Our Central America tour (8): Lago de Nicaragua
February 2nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Today (Saturday) we began and ended the programme on or around islands on Lago de Nicaragua.
Overnight on Isla de Ometepe, we had shared our chalet with two tiny gekos and two large spiders which added some local flavour and then, in the morning, none of the chalets had hot water so it was an invigorating shower. Like all countries, Nicaragua has a past and will have a future and this morning – setting off at 7.30 am – we touched on both.
Our connection with the past came with a visit to a part of the island called Finca El Porvenir where we spent an hour and a quarter being shown various large petroglyphs. These are carvings on igneous volcanic rocks which are between 1200-1400 years old, representing a culture which existed long before the Spanish arrived in this part of the world. On the island as a whole, over 1700 petroglyphs have been discovered, but we only viewed half a dozen, The largest and most impressive represented a Mayan calendar which archaeologists are still unable to interpret.
Our vision of the future came when Eduardo told us a little about the plans to builds a Nicaragua Canal to rival the more southerly Panama Canal. The proposed route will traverse the Lago de Nicaragua which will bring economic prosperity but environmental challenges to this part of the country. Last tear, a 50 year concession to build and operate the new canal was awarded to a joint venture between Nicaragua and Hong Kong companies.
From Finca El Porvenir, we drove round to a location called Oyo de Agua. There is a waterfall here but it is not really accessible, so most visitors either use the open air swimming pool and/or the refreshment facilities. Roger & Vee bought coffees for the guide Eduardo and the driver Felix and chatted about our experiences
Our final destination on the island was of course, Moyogulpa to catch the ferry back to the mainland. We reached the village early so that there was time for a quick lunch and Roger & Vee and Brian & Cally enjoyed salads & beers at a place called “Pizzeria Bon Appetito”. The group and our coach were on the 12.30 pm ferry and an hour and a quarter later we were back at San Jorge where we soon accessed again the Pan American Highway continuing north-east. Vee spotted a dead pony by the roadside being devoured by around 20 vultures.
After an hour and a quarter, we reached the city of Granada which is located by Lago de Nicaragua and headed straight for a small quay where boat trips to the surrounding Islands commence. The group filled a long boat with single seats along both sides to maximise vision and a local guide operated the motor while Edwardo helped us to spot local water birds.
This area of Lago de Nicaragua is known as Las Isletas which is a collection of around 300 small islands formed by the volcanic activity of nearby Volcan Mombacho (1345 metres). Many of the islands are privately owned and serve as holiday homes for the rich (one which was pointed out to us cost $1.5 million). One of the tiny islands is called monkey island because it is home to three spider monkeys and one white-faced monkey. Sadly they are overweight because tourists keep feeding them with sweet foods.
The main attraction of the area for many tourists is the opportunity to spot various types of bird and we saw lots ospreys, egrets, cormorants, and weaver birds. Some members of our group were very, very adept at spotting these birds among the trees and bushes on the islands and some of them of the group were very, very excited to do so.
At 5.20 pm – after being out for almost 10 hours – we checked into our hotel in Granada: the El Almirante – our fourth hotel in four consecutive nights. The evening was the best of our holiday so far because we teamed up with Brian & Cally to go out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant called “Tequila Vallarta” behind the cathedral. The food was fine but, when Roger asked to see the dessert menu, he was advised that the restaurant had no desserts even though the menu suggested four options. His face was clearly crest-fallen because they then offered to go to the next door restaurant and find him a dessert, as a result of which he finished the meal with a delicious Neapolitan ice cream.
Meanwhile all around, downtown Granada was buzzing. Vendors tried to sell us all sorts of things; musicians tried to entertain us; a group of break dancers performed amazing feats of acrobatic dance; and there were two bunches of performers dressed like giant puppets who swirled round as a cacophony of drums beat out (the tall mannekin is called La Gigantona) It had the elements of a carnival atmosphere and we loved it.
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Our Central America tour (7): Isla de Ometepe
February 1st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Today (Friday), we were leaving Costa Rica and entering our second country of the tour Nicaragua, so essentially it was a travelling day.
We left the hotel towards 8 am, took the Pan American Highway north, and reached the Costa Rican border an hour later. Crossing any Central American border can be problematic, even for Central Americans themselves. There is a $7 a head charge to leave Costa Rica and a $13 a head charge to enter Nicaragua, although additionally bribes can be necessary to smooth the wheels of bureaucracy and slowness. Fortunately we had an easy time and completed all formalities in one and a half hours.
Entering Nicaragua about 10.30 am, we were still on the Pan American Highway but now lorries, buses and cars were accompanied by oxen carts, bicycles and even pedestrians (not at all like a British motorway!). We skirted the southern shore of the largest lake in the country, the absolutely huge Lago de Nicaragua, and made a stop to take our first photographs of the largest island in the lake called Isla de Ometepe with its two dominant volcanoes – a magical view.
We made a brief comfort stop in the town of Rivas and then turned off to head for the shore of the lake at a village called San Jorge. We were in very good time for the ferry to the island, so we had a bit of lunch at a cafe by the ferry terminal called “El Navegante” where Roger was delighted to find that he could access WiFi ( password was “Leningrado”, so perhaps the owners were Sandinista supporters) and post another chapter on this narrative. A little walk on the beach (it was so hot) and a refreshing beer (it was so cold) and we were ready to embark.
It took us an hour a half on the ferry to reach Moyogalpa on the Isla de Ometepe – the name means two mountains – in the middle of the huge Lago de Nicaragua (8,634 square metres or 10,300 square yards).
The Island is almost two islands – each created by a volcano – joined by a narrow isthmus. On the north west is Volcan Concepcion, the higher standing at 1,610 metres, and on the south-east is Volcan Maderas, the lower but still 1,304 metres. While Maderas is dormant, Concepcion is still active – the last eruption was in 1986 – and usually topped by clouds. The population of the island is around 40,000 and a popular form of travel is by horse.
It was 4.30 pm when our coach – which had accompanied us on the ferry – pulled up to our accommodation on the island after a journey of eight and a half hours (although we had a long stop at San Jorge). For the third consecutive night, we were staying in a place with individual chalets, but the Charco Verde Hotel was special in being located by the lake. This is about as remote as it gets: 5,000 miles away from home, in a country nobody we know has ever visited, in the middle of a hugh lake we had never previously heard of, in the middle of an island with two volcanoes.
The facilities of the hotel were the most basic yet: we had no problem managing without a television but we would have been bothered by the absence of a kettle and beverages had we not brought along our own travelling kettle and tea & coffee. As last night, there was effectively no choice but to eat at the hotel but we had a choice of three options.
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Our Central America tour (6): Nicaragua
January 31st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In 1522, the Spanish explorer Gil Gonzalez de Avila named Nicaragua after a local indian chief called Nicarao. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the British had influence over the Caribbean coast and Nicaragua became fully independent in 1838 (when it became the first country to leave the United Provinces of Central America).
The Somoza family dynasty ruled the country between 1937 and the Sandinista revolution in 1979. Roger Spottiswoode’s 1983 film “Under Fire” gave a portrayal this revolution. When the Sandinistas took power, they were opposed militarily by the US-backed Contras, but in 1990 the Sandinistas were defeated in elections held as part of a peace agreement.
The population is 6 million – known as Nicas – and the capital is Managua. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. Hurricane Mitch in 1998 left 20% of the population homeless. However, it is known as one of the safest countries in Latin America.
Former Marxist guerrilla leader Daniel Ortega served as president from 1985-1990, made a come back as president in 2006, and was re-elected in a landslide victory in 2011. He has aligned Nicaragua with Russia and the anti-US bloc in Latin America.
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Our Central America tour (5): monkeys and fumaroles
January 31st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
During the night of Wednesday/Thursday, it crashed with rain so that, in the morning, effectively the Arenal volcano had disappeared inside a low cloud base. Clearly we had been very fortunate with the weather yesterday. At 8 am, we left the Arenal Paraiso Hotel after two nights stay to head further north-east, starting by skirting round the northern side of the lake we had seen yesterday. Lago Arenal is the largest lake in the country and provides a significant amount of hydro-electric power as well as recreational opportunities.
As we left the micro-climate of Arenal at 8 am, the weather soon returned to bright sunshine which meant that, as the coach twisted and turned around the lakeside, we could from time to time spot various wildlife and sometimes stop for a closer look. Among our sightings were black mandivle toucans with bright yellow upper beaks and a family of howler monkeys (totally black except for dark grey faces and white testicles). Towards 11 am, we joined the Pan American Highway which would be our main route for the remainder of our time in Costa Rica, leading us all the way to Nicaragua. This highway is far from as impressive as it sounds; throughout the country it is merely one lane in each direction and in many parts it is poorly maintained.
We were now in the province of Guanacaste which is the driest in the country and we stopped for a hour at the town of Liberia which is the capital of the province. This was an opportunity to visit a local supermarket called “Jumbo Liberia” where we were able to buy food and drink for our picnic lunch and meanwhile have a coffee.
After this stop, we left the Pan America Highway to take a minor road north east heading for the national park in which is located another of Costa Rica’s active volcanoes. At a certain point the public road which was pretty basic became a private road which was in a poor state and presented a very bumpy ride to the national park which we reached around 1.30 pm.
This is the site of Volcan Rincon de la Vieja – the name means the corner of the old woman and apparently is a reference to olden times when certain local women practised dark arts. Located at a height of 1,895 metres, this is still an active volcano and indeed a series of eruptions in 2012 has put the actual crater off limits for the time being. The national park is home to around 250 bird species, plus monkeys, morpho butterflies, tapirs, and even pumas, and the location of the highest density of the country’s national flower, a rare purple orchid called locally guaria morada.
The weather was glorious as we sat at benches outside and consumed our supermarket purchases. Suitably refreshed, the hard work began as Eduardo led us on a rather demanding hike. The floor of the forest was almost totally covered in either twisting tree roots or large uneven rocks, so great care was needed. At times, it was really steep going down or (on the return) going back up. On three occasions, we had to cross the local Colorado River (not that wide but fast flowing), either on a bouncing suspension bridge or on a tree trunk with a support wire stung above it. It was really warm but the trees were so thick that the sun only penetrated so far and a strong breeze shook the upper parts of the tall trees to create quite an eerie atmosphere.
The main purpose of the walk – correction, trek – was to visit some of the smoking fumaroles of this active volcano. We saw three, each larger and smokier and more bubbly than the previous one. A sign explained that the temperature of the mud was between 75C-106C (192F-248F). The smell of hydrogen sulphide was pungent and we were regularly engulfed by the steam showers. However, as well as the fumaroles, Eduardo pointed out various flora and fauna plus birds and monkeys. Indeed we spent quite a while studying a group of white-faced capuchin monkeys who performed wonderful feats of jumping from one high tree branch to another.
We spent over two and a half hours on this hike and felt that we had acquitted ourselves well, coping with the terrain and seeing some unusual sights. Back at the coach, we retraced our route but did not go all the way back to Liberia because we were spending the night at a place called Canon de la Vieja Lodge – another case of accommodation in individual chalets with fairly basic facilities. Since we were some way from civilisation, the evening meal was a buffet dinner at the hotel.
At this point in the tour, we were joined by five other travellers (all three of the men named Robert) who had been to Panama and Costa Rica, so now – at least for a while – we are 18.
Tomorrow … Nicaragua.
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Our Central America tour (4): another sloth, another volcano – and a zip wire!
January 30th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
On Wednesday, the group was asked to congregate in the hotel car park at 8.30 am, but we did not leave immediately because someone spotted a sloth in a nearby tree in the hotel grounds. You might think that, see one sloth and you’ve seen them all, but this was different from that of yesterday. It was much larger and less hairy and adept at climbing to the very top of the tree but
s-l-o-w-l-y.
The Arenal Paraiso hotel is located on the east side of the volcano and we drove round to the west side for a better view. On 29 July 1968, Volan Arenal – the name means sand – erupted after a period of quiescence of almost 400 years and killed 85 people and buried a number of local villages. Eruptions and lava flows remained a regular occurrence until suddenly everything went quiet again in 2010, but there are still hot springs and the site remains a popular tourist attraction.
We took a long trail through low forest and then climbed some very uneven volcanic rocks to reach a vantage point at the foot of the volcano. White streaks of ash marked the higher slopes and cloud crowned the top. It is forbidden to approach any nearer to the volcano since it is still active and could erupt at any time. Behind us, there was a huge artificial lake which is used for recreational purposes.
The whole area is a large national park and our guide Eduardo took pleasure in pointing out different trees and plants and spotting different birds including the white-throated magpie-jay, the crested caracara, and the grey hawk (we are all becoming twitters).
After two hours or so at the volcano, we drove into the village of La Fortuna which nestles on the east side of the feature. Roger and Vee joined Brian and Cally in having some lunch of burgers and beer at a cafe called “Soda La Parada”.
Back at the hotel towards 2 pm, the group had the afternoon free, but various paid options were offered: bathing in hot springs, a trip to a local waterfall, walkways over treetop canopies, or a zip wire tour of the rain forest. Only four of the group chose to go for any of these options – so who were they and what did they select? You guessed it, Vee and Roger decided to go for the zip wire and they were joined by Brian and Cally (both in their 70s). None of us had done this before.
First we paid our $45 (£27) a head for the privilege of being scared witless. Then we signed forms absolving the hotel of any liability in spite of a written warning that consequences could include “disease, injury or death”. Next we were fitted up with our harnesses and helmets. Finally we had our instructions: how to sit in the harness with ankles crossed and how to use a leather glove to avoid spinning and slow us down.
There were 11 of us altogether: the four from Britain, four from France, and three from Mexico. There were 12 towers and 11 zip lines which together measured 2,200 metres (7,200 feet or 1.4 miles). Vee – the woman who did hang gliding in Brazil and the highest bungee jump in the world in South Africa – was totally calm about it all and handled it everything very smoothly, only once stopping short of a platform and having to pull herself forward.
Roger found it much more difficult. It was not just a matter of having courage; the whole thing required some judgement and skill. It was not a case of doing one or two lines and then it was much easier; each line was of a different height or length and required more or less courage and a different braking technique. On one line, Roger stopped too short and had to grapple himself up to the platform. On a particularly fast line, his gripping hand bounced free, his wrist suffered a friction burn from the zip wire, and he had to get his grip back before he spun around. He finished up with a painful rust red diagonal streak across his right wrist as a souvenir of an amazing and thrilling experience.
Cally found the whole thing particularly terrifying and was accompanied on two lines by a member of staff. One of the French guys braked too soon and finished up suspended in space because he panicked and had no strength to pull himself along the line. A member of staff slid down the line to pull him up to the platform. For all of us, it was one and a half hours of pure adrenaline.
At Eduardo’s suggestion, we all went back into La Fortuna for dinner, visiting a typical local place called “Rancho Perla” where Vee enjoyed sea bass and Roger made sure he had one of the only three desserts on offer (coconut tart & ice cream).
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Our Central America tour (3): first volcano and coffee plantation
January 29th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
On yet another cold and wet morning (appropriately enough a Monday) in this miserable British winter, Roger and Vee set the alarm for 6 am to commence their Central American tour. It took two American Airlines flights to reach the starting point in Costa Rica: one of nine and half hours from London to Dallas/Fort Worth in the USA on a Boeing 777-300 and another of three and a half hours from Dallas/Fort Worth to San Jose on a Boeing 757-200. At the airport in San Jose, we were greeted by a sign proclaiming: “Welcome to the happiest country in the world”.
We reached our first accommodation – Tryp Hotel Sabana – at 9.30 pm which was 3.30 am London time since Costa Rica is six hours behind UK time. So door to door, the journey out had taken us nearly 21 hours. Almost immediately we hit the sack … zzzzzzzzzz
At 8 am on Tuesday morning, we met our guide and our group. The guide is Edward (Edwardo) Sanchez whose pet name – apparently all Costa Ricans have one – is Plumas (Feathers) since he has a strong interest in birds. There are 11 others in the group making a total of 13, all our sort of age (although one fit guy is 80). Our coach is basic but adequate with enough room for us to spread around. The weather was one of blue skies and warn sunshine and, as the day progressed, the temperature rose to around 30C/86F (oh, joy).
Before leaving San Jose, we drove around the city a little, so that we could have a taste for the place, and Roger recognised a number of locations from his visit in 1991.
The capital San Jose – or Chepe, as it is affectionately known – has a population of 1.2 million, one in five of whom live below the poverty line. Like American cities, the centre is built on a grid pattern of avenues (east-west) and streets (north-south) with numbers rather than names. It is not known as a pretty city, being characterised by unremarkable concrete buildings, fast food outlets, clogged pavements and homicidal drivers. But, as Roger discovered 22 years ago, the city has real vibrancy and the location – in a valley overlooked by low hills – is splendid.
Leaving the city, we headed north-west to the town of Alejuela (which Roger visited in 1991) and then north to see our first volcano of the tour. The route to the volcano is by a single lane road … up … winding .. bumpy …. up … winding .. bumpy … At 9.45 am, we reached the active Volcano Poas which is named after a local plant. Situated at a height of 2,530 metres, the volcano has a crater 1.3 km wide and 300 metres deep. Almost daily, a veil of cloud envelops the mountain, but we were lucky because visibility for us was perfect.
It was incredibly atmospheric: cold at that height but very bright, pungent with the smell of hydrogen sulphide, and so variegated in colour: blue-green water in the actual crater, steam rising from vent holes, yellow sulphur around the water’s edge, red in the iron rock, and black, white and grey ash and sand, all surrounded by lush green hills and topped by azure blue sky.
After an hour and a half at the site of the volcano, we returned the way we came back descending the steep hill … down … winding .. bumpy …. down … winding .. bumpy … We made a scheduled stop and an unscheduled halt for photo opportunities. The first was a terrific panoramic view of the whole of the Central Valley with San Jose in the centre of the basin. The second was an opportune chance to see a two-fingered sloth edging its way across telephone wires strung over our road – very slow, very furry, very cute.
Our next destination was a coffee plantation called the Dokas estate which is owned by the Vargas family. First we had a hot buffet lunch – our introduction to the Costa Rican staples of rice and beans (but, in this case, supplemented by beef or fish and plantains and salad). They say that in this country, when one tires of rice and beans, one can have a change of beans and rice. Next we viewed the butterfly garden. This houses an extensive variety of variably coloured butterflies and it seemed that the mire attractive the butterfly the harder it was to photograph (the blues ones would never settle).
Finally we were given a conducted tour of parts of the plantation, illustrating the long and careful processes of growing the beans, harvesting them from the plantation, washing and grading and drying the beans, storing them for export, and roasting them for local consumption. In Cost Rica, the beans are always picked by hand, not by machine, but only 10% of the pickers are from Costa Rica itself: 80% are from Nicaragua and 10% from Panama. One of the dangers is a fungus which sounded like it was called Roger but, upon further inquiry, turned out to be named “roya”.
We left the plantation at 2.40 pm and set off north-west for our accommodation for the next two nights by the side of another volcano. It was a long journey of three and a half hours – although we did have a coffee and comfort break – so it was 6.10 pm and dark when we rolled up to the Arenal Paraiso Resort by Volcan Arenal. Here we were allocated lodges with basic but adequate facilities. The evening meal was in the resort’s restaurant accompanied by animal sounds including bull toads.
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Our Central America tour (2): Costa Rica
January 28th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Our first destination ….
Costa Rica means “rich coast” in Spanish and it obtained this name from Christopher Columbus who visited the area in 1502 on his fourth and final voyage to the New World. A Spanish colony for many centuries, Costa Rica became fully independent in 1838.
Costa Rica avoided the civil wars that wracked the region in the 1970s and 1980s, although it was pressured by the freedom-loving Ronald Reagan into providing facilities on the northern border for the Right-wing Contras fighting the Sandinistas in next door Nicaragua. Eventually President Oscar Arias managed to facilitate a negotiated settlement in Nicaragua which won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.
The population is 6.5 million (of which 1 million are economic migrants from Nicaragua) and the capital is San Jose (which is only 10 degrees above the equator). Its citizens (Ticos and Ticas) are known for their laid back style, characterised by the notion of ‘Tico time’ (even slower than Mediterranean time) and the expressions ‘poco a poco’ (‘little by little’) and ‘pura vida’ (‘pure life’).
Once dubbed “the Switzerland of Central America”, Costa Rica is one of the region’s most affluent and stable countries and it has no standing army. It has the most developed welfare system in the region and its citizens enjoy one of the highest life expectancy levels in the Western Hemisphere. The main industry is now tourism and 35% of the land area is protected.
Following a landslide victory, in May 2010 the country obtained its first female president Laura Chincilla. In the simultaneous parliamentary polls, her centrist National Liberation Party failed to win a majority in Congress, but there will be a general election this Sunday when the National Liberation Party is expected to hold on to power.
Costa Rica is the only country on this holiday which one of us has visited before. In December 1991, Roger spent a few days in San Jose where he made a presentation at a conference on telecommunications before staying on to do some sightseeing. Following that visit, he wrote in his diary: “I cannot imagine being able to return.” He was wrong.
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Our Central America tour (1): introduction
January 27th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In our life-long quest to see as much of the world as possible, our latest holiday is in Central America, having already visited North America many times (most recently in 2013) and South America (in 2001). As this is a region with which we are totally unfamiliar, before setting off we struggled to recall which countries we were to see and especially in what order we would experience them, so Roger came up with a suitable mnemonic: Can Nick Explain His Guns = Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
After breaking away from Spanish control, all five countries used to be members of the United Provinces of Central America (1821-1841) before becoming fully independent states. All five nations have very similar flags – each with twin blue strips, the first four with thin horizontal stripes and the last (Guatemala) with broader vertical stripes. All except one have coastlines on both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the exception being El Salvador which only has a Pacific coast.
Today this is a region always known for its amazing bio-diversity and volcanoes plus earthquakes and hurricanes, previously ravaged by civil wars, and now scarred by poverty, corruption, street gangs and drug running.
As usual for trips outside Europe, we are going on an organised tour and once again we are using Voyages Jules Verne as our travel agent. The tour will be escorted by local guides from VJV agents: Costa Rican Trails based in Costa Rica and Expedicion Panamundo based in Guatemala. For almost two months (December and January) before the holiday, Britain has been hit by ferocious gales, lashing rain and extensive floods, so we are looking forward to some sunshine as we are visiting Central America in the dry season which runs from November to April.
Subject to the pressures of the trip and the availability of WiFi locally, I’ll be blogging regularly, so I hope that you will follow us virtually on what we are sure will be a fascinating holiday. If you have any tips, observations or queries, please feel free to post a comment.
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How to travel wisely
January 26th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
I love travelling to other countries because I learn so much about other places and cultures. But there is an art to getting the most out of a trip and avoiding problems in new locations.
So years ago I wrote a piece for the Life Skills section of my web site called “How To Travel Wisely” and up-date it from time too time. Even though it is my own advice, I reread it every time I am about to go abroad – like now. You might want to check it out here.
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My granddaughter Catrin’s favourite piece of music
January 24th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
As I explained in this posting, before Christmas I took my granddaughter Catrin – now just three years old – to her first film, the Walt Disney animation “Frozen” [my review here]. She loved it so much that her mother has taken her to see it for a second time – this time in 3D – and Vee and bought Catrin three “Frozen”-themed books for her birthday.
Her favourite song from the music is titled “For The First Time In Forever”. I thought that I would share it with you. Enjoy.
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