tourists such as myself, so I generally find myself speaking more English than Spanish. Since San Jose is such a big city, it's pretty easy to blend in and not be in constant contact with other tourists. Anyway, it has worked out because I've been here for two days now and haven't spoken more than 10 words of English! I think I'll stay another day then re-merge onto the beaten trail and do some bungee jumping!
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