3 Months!

So, it's been 3 months to the day since we set off and we're more or less a third of the way through this trip. It's definitely safe to say that it's been the most exciting (and strange) 3 months of our lives so far. We've done so much, and it feels like a long time since we were saying goodbye at Birmingham airport or sitting at work. The good things are that: 1) we've still got twice as much time left to do twice as much stuff; 2) although we're having so much fun, we've realised how much we like home and miss the people there, and it won't be too long until we return.

We're now in El Salvador having arrived yesterday in San Miguel. Watch out for blog posts to follow. The photo here was taken in the mountains near Perquín, Northeastern El Salvador.

Rob

Volcán Momotombo

Nicaragua is indeed the land of lakes and volcanoes. On Wednesday I took on the local ´big one´: Volcán Momotombo. It rises 1280m from the shore of Lake Managua and is fairly active. The last proper eruption was in 1905, and in 2000 it caused a few tremors, raising fears of an eruption. On the lakeside at the foot of the volcano, a geothermal power station provides one third - or 10%, depending on who you speak to - of Nicaragua´s electricity demand.



I climbed with David (on the left in the above photo) and Seth, a couple of New Yorkers whom we met on Ometepe and caught up with in León, and our guide, Anry.



The route up above the vegetation line is pretty tough going. The surface is covered in an ever-changing assortment of volcanic rock, varying between sand and small rocks to fairly big chunks. It´s hard work when each step you take slides back down half the length of your stride! Hopefully you can see from the photos the weird but beautiful moon-like landscape. There are also incredible views of the lake and around.



It took us about 5-6 hours to get to the top. Here, the ground looks like rock but is actually hot mud, with steam coming out of holes everywhere. You have to be careful - David lingered too long with a foot in the mud without realising it and later discovered that the sole was coming off his boot!








The loose surface that had hindered our ascent was, our guide assured us, going to help on the way down. Having already smashed his 4-hour estimate for the climb up, we became less confident of his 2.5-hour estimate for the descent. It turns out that a 45º incline of mixed sand and rubble covered in loose (and very sharp) volcanic rocks is not at all easy to get down. We were advised to "go with it"; not too hard on the sandy bits, where you can be fairly sure you´ll stop, but trickier on the patches of firmer ground where you could keep sliding for some distance without stopping.



Of course, one option is to adopt the ´crab´ technique, as demonstrated here by David. It looks effective, but in the end we all went for ´sliding down occasionally falling with much swearing´ technique, which proved the most expedient.



Volcano 0, us 1. Go team!

Rob

León; City of religion and revolution

It´s boiling in León. Boiling hot and incredibly sunny, with a clear blue sky. There are Christmas decorations for sale all over town but it´s impossible to believe this is December!



This cathedral dominates the parque central and is the largest in Central America. Yesterday we witnessed an incredibly crowded mass, where people were having to peer through the doorways to see in. It really shows how important Catholicism is here and it´s also evident in the large numbers of beautiful churches.



We arrived in León after a brief return to Granada and, though the colonial architecture has the same feel, this is a very different city. You can really feel the recent suffering experienced during the civil war and the years of struggle after the revolution, because there are images of heroes and martyrs on every corner.

The most famous symbol of the revolution is this man, Sandino, or rather, his hat. He actually pre-dated the 1970s insurrection by about 40 years, but his fighting spirit even inspired the main revolutionaries to call themselves Sandinistas.



There are still many murals around town depicting events in Nicaragua´s painful history and Sandino´s shadow can often be seen cast across them. We thought this looked pretty cool so decided to make shadows a bit of a theme in some of our photos, too!





As we were looking around, this lovely lady, Maria, offered to explain the symbolism of the murals. She´s lived in León all her life so is very knowledgeable and, thankfully, spoke very clear Spanish!




The martyr culture is very strong in León and spots like this, where four protesting students were murdered by the dictator´s soldiers, are tragically common throughout the city.



Maria managed to sneak us into a crumbling old building that was the scene of a very significant event in Nicaraguan history and, I´m pretty sure very few other tourists ever see. It was where the poet and revolutionary (that´s a very common combination here) Rigoberto Lopéz Peréz assassinated the first dictator from the Samoza dynasty and was then killed himself, becoming yet another martyr. Now it is a Sandinista office and almost entirely empty, but the bullet holes are still in the walls. Pretty atmospheric.



Rachel x

Ometepe; paradise on Earth

This photo tells you most of what you need to know about Isla de Ometepe. We have never been to a place better suited to doing nothing.



Sitting in the middle of the enormous Lake Nicaragua, two volcanoes form a figure-of-eight shaped island which is revered as a special place by Nicaraguans. Its existence is actually the reason that the early indigenous peoples inhabited what is now Nicaragua, on the strength of a prophecy that they would settle in a place where they found a lake around two volcanoes. A small isthmus joins Volcán La Concepción to the smaller Volcán Maderas, and we stayed on the western edge of the latter where the slope meets the lake. The whole island is pretty much stunning wherever you look. From our hostel, one volcano loomed behind while the other looked magnificent whether bathed in dusk sunlight or shrouded in fluffy white cloud.

That´s not to say that we were completely lazy. One of the best things to do is to kayak around the lake.



You can see what I mean about the volcano. There really isn´t anywhere to look that´s not beautiful. Heading inland up the river gets tricky though, where some rather thawny trees make it hard to get around. Your scratched arms are rewarded though, with a view of one volcano on each side.



We also took a (rather long and strenuous) walk up to a waterfall. The reward for that was a dip in the icy water and some water from a man who had a handy water-purifying pump.



Rach ´enjoyed´ the water standing under the cascade. I just paddled in the pool.

There are hundreds of beautiful butterflies on the island. We don´t know the names of any except the incredible Menelaus Blue Morpho. This may be a type of Morpho, but it isn´t as dramatic as the Menelaus, which we often see flying by while walking.



The people of the island are very friendly, partly a result of the fact that the civil war never reached Ometepe. The children especially are very inquisitive (read cheeky!).



It´s not just butterflies on Ometepe. Late one night as we were relaxing with a few beers Rach spotted this female Elephant Beetle trying to get into our room. I should point out that the hands of Lee, the American guy who was brave enough to pick her up and was able to identify her, are pretty huge. The beetle herself was about 5 inches long! I didn´t have a 50 pence piece to hand to show the scale, unfortunately.



Ultimately, the best thing to do on the island is watch the sunset. We were treated to spectacular displays each night, perfect for a swim in the lake followed by a few pre-dinner beers. Bliss...




This guy puts it pretty well. It doesn´t look like much has changed since 1867:

"Out of the midst of the beautiful Lake Nicaragua spring two magnificent pyramids, clad in the softest and richest green, all flecked with shadow and sunshine, whose summits pierce the billowy clouds. They look so isolated from the world and its turmoil - so tranquil, so dreamy, so steeped in slumber and eternal repose."
Mark Twain

Rob