Turning into true Mamacita´s

Dear all,

In hopes of keeping up with my promise, here´s another attempt to finish the post I started yesterday. Let´s see, where were we.... local homeless, world cup final...
So there we were in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua´s surfer paradise. Since all the bars were packed we decided to jin a table full of rasta´s, the local homeless/street vendors. We didn´t know this when we joined the table, but as soon as all of the left-overs of the other guests started to appear on the table... we started to wonder. During the game the power went out three times!!! We were lucky to be in a bar with a generator. After our gracious defeat, we gave our Holland ribbons to the rasta´s and went on our way to Granada.

Because of the day, Sunday, there were no more buses to Rivas, where we had to change buses. We took a bus, got tricked into paying 20 cordobas (2 dollar) more and left the bus in a town to catch yet another bus to Granada. And again, we were informed, no buses.... This time they did not trick us, cause after a minute or two, a bus fuller than full, showed up. So we have spent an hour standing-lying in the bus on our bags, with the bag door being open on the highway hahaha. Crazy experience, going by bus in Nicaragua, but we are getting the hang of it and are actually enjoying it. The two best things about the buses, there´s music and you can basically buy anything you want on the bus, from drinks, chicken banana´s and tortilla in a bag for 50 cts, torches, dvd´s, cookies, popcorn, clothes, and so on and so on... Since the bus terminals are almost always next to the markets, a parade of vendors walk through the bus, a lot of fun! At first we were a bit hesitant, but now we are enjoying the local specialties. And Marta, you were right, they throw everything out of the window, plates, bags, bottles, banana´s...

Now we are in beautiful colonial Granada and we have already seen a great deal of both the city and the surroundings. On Monday, we took the ferry to the island of Ometepe, an island that consists of two volcanoes and a strip of land in between in the Lago de Nicaragua. Because of the volcanoes, the soil is very rich, however, its inhabitants are really poor. To them the island is their land, their home and when one of the volcanoes errupts, they will disappear as well.... There is an evacuation plan, but people just accept the fact that this can happen one day. One of the volcanoes, Concepción errupted last year. Fortunately there were no victims. The other one, Maderas, is the dangerous one. Whereas Concepcion occasionally errupts or emits lava, Maderas doesn´t do a thing. Gas is gathering underneath the surface and when it errupts, the entire volcanoe will explode and the island will disappear.

As true flashpackers, our accomodation was excellent, a Finca in Charco Verde right at the lake side. The next morning we rented bikes at Gordo (Fat) Tours and believe me, the guy lives up to the name of his business. We spent six hours biking on the island and were soooooo tired and soaking wet afterwards. The track we biked can be compared to an off-the road part of the Tour de France, man, we are getting some killer legs!! The island is stunning, volcanoes, banana trees, rice fields and small villages. Very pure still. As it is rainy season, the last hour of our little excursion was spent in the pooring rain. My shoes felt like pudding because of the water in them haha So after a nice cold shower, we treated ourselves to some beer, Micheladas, Jasper, you may know them. This is a Mexican drink with beer, lime juice, tomato sauce and tabasco. Since we couldn´t find tomato sauce, we bought pasta sauce instead, so the onions and other veggies started to surface in our beers!! That evening we were so tired but very happy with the day on Ometepe.

We got back from the island yesterday and on our way back to Granada, we stopped at the market in Rivas. Markets here are soooo different. Chicken does not need to be cooled, you can just sell it out in the open in the sun, meat was hanging on the walls... lots of fun! Yesterday we spent the afternoon shopping and sightseeing in the city. And as true Mamacitas we went grocery shopping on the market. Dinner consisted of sandwiches with avocado, tomato and egg and a piece of pie as desert. Total costs, 2 dollar and ten cents. Today, rice with avocado, tomatoes and baked bananas, total costs 1 dollar 50.

Today we also visited the Laguna de Apoyo, a beautiful crater lake, and Masaya, a city near Granada know for its artesanias. Since it is Thursday, we ae going dancing tonight in one of the bars in Granada. Tomorrow we will continue our trip to Matagalpa, the coffee-growing region of Nicaragua.

Lots of love, hugs and kisses!!!

Karlijn