Rhiannon and our new friends decided to stick together for a few more days and all go from San Juan del Sur to Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua. After a bus ride to Rivas we grabbed a taxi ride to the dock. The driver wanted $C75 each. Ridiculous! Thanks to Oliver at hostel Elizabeth we knew the fair price was no more than $20 Cordobas each. Jess took the lead in negotiations and after emphatically saying “No!” (with her hands on her hip) to each price the driver gave, she agreed to $C25 ($1USD) each. We all agreed and off we went to the ferry. (We later ran into some fellow travelers who had paid the $C75 ($3 USD) each 🙁 ).
Hitchhiking in Nicaragua (where ya wanna go?)
Our plan to rent scooters and tour around San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua was thwarted by the ridiculously high cost of $40 per scooter. Plan B was to rent a truck and drive around. This, too, was exorbitant after factoring in insurance, taxes, etc. So….we went with plan C – walking. After walking about a mile through and then out of the main town we came across a baseball field with people tending to it. Apparently baseball is huge in Nicaragua. [Read more…] about Hitchhiking in Nicaragua (where ya wanna go?)
Saving my soul in San Juan del Sur (aka finding Jesus)
On the bus from Rivas to San Juan del Sur Rhiannon and I met a fantastic Australian couple, Jess (aka Jeffrie) and Calum (aka Cal). They were meeting up with a friend, Claire, from California, for a few weeks. On the first night in San Juan del Sur we met a Belgian guy named Roger who ended up hanging out with us all for the next few days.
The six of us had a blast in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, a smallish beach town an hour or so from Rivas. How did we get there? You guessed it…more chicken busses.
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Careening down Cerro Negro (otherwise known as volcano boarding)!
If you live where the white stuff falls, you’ve no doubt gone snow sledding. For a whole new take on sledding, you simply must try barreling down the side of a volcano. The best place for it is in Leon, Nicaragua. There are several tour groups that will take you to Cerro Negro to ride a board down a volcano, but we think we found the best one! Quetzeltrekkers! They are a nonprofit that organizes tours in Guatemala and Leon, Nicaragua. As an added bonus, the money from the tours goes directly into programs to help children in Guatemala and Nicaragua. [Read more…] about Careening down Cerro Negro (otherwise known as volcano boarding)!
Grandiosa Granada (and the purchase of the painting from hell)
After a brief stop in Las Penitas (a beach town near Leon, Nicaragua) we headed to Granada, Nicaragua. We had to take a chicken bus back to Leon, then a taxi to the other side of the city, then the bus to Managua, then another taxi (driven by a dude with his wife a baby in the front seat) to the other side of Managua , then finally…yep, you guessed it…another bus to Granada. It was a 8+ hour long day of travel!
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Estelli to leon (successfully navigating public buses in Nicaragua!)
This day was our first attemp at riding public busses (aka chicken busses) on our own. Leon, Nicaragua is about 2 1/2 hrs from Estelli. A direct shuttle costs about $20. We got there for $3.25. Woohoo! First, we took a taxi from Sonati hostel to Estacion Sur (South bus station) for C$20.
[Read more…] about Estelli to leon (successfully navigating public buses in Nicaragua!)