Written by moi to capture the moment plankton twinkling electric blue under the starry sky washed up in the tide in Poneloya, Nicaragua. One of the most magical moments...
It’s creeping up to midnight That magical, enchanting hour Everything so calming and quiet Except the surf breaking; feel the power The sand between our toes We’re here on the beach in Poneloya Mother nature is about to propose It’s time for us to enjoy her Tonight she’s putting on a show A twinkling mirror image of light Beginning many, many years ago It promises to be exquisite and bright We’re here to wow and witness The phenomenon of Bioluminescence In all the beauty and delicateness And wonder its very existence Millions of microscopic plankton Reacting with oxygen in the sea I wish I could share with a loved one This is an incredible moment for me Each organism jostling for position A rising wave setting off the reaction Washing up in the tide on a mission Awesome in its abstraction The tiny electric, neon blue sparkle And the deep, endless starry sky Are enough to startle Even the most trained and appreciative eye
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Another crazy fun activity coming up... I honestly didn't know what to expect of today, so it was a case of going with it and seeing what happened. I did know a little about the activity, having included it in one of my own tours in my previous life at Explore. We risk assessed it and eventually took it out of the itinerary. Even G Adventures don't make a big song and dance about it in their tour literature. I realised sledding down an active volcano with no helmet and just a piece of plywood was going to be interesting, but YOLO right! And yes, they make you sign a waiver so, if you get injured, it's on you to sort out. I don't think any of our insurance policies covered us though. We woke up at 4am to leave the hotel by 5am, driving via the capital Managua and on to Leon arriving at Bigfoot Hostel and Volcano Boarding around 7:30am. The craziness wasn't beginning until 9am so we chilled out in the lobby eating and drinking and catching up on sleep! Ok, 3 reasons why you have to try this experience: 1) You get an free awesome volcano boarding vest 2) Your guide takes all the pics for you so you don't have to carry a camera - and then they load them onto Facebook and you can download for free 3) It's an incredible adrenaline rush and great for dinner party conversation once you return home! It's quite a build up to the main event. We had a briefing at the hostel before an hour's truck ride to the volcano - Cerro Negro, the world's most active cinder cone apparently. Then it was another trek up the volcano (which was the last thing I wanted to do, believe me) in the heat of the day carrying our free litre bottle of water in a back pack they give you and you also have to carry your board. I paid a porter 5 dollars to carry mine. It was hard enough dragging myself up the 800m in 45 minutes - loose rocks underfoot, strong winds - I'm getting deja vu! Another briefing later about technique and we were sporting our orange jumpsuits and green googles. Yes, that's the only equipment you get. Oh, and you shove your backpack and water bottle down your jumpsuit. The board has a thin layer of metal on the underside and at one end, there's a piece of formica plastic glued on to the metal giving you extra speed - should you want it. The plastic gets replaced daily as it burns right off. We had a massive group of people with us so it took ages for everybody to take turns. That added to the excitement and uncertainty. By the time it was my go, I was a bag of pent up "let's do this!" I wasn't out to break any records (95kms - you must be kidding); my priority was, first and foremost to enjoy the ride and, to do that, I was going to stay on. I was determined to stay on! We were just over halfway through the tour. We still had El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala to discover. I didn't want to break anything and jeopardise that! So I grabbed my rope handle and 37km it was. They speed trap you on the last 100m, that's how I know. The 800m descent was over in a flash BUT I stayed on and no injuries other than being covered top to toe in volcanic ash and having pebbles in my pants! About two thirds of the way down, you start to speed up, despite digging my heels in - and that was hairy. I suddenly saw bigger stones and, hitting one, nicely "spot on" I'd like to add, I took off a little on the board and flew just a teeny bit. Talk about an adrenaline rush. My board tended to veer to the right and there was nothing I could do about it. That's when I thought I might tip. Kind of a welcome distraction - to keep on course and upright. I put it down to being all part of the experience! Try it, if you dare. Only 25 dollars. Bargain. And lastly, a shout out for our guide Emily, who was brilliant. Loved it when she ran down the volcano at the end, never missing a step. How on earth?!!! Photos courtesy of Bigfoot Hostel and Volcano Boarding. Because our group had been so large, we didn't get back to the hostel until gone 3pm. Mojitos awaited us (good times) and we'd already had beers on the truck ride back. Still heady from the adrenaline and alcohol, we jumped in our van which took us down to the small harbour, where we caught a 10 minute boat ride across the water. It should have taken minutes, but they have to navigate the sand banks. From there we had to walk about 15 minutes to our next stop, the Surfing Turtle in Poneloya. I hadn't clocked it was a hostel and we were all sharing one big dorm. I'd envisaged cute little beach huts. Ok... it was fun, but thank goodness only for two nights. Communal showers and bathrooms too. Can you tell this was my first hostel type experience... Aside from the "all bunking in together" shock, the staff were lovely and friendly, the food - big portions and delicious and the drink plentiful. They didn't know what a Gin and Tonic was, but hey, it didn't matter. At the Surfing Turtle, we had the big dorm room above the Reception and bar area and then there were about 4 or 5 beach huts on either side of us. There's a campsite on the other side. Just about got WiFi in the dorm, but much better signal downstairs and on the beach. Lots of charging points dotted around, even in the bathrooms. The showers and bathrooms are in good condition and kept clean and tidy. The place runs on solar power so no electricity from 10pm until 6am. Make sure you have a torch for any night time toilet trips because it is pitch black. The waves from the Pacific criss cross so you have to be careful you don't get dragged. You'll fall asleep to them crashing in. The volley ball tournament was a lot of fun and they're very conscientious of keeping the beach clean. Turtles nest there during the season Nov to Mar, but sadly we just missed out.
When I look at the picture above and listen to the choir below, I feel this epitomises Heaven. This time last month... We had a busy busy touring day ahead of us. City tour of Granada, church visit, white villages, pottery tour where I bought my memento from Nicaragua for my travel cabinet, lagoon visit, flea market for shopping and lunch - I picked up my beach hat and we tried some more local food, then it was over to Masaya National Park where we stopped off at the museum, saw another lagoon and finally went up to the crater edge. Sadly no red hot lava sightings but plenty of smoke and gas spewing out. I walked up halfway to the first of two look out points; couldn't go any further as my legs were still tired from Concepcion! From Masaya, we took a boat ride on Lake Nicaragua exploring the many islands and it was during this that we had a great Spider monkey encounter. So cute! When we arrived back at the hotel, it was a quiet night around the pool with some Western food. Enjoy the pics. For once, I was relieved it was a travel day today because it meant I could sit down and not move my legs! After saying goodbye to our lovely Homestay family, we drove to the port and caught the ferry back to the mainland without any waiting around this time, and then it was a couple of hours max on another bus to our hotel in Granada. I thought we were travelling to Granada on public "chicken" buses, but it wasn't the case (more relief). We arrived around lunchtime and freshened up, before taking an orientation walk around the oldest city in Central America with Rafa our tour leader. After wandering around the Central Plaza area, we settled on a place for lunch selling local food. We ordered Nacatamal - a mixture of pork (I think) still on the bone, with Yuca, plantain and some green beans, maybe onion too all inside a doughy wrap. Well, what the heck, it was only 2 USD and the remains were picked up by the street kids, who linger. I felt sad about that, but glad I could provide them with a meal. It was so hot and humid, I barely touched mine. We spent the evening having an impromptu boozy pool party back at the hotel. Actually, this is where I got to know more of our group. A round of 12 beers = 19 dollars = result! Add some bright green melon liquer shots = messy!
We were spending the next two nights here - Hotel Los Chilamates. Great pool area with a waterfall they light up at night. Mango trees dropping their fruits around you. Yum! Good sized rooms and hot showers. TVs and air con. The pool bar was the only restaurant because we were just a 15 minute walk from the Plaza, but it served up some nice bar food. The breakfast was excellent at 5 dollars and 25 cents. Yes, I had to randomly pay the 25 cents once the chap had made the conversion from Cordoba. It was no problem; I had a bag of American change - just weird. Free WiFi around the pool area and another WiFi spot at Reception. Nicaragua was all about the volcanoes - whether climbing them, standing on their crater rims or sledding down them. And today was the day I was going to attempt to hike to the summit of Concepcion, last active in 1957. I was scared, nervous, knew I wasn't fit enough, but also confident I could pace myself and put mind over matter. The only problem being, you have to reach the crater edge by noon in order to get a chance of the best views and so you come down the majority of the volcano in the remaining daylight. I didn't know too much about Concepcion, only that there were 2 volcanoes on the island and we were trekking up the bigger of the 2, and it now reaches an altitude of 1610m making Ometepe the world's highest lake island. We were up at 5:30am eating breakfast (our hosts drew the short straw there, poor things) and then on our way into town by 6am to meet our private guide and stock up on at least 3 litres of water for the hike. It turns out we could only carry 2 litres each. I was basically carrying as less as possible having realised by now this was going to be no walk in the park. We started hiking at 6:45am and the first 45 minutes to an hour were a steady climb. Once we got into the rainforest, the wind died down but the heat increased. I was warned we would always be climbing with little to no flats to ease out the cramp in my calves, so stopping for regular water breaks was essential. Howler monkeys egged us on and every time I felt like quitting, a beautiful butterfly would float past and spur me on. Our guide, Enoch, was ultra fit. He'd been in the Nicaraguan army for 4 years and their training consisted of running up and down both volcanoes on the island. So while he made it look like a piece of a cake, Olivia and I struggled higher and higher trying to keep up with him. Olivia did a better job than I did. At times, I thought I was going to keel over. I wanted to keel over! Lots of being short of breath, stumbling, falling, scraping limbs and that horrible heart pounding in your ears when you think your head is going to explode. There's no real path, more just a track and, in some parts, especially when you get out of the forest, it's pretty hairy scrambling with the wind battering you. I guessed coming down would be even harder and oh boy, it was. Substitute all the above with legs that don't want to work anymore. Mine were so shaky; I lost count of the times I skidded, slid and fell on my bum. At 900m we came out of the trees and at 1000m we stopped for a rather windy lunch. Trying to hold on to your sandwich, take a bite and cling on to your backpack and water bottle all at the same time is no easy task. The wind roaring in your ears and the volcanic dust caking your face and blinding you isn't much fun either. By the time I got to 1200m, I knew I was done. The views were cracking, the top of the volcano looked set in deep cloud and it was 10:45am. I was never going to make 400m in just over an hour. It was taking me an hour to climb 100m. So, after telling Olivia to try and get to the top by noon because I didn't want her to miss out, I plopped down for a couple of hours rest bite. She made it right on the deadline and had about 7 seconds where the cloud completely cleared to get that all important pic. I was dead chuffed, but didn't envy her blackening toenails the very next day, which looked set to fall off from where she climbed and scrambled to the top! After spending some time admiring the view from 1200m, I thought I'd better drop back down to the relative flat of 1000m. I knew it was going to take me some time, especially when I veered off course and had to scramble back across the rock face and through the thick scrub. Great, more scratches! Eventually I made it and found the best place I could out of the wind for a 20 minute power nap. Ended up badly burning my nose though, oh dear. I thought the dust on my face would protect me from the raging sun. All the while, the only other humans we encountered were 2 trekkers and their guide coming back down (I met them during my rest at 1200m) and 2 workers building the new Ranger huts at 3 sections along the way. Today they were working on the middle hut, but they came out of the trees to make sure Olivia and Enoch were coming back down from the crater rim and to make sure I didn't go any further on my own once I got back down to 1000m. The Government has decided to regulate the trek and monitor the amount of people going up and down the volcano. A lot of plastic water bottles get dumped, apparently, although we didn't see any litter whatsoever. Maybe just the time of year, or the fact once dropped, they get instantly blown away. So, I climbed 1200m of the 1600m of this big volcano Concepcion and I can truthfully say it's the hardest thing I've ever done, but I am extremely proud of my achievement. In the immediate aftermath, I thought why the hell did I want to climb this beast. It was a gruelling, brutal 9 hour round trek and even with my rest stop at 1200m, the ascent and descent almost broke me. At times I thought it had. Now, however, I think about it and WOW springs to mind. One day I'll be back to finish my nemesis. And what of that shower situation... It was water in a bucket for showering to begin with, but then I think we passed the "not using too much water" test because we got the water turned on in the bathroom this morning. Thank heavens for that! It was very very welcomed tonight to wash away the aches and pains, sweat and dust. As was the big supper our family had prepared for us. We went to bed straight afterwards at 8pm!
This time last month... I was on a long ass travelling day crossing into Nicaragua from Costa Rica. It took 8 hours all in. First a bus to the border which took 5 hours and in between we stopped at a city plaza to grab some lunch and something for our Homestay families. I also needed a new set of headphones. Next to a decent conversation on the long bus journeys and some restful sleep (if you can fall asleep to being bumped around - I can!) I love to whack my headphones in and play some tunes whilst I watch the world go by. Then it was a 3-step process through Security and a lot of waiting around in the heat of the day - and sweating buckets. Did I mention the sweating buckets bit !! Luckily I had wet wipes so we could all cool off, frequently. They'd only half stamped Olivia's passport (on purpose?), so she and Rafa had to go back and queue and do it all again... Whilst waiting I changed up some dollars into Cordoba. The rate was spot on at 1 dollar = 26 cordoba (we'd checked the internet prior to entering Nicaragua). After making it through, it was a short bus ride to the ferry port where we had an hour's wait for the next one over to Ometepe island. We got totally sandblasted until we found some shelter. Just look at the trees in these pictures. En route, we had seen one of these windmills crashed, smashed and burnt out on the ground. Imagine that coming down on you! It was a rather choppy 1 1/2 hour ferry ride but we did meet some nice people and get some great views. After the final bus journey of the day, a mere 30 minutes later, we arrived at our destination on Ometepe island just in time for the sunset. Playing with the children over a delicious locally cooked dinner, our hosts from Puesta del Sol welcomed us into their village. G Adventures run a homestay Planeterra project here so for the next two nights, we would be splitting up and staying with different families. Finally around midnight, once we were settled in our accommodation, Olivia and I both desperately needed (and wanted) a shower. The taps were there but nothing came out. After some mis-matched Spanish and lots of sign language - mostly by me - our hosts showed us the bucket and showed us the sink filled with water and, well, that was that. I have to tell you, it's been a few years since I've shared my shower with bugs! And this didn't bode well for our hike up the volcano tomorrow where we knew we'd be disgustingly dirty by the end of it.
To be continued... The first adrenaline activity day for me had arrived. I'd waited a good few years to try ziplining, after doing one awesome cable locally in Hampshire at Go Ape, and now I was finally doing it. And what can I tell you - it was immense !!! But not the four practice cables beforehand, I could not get the technique right for the braking system. The first time, I stopped short of the platform. The second time, I stopped even shorter. The third time, I went careening into the platform wall and bashed up my knees. And the final practice line, I almost lost my glove and cut my hand in two on the cable. FUN! It was then that I decided I didn't like doing adrenaline stuff where I have to be in control. Luckily for me, it got much more amazing after the practice cables with the introduction of the automatic braking system, and the next three wires were phenomenal. I wasn't interested in the rappelling midway through the course or the giant Tarzan swing at the end - which looked to me like an upright bungee jump and I'm not a lover of those - but I did do some hanging bridges amongst the trees and climbing higher and higher through the forest to the better cables meant I got some practice in for the Ometepe volcano hike in a couple of days. I mean, how can I describe the feeling you get when you're flying high above the rainforest canopy. It's simply the most incredible feeling if you love the sensation of flying. The first of the three real cables, you sit up and take it all in, and then for the two big wires, you fly down the cable like superman, or superwoman. It's quite scary putting your trust in a harness, but then it's too exhilarating to be worried. I just thought, if I'm going to die, what a great way to go out. After the amazing-ness of the morning, we got back to the hotel, walked into town and grabbed a burger and chips takeaway from another little place we happened to stumble upon. We tried to find somewhere to sit and eat and watch the world of Monteverde go by, but it was so windy we ended up eating back at the hotel before the next excursion started in the afternoon.
It was time for more wildlife. Olivia and I had booked a private guide, Henry, to take us for a hike in the lower cloud forest at Curi-Cancha Reserve. We managed sightings of Agouti, Coati, toucans but really far off, heard the national bird of Costa Rica, the Quetzal, another blue Morphos butterfly that we almost got pics of if we hadn't met a group of birders at that exact moment. They stomped past in search of the toucan miles away and that was my photo opportunity done for. What cheered me up was getting my hummingbird fix straight after this happened. I've been waiting to photograph hummingbirds for three years, after missing out in Soroa, Cuba. I was totally in my element! This time last month, I was saying goodbye to La Fortuna and travelling about another 4 hours on to Monteverde. The journey consisted of a bus, ferry across Lake Arenal where I randomly met a woman from Reading, and then a second bus that climbed up into the "green mountains" taking us to Monteverde. En route we stopped to drop off the group members doing white water rafting and we arrived at our new hotel around noon. We took a wind swept, meandering tour of the town in search of lunch and found a little place that was cheap (did I mention my budget for food was $20 per day?) and picked up a large burrito each. Afterwards we explored the town and I did some shopping. I bought an extra t shirt and a small Costa Rican memento for my travel cabinet back home. We were all going on a night walk in the rainforest tonight, but before that we had dinner together. One of the chaps ordered cow's stomach and offered it around, reminding us YOLO - you only live once... I tried it after a bit of persuasion. It was chewy like calamari. Not bad, but not good either! I was quite happy to stick to my salad and banana milkshake. So the night walk was on the tame side; I would have liked to go deeper into the forest. I could always see lights from buildings around us in the distance and that spoiled the experience for me. However, armed with our torches, we did see an armadillo, a sloth bear, orange kneed tarantula, a green viper snake and an olingo. It wasn't a bad haul for $22. Kevin our guide was a little crazy. I think this activity would have been more fun if there were only two of us going out with a guide. When it comes to wildlife, I'm selfish. I like to have the time to photograph to my heart's content without noise and distraction. Over the years, I've been fortunate to have a lot of private tours and I guess it really spoils me. Our hotel for the next two nights was Atardecer and cabin style again. Free Wifi communal area near the Reception and dining area. Big breakfast for $7. Seemed a little steep, considering the other places were $5. The rooms were a good size and we were fortunate to have one of the larger bathrooms on the back because of where our room was situated. 15 minutes walk into Monteverde town. It's pretty windy because the hotel is at the top of a hill.
Today we took another Desafio tour with a new guide, Steven, and travelled near where the Costa Rican border meets with the Nicaragua border, on a boat trip in Cano Negro wildlife refuge. This was an 8 hour round trip with a light breakfast of pancakes, juice and coffee and a 3 course lunch included. We met a whole bunch of new people on the boat and had some great wildlife spots - caiman, iguanas, lizards, turtles, Spider monkeys, Howler monkeys, Squirrel monkeys, White faced "Capuchin" monkeys, an albino Howler monkey all on his own (have a great pic), bats, herons and the most beautiful swallows and kingfishers (sadly pics are limited). Oh and the butterflies wow weeeeeeeee flying in and out of the boat. Giant things of all colours! Too busy on the move to let me take pics though. They wanted to flutter flutter flutter. I love the blues and a highlight was seeing my favourite, the giant Morphos butterfly. I was secretly hoping to also see hummingbirds, frogs, toucans, sloths, jaguars, pumas, ocelots, armadillos and tapirs, but no luck. This is why I need to go back... although I do tick some of these off as the trip progresses... After such an exciting day, we spent the evening playing drinking games on our porch. Such fun! Perfect end to a brilliant day. |
AuthorBlogging is an amazing concept so here I am giving it a whirl. You'll get words. You'll get pics. Sometimes a vid or two. You'll get tongue in cheek, the odd humble opinion and an honest insight into my travels and writing life. Maybe even a few gems along the way. I'll be musing on home turf as I see more and more of the UK and sharing my experiences further afield on holidays and adventurous trips across the globe. Archives
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