We are not going quietly back to our temporary home at Gran Pacifica. There are still things to see and do, and multiple buses to catch. Let me get you caught up.
We left La Esperanza on Sunday morning, and after a bus, a mini-bus, and a tuk-tuk (our 1st of the trip), we arrived at D&D Brewery & Lodge. In the small town of Las Naranjas and close to the jungle lined shores of Lago de Yajoa, the brewery was built by a guy from Virginia who first came to Honduras with the Peace Corp. It is a beautiful piece of property, thick with plant life and well designed accommodations. When we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, it was busy with well-to-do locals and a few gringos. As expected, the food was a little pricey but the micro-brew ($2.18 a pint) was a good deal. We opted to eat lunches in town and dinner with pints at the brewery. It has been a while since we have tasted good beer, and we felt confident calling this beer good. My favorites were the Porter and the Amber, but they also offer a Pale, 3 fruity options, and a wide variety of beers from around the world.
The initial beer tasting
Monday: We caught a bus to check out the Pulhapanzak Falls. Being from the Northwest, we are generally underwhelmed by the waterfalls we have seen, but the 43 meter high cascade of water was very impressive. It was powerful and the spray immediately drenched us at the lower viewpoint. They even had a cool zip-line setup that goes right over the top of the falls that we did not try. We just strolled around and enjoyed the park area, having the whole place to ourselves.
After the falls, we caught a bus back to the brewery and decided to get off at the junction town of Peña Blanca to get lunch and buy things. Right as we stepped out onto the street, the afternoon rains started and we quickly settled on a pizzeria. Surprisingly, they had really good crispy rolled tacos (or flautas) and we feasted. With full bellies, we threw on our coats and navigated the streets of flowing water, while locals watched from underneath tarps. We popped into a few shops and bought some groceries before cramming into another mini-bus for the short trip back to Las Naranjas. I then watched the latest episode of "Game of Thrones" and that night we ate some classic pub snacks and drank more beer.
Tuesday: Another self-guided sightseeing trip. This time we decided to try and get a view of the lake and attempted to follow the map at the brewery. We walked down a scenic path along the canal. At a junction, we decided to stay along the waters edge but the path soon got very thin and tough to navigate in sandals. The numerous fishing locals we passed by seemed to be confused why we were walking down there. The ants bit a little and the plants stung a little. Eventually we found a path leading away from the water and to the nicely mown trail that we were supposed to be on. The trial soon got smaller and took us through thick jungle and along the edge of a creek. Past some small farms and out to a tree and rock filled island/penninsula area. The views of the lake were better than expected and we could see thunderstorms pouring down on the southern edge of the lake. The walk back involved some surprise encounters with large livestock and I learned that Julia is not as much of an Idaho farm girl as I had thought.
Looking for the correct path to the lake
Found the lake
For lunch we found a small kitchen that served basic baleadas for 45 cents a piece. Then we headed back to Peña Blanca for some rain-free discount shopping. I bought a pair of foam sandals for $2.25 and we picked up a tortilla holder to help us remember Honduras. That night, our last at the brewery, was more food and beer. At this point we decided that they still have some work to do in their kitchen. We imagine the owner is a brewer and doesn't have much of a chef background, asking his local cooks to try and make normal American brewery food. They may not know that we like our fried foods crispy and not soggy. We did also order the special local dish, but it was small for being 3x more than you would pay in town. Overall though, we enjoyed our 3 nights and the good micro-brew is truly a unique experience for backpackers surrounded by light local beers.
Wednesday: Destination Nicaragua. We were up at 5am to catch the direct bus to the capital of Tegucigalpa (4.5 hrs). Expecting a large bus, instead a small 30 passenger one rolled up already packed. The lady who seemed to be running the show assured us people would be getting off soon and we wouldn't be standing the whole trip. She was right, and it wasn't long until I was crammed into a front seat. I made myself as small as possible and survived until the lunch stop halfway through where more got off. Julia and I snagged some seats together and the last 2 hours were smooth.
In Tegucigalpa we took a taxi to the correct bus office. It was the most horn-happy driver we have ever seen. At one road construction spot, he kept constant pressure on the horn while simultaneously yelling out the window. He got us there in plenty of time though and we were soon on a direct bus to the border town of Las Manos.
At the border, things got a little more difficult. While waiting in line for the window to check out of Honduras, a man asked for our passports and took them inside the office. He came back out and said it would be $10 total for both of us. We declined and said we would talk to the guy through the window. The man in the window asked for 70 lempiras each (which is about $3.20) and we questioned why we needed to pay anything. I had read one blog where a guy said he was asked for $10 when exiting but upon further research, couldn't find anything saying we needed to pay to leave. Border fees are always a little suspect, you never really know if it is just an official taking advantage of you. If they had a formal sign, like Belize had stating the fee and why, then we are cool with it. But there was no sign and we decided to fight it, prepared to walk across without an exit stamp if necessary. I told the man we didn't have to pay last time we were here and that we didn't have any money, asking if there was a bank close by. He said no and after some silence, went back to typing things into the computer. Julia and I looked at each other, not quite sure what would happen, then the man called us to the window and handed us our passports back, saying go ahead. We happily grabbed them and quickly walked into Nicaragua, feeling only slightly bad for lying to the man who may or may not have been just doing his job.
Across the border and back in our temporary homeland, 2 women in a trailer asked us some questions and scanned our necks with some device before giving us a stamped sheet of paper. At Immigration, the window man seemed to be confused that we didn't get an exit stamp when we left Nicaragua back in February. He kept asking us dates and we tried to show him the stamps from other countries to help him out. He shook his head for a while before filling out some forms. I apologized to the English man waiting behind us, and after a lengthy check-in and the $12 entry fee, we got our passports back. Onto the next checkpoint where the officer noticed that the window man forgot to give us the tourist card we needed. We walk back to the window and wait on the man again, this time he is confused about how he didn't give us the right stuff. Back again to the checkpoint where a woman asks for the $1 special municipality fee. After about an hour, we were finally free to move about in Nicaragua. From the border, a bus took us to Ocotoal from where our 4th bus of the day took us to Somoto. Another 12 hour travel day but we covered a lot of ground.
That night in Somoto, we checked email using the free wifi in the central park and ate chicken and enchiladas at a place across the street from our hotel. While eating, an older gringo who was talking English with some locals at a nearby table, asked to join us. He had made numerous mission trips down here with his non-denominational church and just decided to sell his house back in Boston and move down here permanently. He rents a room attached to the restaurant for $80 a month and said they have been feeding him like family. The lady who cooks referred to him as "Pastor David, Salvador de Nicaragua" (Savior of Nicaragua). We could tell the locals really appreciate all he is trying to do. Before we said goodnight, he gave us 4 keychain flashlights and prayed for us.
Thursday: We did a tour. Somoto, in northern Nicaragua, has jumped onto the backpacker circuit ever since they realized the adventure possibilities inside the nearby canyon. A steep and narrow birthplace of the Río Coco (the longest river in Central America), Cañon de Somoto has been on our radar since we came down in January. Due to it being the rainy season, the full canyon tour was too dangerous, so we got a partial tour. A local kid, probably close to 19 years old, led the 2 of us around. In the beginning, we had to cross the swiftly flowing river that was waist deep. At the time, we felt it was tough, but had no idea it would be the easiest of the 7 times we crossed the Río Coco.
After checking out the viewpoint, we descended back down to the river and the real fun began. We donned life jackets and proceeded with a pattern of jumping into the water and swimming as hard as we could to the other side, followed by rock scrambling farther up the canyon. We both consider ourselves decent swimmers, but when you are wearing shoes and a vest, the current pulls harder and you struggle. We tried to find small rock climbing holds on the walls that didn't contain spiders to secure ourselves. At one point, Julia saved my life by extending her hand while the other clinged to the rocks. She pulled me in and made me promise to write about it. Shortly after, at another crossing, she nearly drowned our guide who was pulling her up river with one hand while pulling himself up stream with the other. Our nerves were getting a little more shaky with each desperate swim, but luckily it got a little easier, and we made it deep into the skinny canyon.
One of the crossings
From that point, we just jumped into the flow and floated down through some small rapids. We briefly floated via a boat and then the last bit just slowly drifted, relaxing in our jackets back down to the trail out. Happy to have survived the canyon during the dangerous rainy season heights, and equally happy to have gotten sunny weather as we saw the skies begin to darken. On the way out, we met 2 sisters from Lake Tahoe. The older is living in Somoto for the Peace Corps and the younger came to visit for 2 weeks. Julia had to break the news to the younger that generally, sisters who come to Nicaragua for the Peace Corps usually stay down here and have babies.
Back in town, we relaxed in our room as we heard loud cracks of thunder. Around 3:30pm it began to pour and didn't let up until the next morning. Needing to check email and eat food around 7pm, we again covered ourselves in rain jackets (I wore my new foam sandals) as we navigated the streets like we were back in the canyon. We took cover under a children's play structure in the central park to use the Internet and luckily found some decent fried food in a restaurant a few steps away. Before bed, we watched the movie "Ghost" in English and laughed.
Friday: A chicken bus took us further south to the university town of Estelí. Here is where some of the more important battles between the local Sandinistas and the U.S. funded Contras took place in the 80's. I imagine most of you remember the infamous "Iran Contra Affair" of the Reagan administration, where the CIA secretly sold weapons to Iran and gave the money to the Honduran based Contras to quell the believed communist uprising in Nicaragua. It is said that the farmers in these hills took up arms and fought back the sneaky Contras on their march toward the capital of Managua.
Julia and I come in peace to Estelí. Our 2nd to last stop of the 4 month backpacking stretch. On the bus ride in, we talked about our desire to find a scale and weigh ourselves and our packs, both of which have changed drastically over the past 16 weeks. Amazingly enough, we walked into Hotel El Mesón and they had a old fashioned scale (the first we have seen all trip) sitting in reception with a sign saying "free to use". We took turns weighing various things while the other would go check out a potential room.
Here are some stats you might enjoy:
Micah's luggage = 55 lbs
Micah's weight loss = 15 lbs
Julia's luggage = 37 lbs
Julia's weight loss = 9 lbs
This is more than I would advise carrying. We are weighed down by souvenirs that one would not normally buy if they were traveling for longer. We have the luxury of a temporary home and will store said souvenirs in a closet for the next 6 months. The weight loss is as expected, with the constant walking and lighter eating habits. We are both very healthy and feel great, so no need to worry.
The rooms at the hotel turned out to be pretty nice as well, so we booked in for 2 nights. The plan is to just stroll around town and I hope to eat as many plates of Jalapeño de Res or Pollo as I can. This seems to be a Nicaraguan specialy of either beef or chicken covered in a Jalapeño cream sauce with onions. Osman first showed me this in León back in February and I haven't seen it since. They have it here and I love it. We also have a Mexican restaurant right outside our window that serves up delicious tortas and soft tacos, reminding us of our travels through the Yucatán.
Saturday (today): We walked down to the market to eat lunch and buy mangos and avocados. I saw a man wearing a 2008 NCAA Final Four shirt (the year Kansas won) and contemplated if it would be weird to try and buy the shirt off of a random guy's back. I concluded that the weird part would be when I feel the material and inspect it for stains. So we checked out the local used clothing stores instead, hoping that at least those shirts would be washed.
Tomorrow (Sunday): We will catch a bus to León where we will meet up with Angela & family. Hopefully little Kaiden is still cute and not deep into his terrible twos. The next big trip isn't until August but there will still be stuff to write about, like the arrival of some friends in a week and a trip to the Corn Islands, so this blog will continue and we hope you keep reading.
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