After a year of living in Guatemala, I’ve managed to keep my gear down to the same two (too big) bags. It was sad saying good-bye to the kids but I think I’d been psychologically gearing up for it for a while and it also all felt very unreal. Me and another volunteer, H, left the orphanage very early in the morning and caught the 6:15 chicken bus which nearly hurtled past us in the freezing darkness. Our year of experience paid off with a grand gesticulations making sure the bus stopped – and getting the ayudante (helper) to hurl our big backpacks up on to the roof.
We headed to Nicaragua but as it’s a 16 hour shuttle ride we decided to stop off on the way in El Tunco, El Salvador where I’d spent New Years. This place is a tranquil little bubble in an ever increasingly violent country. I was chatting to someone who’s lived and worked in El Salvador for the last 4 years and he told me he’s seen 7 decapitated bodies in the streets. I also know of many tourists who have travelled the country, completely safely and loved it. However, I don’t think I’ll be heading to San Salvador (the dodgy capital) any time soon.
El Tunco is full of surfers and a few surf shops and a couple of bars. It was going off every night over new years but when H and I arrived it was much tamer. It’s the sort of place muso’s gather to jam, bringing their own ron (spanish for rum – one of my favourite words. Can you imagine all the Dad jokes about nights with Ron??!!!) to the bar, whether the bar’s open or not, and you’re welcome to join. The only bugger is getting money out of the ATM’s . I could only get $100 US out at a time and a couple of aussie backpackers couldn’t get ANY money out at all. I ended up loaning them some money just to get them to León (happily they found me in León and returned it #keepthefaith #aussiekiwibros)
El Tunco has a beautiful black sand beach reminiscent of west coast beaches back home (NZ) and epic sunsets. We visited the caves down the end of the beach and partied it up with other tourists and locals.
After a couple of days at the beach H and I got on the shuttle for the rest of our trip to León Nicaragua. It was a long 11 hours crossing the border into and out of Honduras as the shortest route. At one border crossing our driver gathered up all our passports to do the border crossing biz for us, jumping out with the not very reassuring words ‘don’t get out of the shuttle it’s too dangerous’ …O… K….
We made it León but only stayed a couple of days. I will be returning there for my course later so we headed straight to Isla Omatepe in Lago Nicaragua. I can very clearly remember climbing one of the volcanoes of the 2 on the island about 16 or 17 years ago. It was really, REALLY hard. About 6-7 hours up and 5 down walking through Jurassic park-type giant palms.
The wildlife here is AMAZING! We found a sweet little house that the owner rented out to us three for US $10 a night. The property is still being worked on and I reckon in a couple of years time anyone staying here will be paying at least five times that much! Sitting having a nice cold beer out the front of the house and some monkeys came to visit! So far we’ve seen white-faced Capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, beautiful blue and white birds with a long tail and one of those silly drooping feathers off the top of their head which can make even the most serious bird look like slightly stupid. Google says they’re probably Magpie Jays. We also one very special neighbour… a tarantula.
I’ve been enjoying speaking Spanish and meeting Nicaraguan locals. Interesting how very, very different Nica’s are from Guatemalans. AS A GENERALISATION: Nicaraguans are way less likely to initiate conversations and smiles etc. than Guatemalans but once you turn on the charm – speaking in Spanish, a compliment or two… you’re all good and part of the family.
It’s also interesting meeting other travellers and enjoying the reign and rain of synchronicity and serendipity… and seeing how small the world can be! On the way to Omatepe from León we picked up a dude in another city… within five minutes found out he’s a South African who quit his career as an accountant… AND is doing the same TEFL course as me – on the same actual dates.
Currently sitting on a terrace overlooking bountiful bushes of bouganvillea and a volcanic crater lake at Lago Apoyo just out of Granada. Cheers! love Vanessa 
The Road Ness Travelled 