Vagabond and Beyond: April 2012

Our first hostel experience in Leon Nicaragua was not a good one after seeing about 20 bed bugs running all over the bed. Luckily we realised this before we went asleep for the night so changed rooms and the next morning promptly changed hostels to the really rice Lazybones. Our first day in Nicaragua we visited the revolutionary museum where we met someone who was a friend of Che Guevara in what was just a room of Che, Chavez (Hugo) and Castro photos. He was a security guard for the museum with a plus that he liked to tell stories about his days with Che.

The revolutionaries room with Che Guevara's friend

Nothing much to the museum but some great views of surrounding Leon on the dodgy tin roof:

View of the main square from the roof of the Revolutionary Museum

Not to be confused as a red haired revolutionary I decided to finally shave the beard that had taken over my face for the past couple of months. The decision was made due to a combination of the intense heat, forgetting what I looked like and Sarah not appreciating waking up to a big red beard every morning. We went down to an old school barbers and I got a haircut and raw blade shave for the crazy low price of $4 and you can see the before and after in the below collage. It took a few prompts to get the barber to make the first cut on the beard (I think he was terrified that there was a lost in translation moment and that maybe I didn’t want him to cut the beard). It took a few days to get used to the clean shaven face but laziness(and a lack of hot water in hostels) won out in the end and the beard is slowly taking over again.

The Beard - Before, During and After

One of the days we did the worthwhile rooftop walk around on top of Central America’s largest cathedral. You are free to walk around wherever you want and explore the bell towers and statues of the cathedral as you look out at the amazing 360 views that the high vantage point provides.

Rooftop exploration

We headed over to Bigfoot hostel where the idea of boarding down a volcano at speeds of up to 100km began with one crazy person short on adrenaline, a plank of wood and a bit of rope. We drove out on a large customised pick-up truck for about 45 minutes along some very bumpy roads. With our first sight of the Cerro Negro volcano (youngest in Central America) everyone got either excited or nervous after seeing the 45 degree slope that we would be all hurtling down in a couple of hours. Fortunately it is a short hike of only an hour. Unfortunately you have to carry up your own board in the blazing heat and you need to avoid the wind catching the board and throwing it and you off the volcano. Once at the summit we took a walk along the ridge to see the volcanic crater and also to see the line of volcanoes stretching out to the horizon across Nicaragua.

View from summit of Cerro Negro, you can see the line of Volcanoes along Nicaraguas landscape

Sightseeing over it was time for some craziness. We suited up (Me and Sarah in the only blue jumpsuits) and headed to the starting off point. As all suits are one size and too big for most people Sarah’s was way too big and had no buttons either. After reading several reviews we brought bandanas/scarfs with us to cover our faces as the stones hit your face on the way down (thankfully they supply eye goggles) and can fill your mouth if you decided to scream on the way down.

Sarah preparing to take on the Volcana

The only rule Bigfoot hostel has is ladies go first. Everyone goes down in a pair on separate tracks so essentially you race each other. The driver of the truck is waiting at the bottom of the mountain with a speed gun to register your speed. The slope is split in two so you can’t see the second more steeper slope from the top so it looks like your boarding towards a cliff but once you hit the “cliff” the slope increases and your speed picks up as you hold on for dear life and try to keep the board from overturning or crashing. I could only see Sarah for the first half until she hit the “cliff” and she was flying down. It wasn’t till later on that I found out she had a wipe-out in the last stretch in her attempt to break some records! She survived with no injuries though which was a miracle after a few others had some serious cuts and bruises after crashing.

Sarah (in the blue) waiting for the green light

After all the girls were down the guide explained that they go first as guys are more likely to be a bit too crazy and therefore crash a lot more than the women in an attempt to go too fast. From the top anyway I would have to say the girls were much better than the guys. I think 2 guys with the group didn’t even pick up enough speed to get all the way down. I raced a guy from Colombia and although he made a comeback I was able to hold him off till the end and managed to hang on to the board till the end. A Dutch guy was the fastest at about 68km/h, but was rewarded with the worst injuries for 1^st place as he crashed at the end. I came in second at about 50km/h so way behind him but at least injury free. I think the record is about 95km/h and after doing it I don’t think you would want to fall off if you reached that speed as an oversized jumpsuit is your only protection. Packed up and back on the truck we celebrated with a cold beer as we looked back on Volcan Cerro Negro knowing that we had conquered it. Back at the hostel we were given two free famous Bigfoot mojitos each and finished up that night by winning more free beers in a Quetzaltrekkers raffle. It was an amazing day and it is well deserved as number 2 on CNN’s thrill seekers bucketlist: 50 experiences to try before you die.

Video of me volcano boarding

Video of Sarah volcano boarding

In Leon, Sarah’s creative urge kicked in and for about $30 she found a silver making class where you can make your own silver ring along with a ring maker in the back of a small jeweller near central Leon. The two hour process begins by gathering bits of scrap silver and melting it down and moulding it into a flat piece of silver using a flame controlled by a foot operated bellow. After a series of measurements and adjustments it was cooled off in a bucket of water to set the shape. Then the flat piece of silver would be bent around a pole to match the size of Sarah’s finger. Finally a powder was used to seal the ring and the only thing left was to polish the end product.

Sarah polishing at her silver ring making classes

We took another chicken bus and arrived in Granada. We had booked hostel El Momento which some friends had recommended. No sooner had we gotten off the bus when a guy came over to ask us where we were staying …. “That’s closed down, he said, I can show you somewhere else”. We burst out laughing, said thanks and continued walking to our hostel having heard the oldest scam in the book for the 20^th time. Our hostel in Granada was one of the nicest we’ve stayed in…free ipad use, just one of the advantages of staying there.

The hostel with free Ipad use!

Our week was mainly spent eating out and going to the outdoor bars to order the delicious Flor de Cana rum which was generally served in the full bottle along with a bucket of ice so you could help yourself. Delicious and dangerous, all at the same time. Easily the best rum we have ever tried and our favourite drink of our travels. Always good before any crazy adventure like volcano boarding.

The best rum ever - Flor de Cana, all this for less than $10

Moritz joined us and one of the nights we went out to a club which had a swimming pool in the middle of it for its weekly pool parties. We never made it into the pool but you can imagine the stories that happen when pools and alcohol mix. On another night we met a girl we had also met in El Salvador and went out with her, Mortiz and her friends. We met a Danish guy eating by himself that we invited over. He was so appreciative that he bought us a round of beers followed later by rounds of rum, shots and even champagne. He worked in the coffee industry so it must be doing well at the moment as he was buying rounds for about 10 people, well his company did anyway!!

One of the days we took a bus to Lake Apoya where you can pay to use the facilities of a hostel by the lake and do some kayaking and sun bathing which for us classifies as a day of activities.

Myself and Moritz at Lake Apoya

Along the same lines we also paid to use the pool in a local hotel across the road from our hostel to escape the incredible heat of Nicaragua. In the swimming pool there were three house ducks that were enjoying themselves until one of the children staying at the hotel decided to terrorise them for the day by chasing them around the pool for hours. I was in the pool for a few minutes before Sarah got in but the second she got in one of the ducks made a run for her and started trying to peck her as Sarah screamed a little and tried to escape the determined psychotic duck. Later on the same duck went on to attack a few more people but it was quite funny. (Well I thought it was, not too sure Sarah agrees).

The killer ducks at the local pool

There was also a massive world poet festival on in the town on the last night but not much to say about that..... You can also do a free tour of the Mombacho cigar making "factory", a small business near the centre.

Cigar making factory - final product

In Granada the opportunity to make your own chocolate bar arose so we signed up and learned all about the process from bean to finished product. We roasted, peeled and grinded (took ages) our way through the bean to get to the paste. We made the Aztec, Mayan and Spanish versions of hot chocolate, each version differing by the use of sugar, chilli and honey etc. Finally we made a bar of chocolate mixing in what we wanted such as almonds and rum to return a few hours later to taste the cooled down delicious end result.

Chocolate making class - Grinding out the paste

So far Nicaragua has been great with a bunch of amazing activities to do on the cheap, the volcano boarding being the highlight for us. Next up we head back to the beach in the relaxing town of San Juan Del Sur for a week before moving on to the island of Ometepe on Lake Nicaragua. In real time (mid-April) we are about to take off for a 5 day hike to Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) in the north of Colombia after spending Semana Santa (Easter) in the beautiful colonial port town of Cartagena.