Nicaragua....Telica Sunrise

September 2, 2010

When I look at my last entry it appears almost unreal to me, because I am not there anymore. Now we are in Nicaragua and have already seen and experienced so much, that the time in Guatemala seems something of a distant past, although not forgotten.

I guess, if I was to go back to the USA anytime soon, I could neatly organize my experiences and pictures and at a later time process all that happened. Since I am not, it feels very intense in the moment, but is just as fast a distant memory.

Our path through El Salvador was relatively short. It rained on the coast for 2 days straight, so we headed to eastern El Salvador...Alegre, a village up in the mountains. I liked the area of eastern El Salvador a lot, but could never quite get used to all the gun toting guards, guarding I don´t know what. The people of El Salvador however are just awesome. They were so welcoming, so warm and so interested in talking to extranjeros. Almost like visitng some distant family members that you meet the first time, but already feel part of.
We had sort of a very chaotic border crossing into Honduras and the most expensive one as well, even though to pass through that part, it only takes 3 hours driving.
To top it off, just 5 km before the Nicaraguan border, I got napped by the transit police for some Multa. Apparently Honduras requires every driver to have a fire extinguisher and 2 safety triangulars. At last they let me go with ten of my dollars in their pocket. Oh well....!
The entry into Nicaragua was relaxed, but I still had to pay another Multa to the police there as well, so they would allow my Bluebird to enter. It is all nogiciable... I really can not complain about anything. We have had smooth sailing through all of Central America this far.
The roads in Nicaragua are pretty good except for the potholes every so often. Some could swallow up your whole car. There is hardly any traffic outside of cities, because the fuel costs $ 4.50 a gallon. The dirt roads are another matter. They quickly turn into mudd pits, if it rained recently, or are simply washed away and look more like a creek bed than a passable road.
We first stayed up in the mountains near Esteli and later Matagalpa to visit the cloud forests and the Miraflora area. All of which are coffee growing regions as well as sugar cane. I loved it up there. The northeastern region suffered much during the war and the people endured great hardship. Nearly every family lost sons and loved ones during that period and the pain is still now very evident. And so is the distrust toward government, because the guys in local and regional government are still the same people. Nicaraguans are very nice also, but have a little bit of an edge and appear more serious. The move toward progress in education, environmental protection and sustainablitity is evident by the many grass root projects, but is very much dependent on the influx of outside volunteers and money.
We have been in Leon for the past 6 days and hiked Cerro Negro and Telica, both active Volcanoes, along a chain of Volcanoes stretching across the Pacific Rim of Nicaragua. Amazing experiences. You walk right up to the rim of Telica crater and look down about 200 meters to the steaming bottom. It was scary. There are cracks along the rim and who knows when that will break off. At night we could see the lava glowing. The most spectacular views are at sunrise, especially when you can see the whole chain of Volcanoes stretching in either direction. Sky did so well on the hike. It took 6 hours to get up. Walking here, is like exercising in a steam bath with a backpack on. But it was worth the effort. The way back down was only about 4 hours, through beautiful terrain and a small village, that has boiling mudd pooles.
Some farmers came and asked what we were doing with our packs on. They don´t seem to understand what the attraction to the Volcano is or why we don´t ride a horse there. For much of the population, horses are the main mode of transportation. The question made sense to me. Maybe we westerners just like to suffer this way, because we really don´t suffer much in our every day lives, compared to the style of life in most of Central America.