I just got back from a crazy 4/5 day, jam-packed, awesome-filled adventure to Nicaragua! I had such an amazing time and did so many remarkable things that I couldn’t even imagine doing before. Here’s a little run down of what we did.
Monday: Our day started bright and early as we girls from Jacaleapa gathered at our stairs at 5:3o in the morning and climbed into the taxis that were waiting to take us to school. Right at 6, our bus pulled out of the parking lot to begin our 5 ½ hour drive to León. Our breakfast, Baleadas, consisted of tortillas and Juan Angel walking around with a container full of cooked/mashed beans and some cheese. Turns out, Baleadas are not a good thing to make while on a moving bus. After breakfast, we all settled our seats back to get a few hours of sleep before our real adventures began. We arrived late morning and got settled in our hotel and then prepared ourselves for our first city tour. We saw touring cathedrals, decaying ruins, and peeling murals displaying the Nicaraguan history. Our guide took us through museums to learn as much history as we possibly could in a four day span. For dinner, we were given money in groups and my group found this quaint café where we ate Panini’s or, in my case, a waffle with real syrup, We even had enough money left over to buy ourselves some dessert and even though my cheesecake was more cheese than cake, it was my second real dessert since coming to Honduras. After our dinner, our whole group went out to celebrate someone’s birthday. We met a group of Australians who taught us how to play some games involving a quarter and pushups and one where you are supposed to untangle yourself from a mop handle. Either way, it was a really fun night out.
Tuesday: Back on the bus at 6:45 to drive to Managua. On the way, we stopped at a cathedral where the indigenous people believed that a crab would appear and show them the way to El Dorado. Although our quest never led us to gold, we did find a sheep. Finally, after two more hours in the bus, we made it to the Nehemiah Center- a school/Christian Agency that helps people use their faith in their own city. We ate lunch with the teachers to learn even more about what this group was trying to do. One teacher took us out around late evening to see Peace Park, a park in which all the weapons are buried underneath the ground to stop the fighting. We could see a lake or sea or ocean (not really sure which it is) and the whole city of Managua, including two active volcanoes. Finally, we went back to the center to eat dinner (with mashed potatoes) and chill in hammocks, play cards/dice, or talk in some rocking chairs. It was so quiet and peaceful because we were located in the middle of a jungle far away from the street. I slept great, despite how hot it was.
Wednesday: We packed up our things at once again 6:45 to head to yet another city of Granada. Our hostel was a great place for college students and I even got to have a conversation with some girls from the Netherlands (in Dutch, of course). After locating our bunks and putting our suitcases in our lockers, we headed out to the Masaya volcano and climbed all the way to the top (with a little help from a shuttle). We could look down and see a wall of rock and then a huge smoking abyss. It was breath-taking (literally, no one could breath with all the sulfur), so we climbed back down the volcano to find explore some caves. We felt so rugged in our helmets and flashlights- well that is until we got to the caves themselves. They were dark and damp (in retrospect, that makes sense), but it was really creepy. Our cave was called the cave of bats, and you guessed it, there were bats flying all around us. Our guide told us a story of how the people who used to live there sacrificed a child in order to make the gods of the volcano happy, making it even creepier. Even though the caves were much cooler that the 90 degree air outside, I still was sweating more than even. Upon leaving, a few girls and I walked to the ridge while we waited for the other group to come out of the caves and the view was amazing. We could see everything. When we got back to the group, our guide told us that where we just were, they had found a snake over 3 meters long just two days before! Yikes! We had our first hour of real free time after getting back to the hostel, so a bunch of us crammed into the small pool- which was so refreshing after being sweaty for three days (well, at this point two months) straight. We then got out having a tour of the city of Granada. Our guide was actually bit off her rocker and would sing national songs to us while wearing her folkloric dress and carrying a basket with nothing in it. We stopped and had pizza as a group, and as we were leaving, somehow we get split up and my half ended up being with the crazy guide who took us on yet another tour and would randomly sings songs about things that we saw. After almost 45 minutes of trying to get back to our hostel but being stopped to admire yet another house in honor of William Walker, we made it back and passed of our guide to our professor. We then went back out to explore the city for real and found a cute Beatles café with amazing homemade mango bread. It was delicious, moist and rich (yeah for my sweet tooth). We walked around the outdoor markets and made some friends with a Japanese/Nicaraguan/American guy who showed us how to make some wire designs. Back at the hostel, we stayed up swinging in our hammocks and talking about anything and everything.
Thursday: We finally got to sleep until 7 so we could head out to the canopy tour at 8:30. We first got there and got fitted with harnesses, helmets, carabineers, and gloves- the usual zip-line gear. We then took a little caravan up the mountain to get to the tree line in the coffee forest which is not only organic, it is also fair-trade. We received instructions from our guides and started zipping through the forest. It was amazing! We learned about how to pick the coffee beans and the process of how to make it into actual coffee and about the area because we could see everything from our perch. We took 6 or 7 lines throughout the forest until we got to the games ledge. We pulled ourselves up to a different tree using only our hands, swung across like Tarzan, and did a tightrope walk as well. It was super fun, but my arms are still sore. After two more lines, we made it to the final platform, but the only way to get down is to take a freefall, and hope that the guide stops you with the rope before you hit the ground. The three (four) instructions were 1. Keep your hand down. 2. Spread you legs apart. 3. Don’t close your hand (and pray). After making it down in one piece, we all headed back to the city of Mesaya where we spent several hours at an artisan market. There were so many bright colors and different people to talk! I loved it because I like bargaining! We all met up for dinner again where we ate in the open air, watching an Argentinean dance performance within the market. It was amazing to see how coordinated and flexible they were. We finally went back to the hotel where we watched Naufrago aka Castaway and went to bed.
Friday: Breakfast at 7 and left at 8 to head back home after a week of tons of adventure but very little sleep. We stopped for lunch around 3 after getting stuck at the border for a while. I got home close to 6 and managed to stay up until 8:30, when I finally crashed.
