September 26, 2005
The Journey into Costa Rica
Over breakfast we met an employee at the third hotel named Jose who wanted to give us a tour of the surrounding forest in exchange for practicing English with him during the walk. We all agreed to meet at one o’clock to give us plenty of time to do the hike, eat lunch, and then catch the 4:00pm bus to get up the ferry for San Carlos which left at 7 pm.
Before the hike we explored a bit more of the island on our own heading to the south. It is really a beautiful place and once we ended up back at the hotel I took a swim in the lake. The water on this side of the island is like glass and I floated out in the lake for a long while just listening to the howler monkeys on shore and watching flocks of parrots fly by. It felt like a place I would come back to.
At one we met up with Jose and he took us on the hike. I had questioned whether we really needed him in the morning thinking it was an easy trail to follow. As it turns out we would have been totally lost without him. When we finally emerged from the jungle at the end of the hike near the hotel, I was so turned around I thought we were getting close to the other side of the island.
During the hike we saw large parrots, bats, howler monkeys, and white-faced capuchin monkeys. It was well worth it. Back at the hotel Jose was our waiter for lunch and I gave him a good tip to thank him. He was also an amazing student. He had started to learn English, practically on his own, six months ago and was already nearly fluent. Every time he heard a phrase he didn’t know he wrote it down in a booklet he carried in his pocket which he would study every night. It was impressive.
We were packed and waiting on the side of the road with our luggage at 4:00 but the bus never came. We were told it probably broke down and there would be another one at 5:30 but it never came either. Some howler monkeys entertained us in the huge trees across the road. Everytime a bus would roar by (in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go) the howlers would let out their deep growns in response. At 5:45 we flagged down a pickup full of people in the back. I asked how much it would be to Altagracia, but the guy in the back just started to grab the bags and told me not to worry about it. I asked the driver again, not wanting to get charged more than we had on us once we arrived, but he said he was heading that way already and it would be free of charge. He dropped us off 20 minutes later at the edge of town.
We walked another 2km to the port, most of it with a 17 year old named Diego who worked for a hotel in Altagracia. Another nice kid and another diligent English student.
We thought everything was going to plan when we arrived at the port but when we went to buy tickets we were informed by the ladies behind the counter that ticket sales stopped at 6:00pm and we were 20 minutes too late. I asked if there was any possible way that we could buy a ticket as missing this boat meant that we would have to wait another 3 days on the island and we were already low on cash. There was no way one of the women replied and turned her back to me and sat down. Rules were rules and they couldn’t or didn’t want to see beyond them. I was dumbfounded feeling like I was dealing with DMV employees, quite a difference from the bus service we had encountered throughout Central America where bus operators begged you to get on their bus as it was pulling out of the station.
After I offered to pay more for the ticket which got another resounding no from the lady who had turned her back on me, Em started in explaining how the buses were not running and we had been walking for some time just to get to here 20 minutes late. To my surprise the she looked around and saw us both dripping with sweat. “These poor kids” she said “they’ve been walking with their bags since Altagracia. Alright we’ll sell you the tickets.” I was shocked but happy.
Soon we were on the boat on the top level. We paid a bit more for the upper level which had air-conditioning, but needless to say the air-conditioning broke two minutes after we were inside. The boat departed around 8:00 and I made my way out on the deck to just sit and watch a lighting storm for the first 2 hours of the ride as I unwound. Em after writing in her journal eventually joined me but just as she came outside it began to rain. Back inside the boat I found room to lie down under one of the benches and Em found a place next to me under the table. We made a few stops during the 8 hour journey through the night. At 3 in the morning I woke up to the sound of 10 year olds selling hot coffee and tortillas and queso fresco signaling we were docked. These kids have an unbelievable work ethic. Unable to sleep I made my way out on the deck to watch crews unload cargo such as bananas before we departed.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:50 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 25, 2005
Ojo de Agua
Today we set off walking through the banana tree fields after breakfast towards the Ojo de Agua, a natural spring about a mile north of our hotel. Once there we met the lady in charge of the place and paid a one dollar fee that allowed us to use the pool that had been constructed for swimming.
It was a fun and relaxing time. A family from the island was there at the same time and Em got some great photos of both the older kids jumping off the rope swing and the youngest member of the family, a 6 month old boy who was enjoying his first trip to the spring.
On the way back to the hotel we got a good view of some howler monkeys that were passing over the road as we were walking back. There is definitely a plethora of wildlife on the island.
Since the island has no banks, and we were running low on cash, we had dinner at the third hotel, which was the most expensive of the bunch in Santo Domingo but it accepted credit cards. It was a good meal and we’ve decided that our final two meals here will be here tomorrow since we can pay with my visa. We don’t want to run out of cash for the ferry to the Costa Rican border.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:47 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 24, 2005
Isla de Ometepe
We woke up and grabbed a bus to Rivas where we next jumped on a taxi towards Lago de Nicaragua. First, though, in the bus lot leaving Granada, Em spotted a friend from highschool that she used to play basketball with jumping on another bus. She raced the bus down and knocked on the window. Tish Landis was heading to Costa Rica. Crazy. Before long were on a small cargo boat headed to Isla de Ometepe, an island created from two volcanos, located right in the middle of the lake. The best part of the boat ride was when some Nicaraguan boys in bathing suits who were with us on the ferry as we left the dock, ran and dove off the top deck to swim back. It looked like great fun.
Once on the island we jumped aboard a bus headed to Playa Santo Domingo, a beach on the north side of the island. We arrived about an hour and a half later. There were three hotels in town but we headed for Hospedaje Buena Vista (recommended by Eelco and Bas) run by island native Byron Flores. Not only was it the cheapest but in our opinion it was also the best. Hammocks and rocking chairs lined the patio which opened up to a great view of the lake. Not only was it beautiful but we were the only guests in the hotel so we had the whole place to ourselves.
We had dinner at the next hotel over whose owner I talked to for a while before we ate about politics in both Nicaragua and the U.S. While we were eating, a curious and aggressive cat came to our table looking for some food. We broke down and threw her a few bites of fish. She disappeared quickly. We found out later that she was a cat from our hotel that had just had kittens.
To my delight, as we were finishing up our meal, I heard HBO Boxing come on the television in the lobby. After paying the bill we headed inside and I watched a Miguel Cotto fight with a worker from the hotel while Em and his girlfriend were bored to tears. The Klitchco/Peters match that was supposed to be up next wasn’t show on Nicaraguan TV and I told the guy that Em had gotten lucky. “So did she…” he replied gesturing towards his girlfriend. We headed back to the hotel and got some sleep.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:41 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 23, 2005
Las Islas
This morning we took a tour of several small islands that lay off the shore of Granada. Our guide, Roberto, was hilarious. He just kept feeding us one comic story after another. They ranged from him being attacked by a monkey, eating a grilled horse leg for $50, the day before putting a friend who had passed out in a gutter roaring with water as tourists passed by, and many more. He had a real soft side too as he shared stories with us about his adopted one and a half year old son and the various pets he had back at his house. He, like Miguel in El Salvador, was about to become a citizen of the U.S., he had passed the test and just needed to be sworn in.
The islands surrounding Granada were beautiful. Several had incredible vacation homes on them. Some were home to local fishermen and their families with basic houses beyond the mangroves. Three monkeys lived on one of the small islands. We stopped at one island that had a restaurant for a drink and a swim. Em of course got some more great photos.
The afternoon was hectic as we rushed around to purchase our airplane tickets to Venezuela as well as outbound tickets to Panama from San Jose. It amazingly all worked out and at 6:00 we went out to grab a bite to eat.
We ordered a plate for two that turned out to be huge portions of various greasy appetizers. There were chicken wings, fried bananas, even fried cheese. Needless to say I was in heaven. As we were finishing two ten year old boys came in who saw us packing up the leftovers. They asked if they could have some so of course we gave them some food and they were off. One of them came back into the restaurant 2 minutes later and asked if he could just have the entire bag of leftovers so he could share them with his friends. We handed it over and as the boy, surprised, exited the restaurant and screamed “Marcos!!!” to his friend across the street, holding up the bag victoriously as if he had won the lottery.
That attracted the attention of another young boy who was 12. He came in and after offering to sell us some cashews asked if he could have some food. We’d just given away all the good stuff we explained, but he pointed to the bed of lettuce and vegetables that the appetizers had come on. If he wanted it, it was his, we explained, so he sat down next to us and devoured the salad as we talked to him about his living situation. He described what he and his family had to eat on a daily basis. Gallo pinto, a mixture of flavored rice and black beans, which comes with practically every meal in Central America, was the staple. They rarely had chicken and rarely vegetables. It is a telling sign when a 12 year old boy gulps down huge bites of salad as if it were ice cream.
Another group of nine and ten year olds passing by saw the boy eating next to us and came in to see if they could get any food. We explained there was nothing left yet they pointed to the plate of leftover bones from the chicken wings. “There’s still some meat on those,” they said with a somewhat dumbfounded look on their faces. Em put these leftovers together on some napkins for them and they thanked us and were out the door cleaning the bones completely. It was a heart-wrenching scene.
As we were getting up to leave, Carlos, from the night before came by. He walked with us to the plaza with his hand on Em’s arm and I gave him some money and some advice. It really didn’t seem like he wanted any advice though. I’m not sure if it was because he was only 7 years old or because he was a very hardened 7 year old and didn’t want to be taking advice from a gringo. Either way you could tell he smart nice kid. You’d have to be inhuman not to feel for all these young guys.
That night back at the hotel we talked some more with Eelco and Bas, a couple from the Netherlands, who we had met earlier in the day. If you thought we were on a long trip take a look at their website, www.baseneelco.nl. They have been traveling for the last 11 months in the south of Mexico and Central America with no set date for returning home. Along the way they make websites for hotels (both have masters in computer science) and often stay for free because of it. They plan on traveling around the globe but if they get tired are just going to head back. Next up they are going to do a big loop through South America, and then head up through the Caribbean to the U.S. They might stop by and see us in California in about a year and half.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:38 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 22, 2005
A Day In the Cafes
Today was a very quiet day. We spent the morning exploring the city and relaxing in intent cafes narrowing down our options for getting to Venezuela. It was a nice change of pace and we enjoyed just taking it easy.
Over dinner a 7 year old boy came up to us and asked us if we had any spare change. We didn’t at the time but instead I gave him a pen we had bought in Mexico that was surrounded by colorful threads. He liked it and after I asked him his name, Carlos, I took the pen from him and wrote it on the palm of my hand, along with my own name Peter.
Immediately he was writing on his own hand trying to spell out his name. I gave him some paper to practice and wrote out both our names as an example and he diligently practiced writing until we left. You could tell he was another good kid in a tough situation.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:34 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 21, 2005
Huelga
Entering the hotel after breakfast, it looked like all hell was breaking loose in the city on the TV people were watching in the courtyard. People were getting arrested by the cops, cameras followed bloodied individuals who had been hurt in skirmishes between the police and bus operators, and there were reports that the strikers were blocking traffic and lighting tires on fire across the city.
The reason for all this mess is that while all buses in the country used for transportation are privatized, by law if you want to operate a bus you must belong to the union. In exchange for granting the union monopoly operating privileges, the government sets price controls on how much they can charge. With the price of gasoline soaring in Nicaragua, as in the rest of the world, the bus operators say they need to be able to charge more in order to recover their costs. Well, politicians don’t want to raise the price cap because then they are going to get an earful (at the minimum) from their constituents. So that was the basis of the strike that had now turned violent
A guy from Nicaragua in the hotel explained that like many things in the country the people suffer on both ends. The politicians say they are going to control how much the buses can charge, but then gas goes up and they have problems like this. Another example he gave me was that politicians attempting to control the price of electricity for the masses passed laws that only let prices go up for businesses (i.e. consumers who used over a certain amount of electricity a month). But as this meant even greater price increases for businesses than what otherwise would have been, the businesses pass the cost onto the consumer in the form of higher prices. Again, life is harder for ordinary Nicaraguans.
Although we were packed and ready to go on our tour, the guide never showed up, which we decided was probably for the better. In the hotel a guest from Honduras and one of his friends/coworkers from Nicaragua I had talked to earlier gave us a lift across town so we could get on a bus out of town to Granada. They even walked us to the bus to make sure we got on the right one. On the way it was interesting getting their perspectives on Central America.
An hour later we were in Granada. It is similar to Antigua in appearances and both duke it out for the title of “oldest city in the Americas”, but Em and I agree we both like this place better. There is more of a sleepy, local vibe here, where in Antigua we felt like we were in big tourist bubble. The hotel is great. Over lunch a young kid selling things table to table got lightly hit by a car that was backing up. Surprised and angry, he yelled at the driver but was mainly ignored as the guy sped off. He broke into tears but luckily the lady from the restaurant brought him inside and gave him some food and a coke to try to help him feel better.
Tonight we ate tacos and talked to a group of 17 year olds we met in the plaza about life here in Nicaragua. Tomorrow we plan on just relaxing and trying to finalize our airline tickets to Caracas.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:31 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
Off to Managua
We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and then jumped into a taxi and were off to the bus station. Before leaving though we talked to Bob and Sarah, the couple we had met yesterday, who suggested some hotels in Granada we might want to consider staying at.
A couple hours bouncing around in the back of another school bus brought us to Managua. The LP guide only lists one area of town to stay in, but it looked like there were many options so we picked one that had a decent description in the book and had the taxi driver take us there. Driving through the city all the buses were lined up on the side of the roads as the city buses were currently on strike. On the way our driver warned us that in this area of the city we were staying tourists were known to get mugged so we should be careful.
The driver got a bit turned around when we were looking for the hotel and as he was flipping a U-turn in the intersection a 18 year old kid came up and asked where we were going. When the driver told him the name of the hotel he handed us a business card of the same hotel through the back window and then took off in a sprint towards the place. The driver tried to beat him in a race for the commission but we all arrived at the same time. The elderly lady who ran the place had me testify as to exactly what happened and in the end the taxi driver walked with the commission. I gave the young guy the change in my pocket so he wouldn’t walk away empty handed but he was still disappointed with the outcome.
When asked about a good place to eat we were again warned about getting robbed in the neighborhood and were told to only take enough money for lunch and to leave all valuables locked in the room. That way if we did get robbed we wouldn’t lose too much. Not the type of neighborhood I really wanted to be in and to my surprise the guidebook said nothing about any kind of danger.
We walked down the street and found a good buffet and had a good meal. On the way back I found a place to get a haircut, which I desperately needed, so I found out how much it was and ran back to the hotel to grab some more cash. Eveling, the girl who cut my hair, confirmed as well that the neighborhood had gotten worse in the last year, which explained why the guidebook said nothing about any kind of danger. Luckily there have not been any cases of anyone getting hurt, that these kids will flash a knife to scare tourists, and then take their cash but if you told them no and then walked off they most likely wouldn’t do a thing. She said that the police had been more lax about crime in the area recently but it didn’t have anything to do with a change in political parties. She also said that poverty was the excuse people used but at the same time there were a lot of these kids that just didn’t want to work. As an example, she said the other day she was washing windows outside the shop and a kid walked up and asked for a cordoba. When she replied that she would give him five cordobas if he would help her he replied that he asked her to give him money, not a job.
That night at dinner around the corner we ran into the brother and sister traveling together from Japan that we had met in Guatemala. They were in Managua for just one night as well and we staying at a place just a block away. No one had told them the neighborhood was dangerous so we debriefed them on the situation. In another example of the poverty around this area a kid came up to us as we finished our meal and had us scrape our leftovers into a bag for him to eat. We gave him the food and some cash as well although he didn’t ask for any money. It’s a tough life here without many opportunities.
After dinner we exchanged emails at our hotel and then said goodnight. Tomorrow we have a tour planned at 9:00pm of the city. It should be interesting to compare it to San Salvador.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:29 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 19, 2005
Selva Negra
Today we spend the majority of the day at Selva Negra, a park with old growth cloud forest, a coffee plantation and a hotel originally founded by a German couple decades ago. It is about 15 km north of the city and features several hiking trails where you can explore the Nicaraguan forests. It was very muddy given that it had just rained but we managed the trails.
During the hike we met a couple that was also backpacking through Central America. They were in the process of moving from England to Australia, this trip being their vacation in-between. We hiked with them for a bit and actually got to see some howler monkeys from the top of one of the ridges.
After making our way back down we had a snack at the hotel and then walked to the road where we caught a bus back to town. We had a great dinner at a little restaurant in town and then after attempting to catch up on some email on a very slow internet connection we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Posted by Peter Mork at 12:25 AM | Comments | TrackBack
September 18, 2005
Crossing Into Nicaragua
Today, after eating at a great breakfast place the little guy on the right led us to, we jumped in a colectivo van that took us to the border. The driver and the collector almost got it as full as the bus last night but not quite. Em had a 7 year old on her lap most of the ride and in all there were 26 people in the mini-van. No kidding. Soon though we had our backpacks on and were walking into Nicaragua.
After going through immigration we jumped in a taxi to get to the nearest town Somoto, which was about 20 km away. The driver and I talked about sports, Cuba, Nicaragua and more during the ride. After he dropped us off we were again shortly on another school bus. Before we departed to Esteli we talked with a 12 year old and 15 year old who sold us some bottled water for the trip. When Em asked if they were brothers the older boy replied that they were friends but only at work, as the younger boy would ignore him when he saw him on the street at night. Apparently, he wasn’t popular enough to hang out with the other kids outside of work but Em and I thought he was a sweetheart. We talked to him until our bus left and he shook our hands and said he was happy we met before he jumped off the bus as it pulled out of the station.
Two hours later we arrived in Esteli and found out we needed to head to another terminal to get to Matagalpa. Everyone has been quick to help us out, often without us asking or asking for anything in return. At about 4:30 we pulled into Matagalpa. It turns out that we are here for the annual town agricultural fair which today featured a huge parade through town with horses and floats.
We found a hotel, watched the parade, grabbed some food, and then made our way to the fair where at 8:00 I got to see my first live rodeo. We talked with a family next to us who had 4 boys ranging from 6-11 and a little girl who was 4 years old. The rodeo was a bit disappointing as it mainly consisted of a young bull bucking someone within 5 seconds and then 5 minutes of the clowns torturing the poor animal that was clearly confused and outmatched. Still it was an interesting experience. I had to keep reminding myself where I was. Traveling through all of these countries in such a short time it is easy to lose track. Also, being at a rodeo is one of the last things I thought I would be doing on my first night in Nicaragua.