V. CA Nicaragua/W1, 7d: Ometepe-Granad E

Sa, 15.07. Border crossing Peñas Blancas-Rivas-San Ometepe Island
Saturday morning I first had a 2h bus ride via LaCruz to the border Peñas Blancas where I had to pay $8 to leave Costa Rica. Unfortunately I had a pretty bad timing: there were 3 touri buses in front of me, more than half of the officers apparently having breakfast and the line incredibly long - it took almost 2h until I finally got my exit stamp :P Nicaragua was then fortunately a lot quicker; entrance fee was $13.

Nicaragua - the land of the lakes and volcanoes :)
It is Central America's largest and second poorest country but a lot safer than many of its neighbours and yet not that touristy, one of the least visited and thus also still authentic - many people say it is Costa Rica 40y ago. Apart from the capital Managua there is not that much culture but the landscapes are unbelievable with lakes, volcanoes, mountains, rain- and cloudforests as well as Pacific and Caribbean coast. The roads are still not really modern and it is one of the best possibilities to take the always packed public chicken buses and to get in contact with the locals ;)
The so-called Nicas love baseball and football and are also rather conservative with 90% Catholics. Usted/vos is often used and as women you have to cope again with extreme Machism manners :O
Talking about food there is a cheap supermarket chain called Pali with its own brand Suli (oh yes, after Costa Rica food is finally affordable again :P) but other than that you can also get cheap meals around 60Córdoba/$2 or 1,70€ in the comedores/cafetines with comida corriente or on street stands. The typical dish consists again of rice and beans, often with meat grilled in oil as well as plaintains and shredded cabbage. Similar to Costa Rica the typical breakfast is 'Gallo Pinto' (mixed rice with beans, often with egg or with Cuajada cheese for dinner). On the weekends especially on the markets you will often find 'Nacatamales' (maize dough filled with vegetables, pork/beef/chicken, steamed in a wrapped banana leaf). Two more typical dishes are 'Baho' (beef, plaintains and yuca) as well as 'Rondon' (stew of yuca, chayote and other vegetables in coconut milk and often with fish).

Coming from Costa Rica I first went to the Southwest where most Nicas live. As I have already been a lot on the Caribbean coast in Panama and on the Pacific Coast in Costa Rica and based on the fact that the Caribbean Laguna de las Perlas and Corn Islands are not only quite far away but unfortunately also very touristy and expensive I decided to visit Nicaragua especially for the lakes and volcanoes with a lot of exercise and hikes :)))
As a result I skipped San Juán del Sur, a small fishing town on the Southern Pacific popular for surfing and partying (I am neither a surfer nor a party girl :O) and directly took a 45min chicken bus from the border to Rivas, from there went with the bike rikshaw to the market and then took a 20min colectivo taxi to San Gorge. The difference to Costa Rica could already be seen right after the border: everything was a lot more chaotic, noisier, dirtier with a lot of plastic and people really pushing you in the btw pretty cheap chicken buses :P San Gorge is the port where the 2h/1€ boats or 30min/2€ ferries depart to Moyogalpa, the biggest village on Ometepe Island. The whole route did not even cost 3€ and was worth alone for the landscapes: certainly always with a volcano in the background the scenery is rather flat but super green with many grasslands for cattles and coffee cultivation.
Lago de Nicaragua/Cocibolca is with 8,157km2 Central America's biggest sweet water lake and used to belong to the Pacific which explains its indigeneous name Cocibolca meaning 'sweet sea'. Isla de Ometepe is the lake's biggest island and especially known for its both twin volcanoes Concepción and Maderas (Ome Tepetl = place of the two hills; Concepción with 1,610m being Nicaragua's second highest and active volcano after San Cristobal with 1,720m close to León/Maderas with 1,394m together with Mombacho at 1,344 near Granada Nicaragua's only rainforest volcanoes) as well as green landscapes and the relaxed atmosphere. It is only accessible via boat or ferry and the ride can get quite adventurous with very short, high, strong waves coming from the Papagayo wind in the West and the Caribbean wind in the East. Especially in the villages with its rural life and the many free chicken and cows you have the feeling of travelling back in time, most people also use scooters and bikes. You should also visit the lake now as there are currently plans and discussions about building a second Panama canal...

Su, 16.07. Isla de Ometepe: Volcán Concepción
As I am on a volcano mission here I immediately had my first volcano hike quite early the next morning around 5am, Volcán Concepción.
Based on its volcanic activity and the rainy season the hike to the summit is unfortunately only allowed with a guide and thus a slightly more expensive tour - a quite typical phenomenon here in Nicaragua, the country itself is cheap but you always have to pay for the entrance and then additionally for the hikes as well as the often needed guides (for sure as a foreigner and general discrimination again the double or triple price which can get quite expensive in the long run with $20-$50).
We first had a 10min scooter ride to the second biggest village Altagracia from where it was a total 8-10h hike - first 2h medium steep and hot through lush forest to a viewpoint and then another 2h super steep and windy cold over redish-black volcano rocks or rather super loose stones to the summit - well that's where I could understand the need of a guide :P We saw again a lot of animals with caterpillars, butterflies, lizards, snakes and especially super noisy hawler monkeys and on the way back even finally had a nice view of the whole Nicaragua Lake, Maderas Volcano until San Juán del Sur on the Pacific Coast. We started at 50m altitude at the village, went through the forest up to 1,000m and from there another 600m up to the summit - veeery steep :P The eruption in 1957 destroyed coffee and corn plantations, threw rocks until the beach with a 2 months lasting lava flow but without deaths; in 2007 there was an earthquake but no lava. The summit itself was literally in the clouds so there was unfortunately no view of the 400m crater at all and also so windy, cold and rainy that my 43kg almost flew into the crater and we quickly started the 2h really dangerous slippery decent - it was a super nice day and an incredibly cool, for me also new hike or rather climb :)))

Mo, 17.07. Isla de Ometepe: Volcán Maderas & Playa Santo Domingo
The next day I went a bit later around 5:30am to the second volcano, Volcán Maderas. It is located an 1h scooter drive on the other side of the island and with 8.9km single and 18km in total a bit longer but by far not as exhausting steep and thus also possible to be hiked in 8h. The main difference was the temperature and vegetation: it is a lot hotter, more humid and greener, with tropical rain/cloudforest and thus especially in wet season super muddy and slippery explaining again the necessity of a guide. Moreover, there are several entrances and paths (we came from El Porvenir) so that a lot of people often get lost. At the end and at an altitude of 1,294m there was a 1ha big, 8-10m deep crater lake where you could also go swimming. We saw again many birds, frogs and of course monkeys before heading back - thanks to rain season with a sudden strong downpour turning the paths into real mud rivers so that we had quite a slippery hike in the end :P
After that we relaxed a bit at Playa Santo Domingo, a 4-5km long grey sand beach with Maderas Volcano in the background and the most popular beach on Ometepe Island. There were again many birds and waves as you would be on the sea, just amazing :)
After 2 days with super early starts and 2 super exhausting hikes or rather volcano climbs of 16-20h exercise as well as more than 32km and 3,000m altitude there was only one reasonable place for me: hammock :)))

Tu, 18.07. Ometepe Island-Granada: Ciudad & Volcán Masaya
After 3 days and 3 nights in Ometepe I first had to take the 1h boat back to San Gorge on Tuesday morning, from there I took the chicken bus back to Rivas and then had another 1,5h bus ride to Granada. As usual and for me amazing I was again the only Gringa or backpacker on the boat (the touris and G Adventures took the ferry of course) and in the chicken buses - perfect to get in contact with locals and to practice my Spanish ;) As usual there were again sellers in the bus and quite common in Nicaragua also priests praying. If you think the bus is more than full they somehow manage to squeeze in another 10 people and you might also find yourself getting a baby on your lap :P
The ride was super cheap and surprisingly also super quick so that I arrived in Granada around 10am already - just in time for the hostel's free yoga class and exactly what I needed after 3 days of early mornings, little sleep and extremely exhausted muscles after 2 volcano hikes :)
Thanks to its colonial architecture, splendid churches, colourful houses as well as its unique location on Mombacho Volcano and Nicaragua Lake Granada is considered to be one of Nicaragua's most beautiful cities and Central America's jewel. Built by the Spanish in 1524 it is the oldest city of the whole isthmus, there are horses and coaches and it just has a magical atmosphere - as you know I usually don't like cities but in this case I felt so much in love with it and its surroundings that I stayed for 5 days/4 nights :)
After a very relaxed visit of the town I had my so far shortest and most touristy tour in the evening to finally get to see some lava on Volcán Masaya, after climbing so many volcanoes.
Masaya Volcano consists in total of the two active volcanoes Nindiri and only 635 high volcano Masaya as well as 5 craters with Santiago being the most popular one at an altitude of 500m and a depth of 400m. There were 3 explosions in the early mornings of 2001/2008/2012 releasing rocks and sand (explosion is only with rocks and sand, eruption with lava).
As there were no public transport in the evening this was unfortunately also only possible with a tour: we got picked up around 4:30pm, then had a 45min bus ride until the entrance of the national park, 45min waiting time in an incredibly long line of touri buses until the park opened at 6pm, then another 15min waiting to finally see the lava; due to the many people but especially as protection against the gases we could only stay for 15mins. It was a really cool spectacle and incredible with all the different yellow, orange, redish colours, gases, big grey-black smokes and the lava in particular, I really fully enjoyed these 15mins - but it was extremely touristy and 3-4h bus and waiting time for 15mins lava, well :P
After returning around 8pm I was again just in time for the hostel's free salsa lesson - super nice experience, especially as the instructor was superb and we already even had a lot of variations :O

We, 19.07. Granada: Laguna de Apoyo & Lago Nicaragua
19.07. is 'Aniversario de Revolución', a high public holiday that is in particular celebrated in the capital Managua - almost all of the country's buses have to go there which was the reason that there was no public transport and I thus only had 1 option: to take a touri bus to Laguna de Apoyo and spend a day full of relaxation, swimming and sunbathing :)
Laguna de Apoyo is a collapsed crater lake, the warmest and cleanest in Central America. With its mineral water, tropical rainforest and nice view it is a top place to relax and also quite close with only half an h chicken bus ride. I met a Mexican-PuertoRican American from Chicago in the bus with who I had a nice relaxing day at Paradiso Hostel - super nice restaurant and bar, free coffee and tea, hammocks, hanging chairs, seats, sofas, book corner, TV, WiFi as well as free use of kayaks, tubes, pingpong, billiard, petenque and an incredible view of the lake - an absolute amazing day that was even topped with an absolute delicious, in front of our eyes prepared and oven-baked $1-pizza and then chocolate tasting back in Granada in the evening :)))

Th, 19.07. Granada: Mercado Masaya & Pueblo blanco Catarina
As usual I was again awake at 6am and went to Muelle and Granada's port from where you can enjoy a nice view of Nicaragua Lake, good weather provided. After that I met the American at the church Torre de la Merced with the tower offering the best and only $1 view of the whole city and its amazing colourful houses, roofs, streets and coaches, just amazing :)
After that we went to the market to catch a typical 40min chicken bus to Catarina, the most popular and beautiful village of the so-called Pueblos blancos - named after the white-coloured houses. Due to its higher altitude it is a lot colder and fresher as well as greener and also more fertile. There were nice celebrations, including a brass band, a lot of kids and cultural exchange. The famous viewpoint was nice despite the bad weather, on clear days you can see Mombacho Volcano, the crater lake and Nature Reserve Laguna de Apoyo, Granada, Lake Nicaragua incl Isletas, Isla de Ometepe with its two twin volcanoes and on super clear days even San Juán del Sur and the Pacific, unbelievable ;)
After that we continued super squeezed in a 40min Colectivo minivan to Masaya and the enormous popular handcraft and food market.
Masaya itself is super nicely located and surrounded by green forests on Masaya Volcano and well known for its artisanal handcrafts as well as its beautiful crystal-clear Laguna de Apoyo.

Fr, 20.07. Granada: Volcán Mombacho
On Friday I then took together with a Portuguese from Madeira I met the other day a chicken bus to the 1,344m high Mombacho Volcano in the Nature Reserve Reserva Natural Volcán Mombacho founded in 1983 and with a size of 696ha - apart from Volcán Maderas on Isla de Ometepe the only one with cloud forest in Nicaragua's Pacific region. National Parks ate btw run by the government, Nature Reserves are private. From the road located at an altitude of 300m we first walked 20min/1.5km to the office at 320m and from there around 2h/2.5km suuuper steep and exhausting to Estación biológica at 1,150m. At the beginning it was super hot and humid with a temperature around 30*, blue sky and sunshine before it got increasingly cooler with the temperature dropping down to 17* and a lot of rain, wind and clouds. Most tourists do these 5km with a 4x4 Mombacho Express Jeep and then overly priced guided tours but miss out on all the monkeys we saw. As quite common in Nicaragua you have to pay the normal entrance fee and then additionally for every sendero plus partially even the guide if necessary (El Puma with 4km/4h would have been $6 + $17 Spanish guide, El Tigrillo with 2.5km/2h $4 + $12 Spanish guide - we thus decided to do the really beautiful El Crater with 1.5km/1,5h for $2 without guide possible).

After a week in Nicaragua and already 3 lakes (Lago de Nicaragua, Laguna de Apoya, Laguna de Masaya) as well as 4 volcanoes (Concepción, Maderas, Masaya, Mombacho) I can already compare it:
In my opinion Costa Rica is absolutely overrated, overpriced, and way too touristy: Nicaragua however totally underrated, but so beautiful, calm and especially also authentic, I really like it ;)Read more