Nicaragua

We had intended to enter Nicaragua and head for the hills but picked the wrong border crossing and left ourselves without any good transport options in that direction. The border crossing from Honduras was the worst so far. Before the bus had even stopped it was surrounded by men running, and our bags were untied from the roof racks and taken to a pedicab before we could leave the bus. Then we were surrounded by people shouting at us with barely any room to move. We chose another pedicab driver but he ripped us off anyway. On the bus we met three American girls who had been mugged at machete point the day before!

Leon

Being unable to find a route from the border to the highlands, we travelled down the Pacific coast to the cities of León, Managua and Granada. These are all bustling cities although Granada has become a tourist mecca, similar to Antigua in Guatemala. As such, it's a convenient place to spend a few days. Leon and Granada are full of crumbling churches that haven't been restored since an earthquake in the 1700s. Granada is plagued by frequent power outages. Almost every night at 7pm the buzz of generators will start. There were also many street kids who chatted to us and ate leftover food from our plates.

Granada

From Granada we crossed Lake Ometepe on a three hour ferry to Isla de Ometepe, a beautiful island made up of two enormous volcanos. We stayed in a clean and comfortable lakeside resort for US$4 a night each. A few travellers arrived at the same time, one being a German whose father is Nicaraguan. While we feasted on incredibly ecomonical fresh fish while he introduced us to many local customs, including the best way to drink the local rum, Flor de Caña (with soda and lime).

Isla de Ometepe

Approaching Isla de Ometepe

Happy Roger

We hired bikes and traversed the island to the San Ramon waterfall which flows down the side of one of the volcanos. After a sweaty and bumpy ride back it was time for a swim in the lake, home to the world´s only freshwater shark (!).

Luisa and cow

Funny bug

Washing clothes in the lake

We caught a shorter ferry to the mainland and headed for the Costa Rican border, sharing a cab with a friendly American.