It was our last morning in El Salvador before heading to Nicaragua by boat. As we hoisted our bags onto our backs at about 6.30am, the sun was already hot. The caged parrot who had talked and mumbled outside our door for much of the night, seemed to be glad to be rid of us, squawking what sounded like curses. Martha, our landlady, called us for a photo before she left for work at the local hospital. She was a small good-humoured dynamo who worked as a nurse, made bracelets and craftworks in the evening and ran the guest house called Santa Marta (Saint Marta😀 after herself presumably)

Mario, the captain of the little boat to take us to Nicaragua, was a small wiry man. He met us outside the immigration office in La Union at 7 am when it opened but it was still almost 8.30 am before our passports were stamped. Mario then sheparded his nine passengers to the jetty where we donned lifevests and set off across the Gulf of Fonseca. But about 100 metres from shore we stopped suddenly and Mario and his sidekick poured petrol into the engine tank from two big drums. The engine then coughed and spluttered, the boat bobbed, the sun blazed and we wondered if we had made a mistake but no money had changed hands yet. After nearly choking us with fumes, the engine caught and we were on our way. The journey should have taken less than 2 hours but it took more than three….as one of the two engines never worked. It was a very pleasent way to travel in calm seas -very relaxing and scenic, almost hypnotic with the engine drone. It was also relatively expensive at US$55 each

As we neared Nicaragua, another small boat flagged us down. They had run out of fuel and needed a top-up and some help with their engine. Mario went to their rescue in the helpful spirit of the seas and a curious pelican came over to investigate. Our boat finally reached Nicaraguan soil, well almost….we had to take off our shoes and wade ashore for the last metre or two to a pebbly beach with a little pier in tiny Potosi. There was a welcoming party – the Nicaraguan army was waiting for us with guns. They ordered us to put our bags on the ground in a line – a straight line! – in the dirt. We were told to open them, a soldier pulled out some of the contents and a sniffer dog did his sniffing. It was all quite intimidating. we were too afraid to take proper photos. We were given the usual forms to fill out and told to go to a dirty office, about a hundred metres from the beach where we handed in our actual passports plus three passport copies and three copies of our Covid Certs (Mario had already told us that we needed the copies of our passport and Covid certs). If anyone didnt have vaccination certs, they had to have proof of a recent negative PCR test, And we waited, looking for shade under the trees outside the office for about two hours while half starved dogs begged us for food. This was the first time in all our the border crossings that we have had our luggage checked or had to produce evidence of Covid vaccination or had to wait SO long for clearance. And apparently, we were lucky, the process can often take four or five hours. Nicaragua never went into any Covid lockdowns, had a very low vaccination rate but still had a strict Covid policy for entry tto he country. We found out that masks were mandatory in a lot of supermarkets but not on crowded public transport and the contradictions kept on coming.

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Central America(after Honduras) and about 50% of people live below the poverty line. It also has appallingly low literacy rates but the mini-bus that took us to Leon drove on excellent roads with horses grazing in the fields and although there were some horses and carts on the road but our first impression of Nicaragua was of a prosperous country. We loved the feel of Leon as soon as we arrived. Our accommodation was gorgeous, an old colonial house with high ceilings, an inner courtyard, a huge bedroom with wooden floors, a plant-filled balcony and a breakfast of granola, fruit and yogurt or a rice and scrambled eggs ….and it was inexpensive (€23 in total per night). I also found that I was missing two T-shirts when we unpacked, probably left in the dirt in the confusion of the border… thats half my wardrobe🙄. On the Friday evening that we arrived, there were kids dance classes going on across the street and karate classes next door. The plaza was festoomed with Christmas trees, lights and decorations. Bicycle rickshaws pedalled past along the flat streets – the only place that we have seen bicycle rickshaws so far in Central America. A woman outside our accommodation cooked up delicious street food – gallo pinto (rice and kidney beans soaked in garlic and herbs), breaded chicken and pork, rice balls, potato cakes, meats wrapped in banana leaves and tortillas. She gave us a real plate and proper cutlery and said that we could eat it in our accommadation and return- she had already spotted where we were staying.

Leon was a gorgeous city with churches, museums and a fabulous art gallery in a beautiful colonial house with courtyards, turtles swimming in tranquil pools, water fountains, fabulous art- even a few Picasso’s. It’ wasn’t far from beaches and was surrounded by mountains, Leon was also known as the revolutionery heart of Nicaragua. Revolution was never far from the Nica psyche – the latest protests were those in 2018 when hundreds of people died and many more were imprisioned. On a walking tour of the city, our young guide said that Nicaragua was a country of lakes and volcanoes. He told us that the people were also like volcanoes but with a poetic soul, erupting into protest and violence and then writing romantic poetry about it….a bit like Ireland! Daniel Ortega, the president was a complicated man who had gone from revolutionary figure with cult status in the 1980s to someone who wanted to hold onto power at all costs. And the costs were high….ruthless crackdown on rivals and reduced freedoms of the press and the universities. Many said that he had come to resemble the Somaza dictator he despised and deposed. He made changes to the constitution that allowed him to run for a second, then a third consecutive term in office and more changes so that he could rule for life, sparking the 2018 riots. People told us that crime was low in Nicaragua with no big organised drug gangs here, unlike their neighbours. There was a belief that everyone was watching everyone else and that there were informants everywhere. But for us, it was the easiest country to travel around with a wonderful standard of accommodation, great food and interesting people. But maybe we were travelling in a ‘gringa bubble.’

Leaving Leon for Granada, we didn’t think that we would find another city we liked as much. We were wrong. Managua was the capital city but we skirted around it and just changed bus there, It was the capital only as a compromise solution because the intense rivalry between Leon and Granada (both felt they should be the capital) nearly destroyed them both. Granada was grander with a huge central plaza, old churches, tree lined streets and horse-drawn carriages (a bit like the jaunting cars in Kilarney.) I also had another gastro bout which kept me incapitated for 24 hours. Caoimhin was fine so thats it – I’m just going to have to develop a taste for rum for health reasons. Nicaragua has a reputation for the best rum in the world (Flor de Cana). But sitting outside at 8pm on a warm November evening (26 degrees) on a cobbled street, listening to Latin music and watching the world go by, life felt good. We took a day trip to nearby Apuya Lake, the largest volcanic crater in Nicaragua in a Nature Reserve. The famed blue waters were a dull grey and blustery when we arrived but they soon became calm and we kayaked on the deep blue waters. 

Nicaragua continued to delight as we made our way south to the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua, a tropical island with twin volcanoes, lush jungle and lots of monkeys. Nicaragua truly lived up to its promise of a land of lakes and volcanoes  We rented a bamboo cabin by the lake, made entirely of wood and bamboo by an almost blind Argentine man called Che (believe it or not)…even the shower and sinks  were made of wood in a very rustic jungle setting. Che roasted his own coffee beans(gave us some to try), had two rescue dogs(a bit temperamental) and a fondness for wine and recyclying. He took us on a tour of the jungle surrounding the cabin with all the fruits and herbs growing wild there. He was a eccentric lovely man whose next project was to make a bath from a tree felled by one of the hurricanes this year. The cabin had no windows, was open to let the breeze through – and insects and possums and the occasional monkey so all food had to be kept in sealed containers. It was lovely lying under a mosquita net listening to the night sounds outside, the rustlings and creepingsof leaves and critters and we slept really well.

Tomorrow we plan to hike up one of the twin volcanoes, through cloud forests where there are lots of monkeys and parrots and down to the crater lake, if we have the energy. I’ll let you know how we get on…we are setting out at 5am before dawn. The rainy season should be over but there has been really heavy showers today and we have been told that the going will be slippery and tough. So far, despite a shaky start and against all expectation, Nicaragus is becoming one of our favourite countries in Central America with all its beauty and contradictions🐵🐵