Flor de Caña

Alyece Says:

Hola! So Erin, Jenna, and I decided to take a break from the ron (¨rum¨in Español just to clarify) in Granada and take a detox trip to Isla de Ometepe. This island is in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua and is formed from 2 big volcanoes. We stayed at an isolated lake-side hostal on the coast of the smaller volcano, which was an earthy eco-lodge kind of place with amaaaazing buffet dinners and breakfasts. Once again, our travel choice based entirely on food. We don´t regret it. Also, they pride themselves on their delicious fresh fish entrees straight from the lake... and it´s not every day you get to watch your dinner get caught in a net then get the crap beaten out of it right in front of you as you swim and lounge on the dock. Now that´s an authentic experience.

(a little out of order... our last breakfast in Granada)

(The hostal donkey who ate dinner with us regularly)
One day we attempted to catch a bus to this little lake on the other side of the island, but unfortunately regular bus schedules are non-existent on Ometepe and we ended up hiking the majority of the 3 hour journey accross the island down a dirt/rock road in the blistering heat (and in really shotty footwear). We spent a few hours at the lake, but then missed the bus back, and we made the journey back with bare, bleeding feet and moving extremely slowly. We did manage to hitch a ride in a pick-up for a good 5 minutes, though. Because we were so dirty, sweaty, and bloody, we also felt the situation necessitated ¨war paint¨for our efforts, which explains why we have dirt on our faces below...
(Ojo de Agua... possibly not worth the effort of getting there)
Although the treck was a little exhausting, it was not without some comic relief... We enountered a boy riding his bike with a table on his head. You know, most people prefer to wear helmets when bike-riding, but this kid was balancing a huge dinner-sized table like it was no big deal.
We spent a lot of time swimming in the lake, I´d like to say ¨stress free,¨but your conscience is never entirely clear when you are in a lake that is known for having a bountiful population of fresh-water sharks.
On our last day on Ometepe, we attempted to hike up Volcan Maderas (1400m). This was also the only day that it POURED rain, which made the verticle jungle trail a little slippery. We follwed the lead of our 9 year old trail guide for a few hours and made it half-way before turning back down to wring our clothes out at the bottom.
(Volcan Maderas - and our hostal at the base)
(...Now that it´s raining more than ever, know that we´ll still have each other...)

With a little bit of luck, the man who owned the hostal offered to take us back to the mainland on his sail boat in the morning... not a bad transport mode. (Sailing back to the mainland)

We hopped a first-class chicken bus to San Juan Del Sur, which is a funky surf/beach town on the southern Pacific coast of Nicaragua. Upon our arrival, Erin, Jenna, and I went for a drink at a restaurant on the beach. The long, hot, sardine-packed bus-ride had obviously left a sexy shine on us, because these 2 lads from Seattle struck up a conversation and invited us to hang out with them at their hotel for the day. OK, ¨hotel¨ is an understatement, I think ¨paradise¨is a more accurate description. This place is called ¨Pelican Eyes¨and is built on the hill of San Juan Del Sur looking out over the beach and horizon. It´s a stunning resort with beautiful private cabins and an amazing padio and pool area. The five of us spent the afternoon swimming... and working our way through an oversized bottle of more Nicaraguan ron (Flor de Caña).
(Swimming at Pelican Eyes)
(The lovely Seattle boys, Darren and Josh - us trying to make a dent in the bottle)

After we watched the sunset from the infinity pool, we headed downtown for some pizza, even though after drinking in the sun for 6 hours we really felt like going to bed. Jenna skipped right to the bar, Erin spent the duration of dinner playing chess with a 7-year-old Nicaraguan boy, while the guys and I tried to communicate in broken Spanish with the old French people sitting with us... To shut us up they started sharing their pizza with us. We headed to the local beach bar for more (entirely unnecessary) drinks to finish the awesome day.
(The view is alright I guess...)
We spent the rest of the week sipping Flor de Caña, relaxing at the beach, working on our tans (or for some of us, our freckles) and hanging out with Darren and Josh, who are wicked guys and made our San Juan Del Sur experience awesome.
(Jenna feeling the need to roll in the sand)
(tough day at the beach...)
(...even tougher mornings)

By the end of the week, Darren and Josh were on their way (yes, some people actually have real lives to get back to) and we were still sticking around in San Juan. In an extremely generous gesture, Darren (who owns one of the cabins at the hotel) gave us the key to spend our last day and night in luxury. There isn´t much need for details, I´ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I just want to say WOW. Our first hot shower in over a month, clean towels, clean sheets... well, clean everything... and all the good-stuff in between. The three of us went from sharing one bed in a dingy room in a little hostal in town (pictured below)... to heaven. Lucky lucky lucky.
(yes, that grey spot on the roof above the sink IS in fact a hole in the roof)
(hiking up the trail to ¨Pelican Eyes¨where I´m sure they don´t see too many backpackers come through...)
(enjoying a morning cup of coffee in our suite)
(haha, Darren you´ll be happy to know your place was in good hands... Erin and I locked ourselves out within about an hour of having possession of this place)
(Cabina Jazmine)

--- Oh, and Darren, I feel this kind of advertising entitles me to at least 10% of your profits on this cabin. You´ll be famous in Canada now... our blog´s a pretty big deal ---

Anyway, to bring us up to speed, Erin and I left San Juan Del Sur for Costa Rica and Jenna parted ways with us and joined a few girls who are headed in a bit of a different direction. So we´re temporarly separated. Erin and I spent enough time in Costa Rica at the nausiating Tamarindo beach to realize quickly that we do not love Costa Rica... it´s super expensive, overly touristy, and is basically just a huge resorty rich American vacation hole. Wow that came out bitterly.
(Tamarindo Beach... Ok, so the beach itself was alright)

We love Nicaragua so much, we decided to forfeit our week in Costa Rica, we crossed BACK over the border today, and will spend the next week here until we travel down to Panama. All we can really say is we were overjoyed to see the ¨Beinvenidos a Nicaragua¨sign today at the border. Maybe it´s the beauty of the country, the wonderful people and culture... or maybe its the Flor de Caña?