Nicaragua, Esteli and Somoto

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

We started the day with breakfast at the hostel and then shared a taxi to the minibus station with the older lady Kaley we had mat the previous night. At the station we parted ways as we were heading north towards Honduras and she was heading south. Our trip was a short jaunt to the small cowboy frontier town of Esteli. We checked into Hostel Luna which was a hostel and accompanying cafe that supported local development projects with its earnings. We then had lunch at the cafe and I decided to finally get my hair cut while Shannon scooped out a place for a massage. We later reconvened and did a walking tour of the town, booked a tour for the next day, had some supper and then headed back to the hostel where we read for a couple of hours and went to bed really early.

Somoto
Just down the road from Esteli is the frontier town of Somoto but we were not going there for the town we were going there to “tour” the Somoto Canyon which involves a hike up toward the head waters, a partial walk down the river bank, swimming/floating the river the rest of the way while looking up at the jetting canyon walls on either side of you, then a small boat ride and finally a short walk back to the house we started at. So wouldn’t you know it but the only other gringos on the bus to Somoto to also attend the canyon tour were the Bostonites Christy and Chris we had met in Leon. This tour was a little different than most as there is a family that runs the tours. We ended up having lunch, supper and staying at their small ranch house. The walk was a hot dusty trip up the road, through cow fields and up a hill until we finally hit the river. We started walking along the bank of the river which was made of huge rounded rocks. We walked until the river started to pool, at which point our guide pulled out his blow up dingy. We piled our dry clothes etc. in the dingy and then jumped into the cool water with our life jackets, which helped us float along. The greatest part of this tour was the perspective you had floating down the river as the canyon walls started to rise up to 30 meters or more and the river narrowed to 8 meters across at times. The canyon funnelled us through thin river straights with shear rock walls going up to the heavens. Despite the heat of the day, the coolness of the water sucked the heat right out of us. We later laid on the hot rocks at the end to warm up. We walked back to the family residence, had some beers and a typical Nicaragua supper of tortillas, rice, beans, and chicken in a tomato salsa (steamed vegetables for Shannon). We drank some more beers, talked with the family as best we could and then the four gringos played some cards and headed off to bed as we all had an early day of travel the next morning in opposite directions.

Nicaragua, Leon - Beautiful Churches Everywhere

From what we had saw and heard about Managua, the city did not really feel like a place we should remain and so we walked to the collectivo station (shared minivan taxi) and caught one to the city of Leon. We arrived early and grabbed a cab to Hostel Lazybones which appeared to be a scaled down version of the Hostel Oasis which was the fancy hostel we had stayed at in Granada with Chris and Heather. After unpacking we found out that the this hostel has also been the previous owner of Oasis so it made sense that everything looked very similar with its hammocks, wall murals, and pool. Every day in Leon was extremely hot and so we spent every morning hanging around the pool. Our first afternoon was spent walking around the streets viewing all the gorgeous old churches and colonial buildings. Leon really grew on us as it is very authentic, full of history, with at least 10 beautiful churches within a stone throw, a cobble stone city square, a good sense of safety and friendly people.

The next day we signed up for a kayaking trip through the Las Penitas estuary to see the mangroves and hopefully an alligator. That day we headed out in the afternoon with our tour guide and a young English girl. The mangroves were so peaceful and quiet. Our guide told us stories about old Leon and the myth of a priest who was beheaded by the Spaniards and who was believed to still roam the area of old Leon. He also told us about the importance of the mangrove, as it filters the water and is home to many of the animals in the area. As well, he explained that last year there was a bad storm that blew over and destroyed a lot of the mangroves and that the University has since been working hard to replant the mangroves (red and black mangrove trees are in the area). During our kayak trip we paddled the estuary which came from the main land and went around either side of a very close island. After an hour of paddling we stopped on the island so that our guide could teach us about turtles and the University’s turtle breading station which was on the island. We were told that the breading season was over, but that turtles come to shore during the breeding season along beaches and lay their eggs in the sand. Since turtle populations have been dwindling due to over fishing, destruction of habitat and pollution, volunteers and biologists gather the eggs and move them to a controlled setting where they can be watched 24-hours a day along the same beach, and hatch safely. The baby turtles are released into the wild either at dawn or dusk when there are limited predators to enhance their survival. We were very fortunate that day as the season was not over and a batch of turtles had been born that morning. We were able to hold the baby turtles, take pictures and were invited back to release them into the ocean at dusk. We continued our kayak tour up the estuary in search of alligators without avail but were able to see numerous species of birds that frequent the mangrove forest. We returned to the turtle hatchery before dusk, had a swim in the warm Pacific Ocean, played in the waves and then watched the turtles being released into the water. It was amazing to see them instinctively head towards the ocean. We did not leave until every last baby turtle was gobbled up by the surf.

The next day we were going to head out but our lazybones and the extreme heat after breakfast slowed us down to a halt. We spent the morning swimming, laying around the pool and reading our books, as it was too nice to travel. We also briefly met a couple Christy and Chris from the Boston area. They owned an organic farm back home and were travelling for two months during the winter season. In the afternoon we had finally gotten ready for a walk around the city at which time we also found a great buffet-style lunch comida for $2 per person. We toured the local market and then went for a roof-top tour of the Cathedral at Park Central for $2 per person. It was worth every penny to check out the roof as there were more than 20 domes of various sizes, three steeples with at least 15 bells and a great view of the entire city out to the surrounding volcanoes. We were both surprised but super excited that they let people self tour this amazing spot. We spent the rest of the day soaking in sweat but went to an internet cafe with our computer to call Todd for his birthday which is Scott’s brother. It was awesome to hear his voice and it made us excited for our trip to see Todd and his girlfriend Kim for a week starting March 7th at the end of this adventure. We headed back to Lazybones hostel and right away jumped in the pool. While in the pool we ended up talking to an artist from Burlington by the name of Kaley Archer. She explained that her and her late husband had travelled all around the world and that since his sudden death she had continued to travel and was on her way to travel and volunteer throughout Central America. Due to the heat of the day and after deciding to move on to another destination early in the morning we hit the sack.