Day 172 - A spiritual journey

Panajachel

We walked down to the wharf to figure out how the transportation around the lakes work, there wasn't much in the way of signs or information. Our plan was to spend the day visiting the towns around the lake, so we hopped on the first boat heading to Santa Cruz. When the boat arrived at the next jetty there wasn't much there and only one person got off, so we stayed on until we arrived at somewhere more interesting. Lake Atitlan and its towns are picture postcard beautiful and many of the stops along the way were at lovely resort type places, or what appeared to be gorgeous holiday homes.

At San Marcos we disembarked and wandered around the very small town for a while. It was getting warm and the town seemed pretty quiet, the main businesses appeared to be related to yoga, massage, natural healing, and other spiritual/holistic type disciplines - not really our thing, though I'm sure if we could make up develop a great new spiritual/healing technique I reckon we could make a killing!



After some time here M's chakra was telling him it was time to seek enlightenment elsewhere, so back at the jetty we took the next boat heading in the right direction and travelled to the larger town of San Pedro. Once there we wandered the streets looking for a place to have lunch and found a great place on the edge of the water.

After lunch we wanted to head to San Antonio, which was known for its ceramics. We were told the best way was to go back to Panajachel first. We took the express boat that went straight back across the lake rather than around the edges. Although much quicker this was a bit of a mistake, we thought it would be nice sitting at the front, but being a long way from the shore we missed the lovely views and on the way back the boat pounded the waves, so being at the front meant it was an extremely rough and uncomfortable trip.

Back in Pana we were told the only way to get to San Antonio was more than an hour by road, or by getting a private boat. We decided we didn't want to go that much and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the town and the waterfront. We did find a shop that sold the ceramics from San Antonio, they were nice enough but not really worth the additional effort of travelling to the town, so it looks like we made the right decision.

Day 171 - Just like sardines

Antigua to Panajachel

Finally a civilized pick up time of 12.30 for our shuttle to Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atitlan. The pick up time might have been civilized but the shuttle certainly wasn't, we were all crammed in with every space filled up. Some of the younger guys were quite tall, so no one had a good experience, except maybe our luggage which was given the prime seats behind the driver rather than being put on the roof. For some reason the driver drove down the same streets more than once while picking up new passengers, our last stop before departing was the place next door to where the first passengers were collected!

We had been told it was a door to door shuttle but after an uncomfortable trip we were dumped at the wharf and even though we pointed out that our hotel was only two kilometres away we were left on the side of the road. After a couple of taxi drivers tried to get us to pay more than the rate we had been told by our hotel, we eventually squeezed into a tuk-tuk (interesting that they have the same name in Asia, we always presumed it was an Asian name) and made it to our hotel on the very edge of town. After checking in we walked into down and down to the waterfront to admire the view and check out our options for boat trips tomorrow.

Day 170 - Yum, toasted marshmallows!

Antigua

What is it with tours and activities that they insist on starting so early in the morning? Today's 6am pick up was to climb the still active Volcan Pacaya which had last erupted in 2014. We were the last to be picked up and the downside to this is you get the worst seats, so we were both jammed in the front with the driver. By the time we were collected and then stopped for a coffee it was 7am before we finally left town. 

At Pacaya the the steep climb started immediately and continued that way for most of the 2.8 kms to the top. There were kids on horses following us up, who kept asking if we wanted a "taxi". They started asking right from the start, and were right on our heels all the way up, M had to tell them to back off more than once, they were like vultures waiting for someone to fall over or give up.

When we reached the top we stopped to enjoy the views, then walked down to the recent lava flow which had unfortunately only completely cooled a couple a couple of months ago, meaning we didn't get to see any flowing lava. However there was just enough warmth left in some spots to roast some marshmallows, which were quite tasty, though a bit gritty if we touched them on the hot rock. 

After marshmallows came the Lava Shop, which has been called the shop in the most obscure spot in the world. Surprisingly it didn't sell any cold drinks for the now quite hot climbers but rather jewellery made out of lava crafted by locals, none of which looked very appealing. 

The descent back down the volcano was quite slippery and we didn't envy the people we met just starting the trek up as the sun was warming things up further. 

That evening we did something we that's become almost a custom for us - we visited an Indian restaurant. The food was tasty but the portions were small, once again a nice change from standard Central American fare.

Day 169 - That's better, back to some nice temperatures again

San Salvador (El Salvador) to Antigua (Guatemala)

We boarded our 6am bus to find that we were the only gringos, we were surprised that none had come through on the bus the night before, as there had been 11 of us on the bus the previous night.

That should keep the sun off

The border crossing into Guatemala was easy with the bus drivers taking care of it, and we arrived into Guatemala City at lunch time.  The Tica bus has a shuttle service between the city and Antigua which is incredibly convenient and comfortable, we almost felt like we were on an organised tour the way Tica managed the transport through the last few Central American countries. Unfortunately though being the only tourists on our bus heading to Antigua we had to pay a premium for a private shuttle, but it was great service nevertheless.


Antigua was similar in some ways to Granada, with some lovely old buildings and churches made beautiful by their look of disrepair. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city and arranging a volcano trip for the next day. It was Sunday so the city was very busy, with lots of traditionally dressed people selling textiles and trinkets, we hadn't really seen this level of tourism related activity for a while, but here it was back in full force. It did quieten down later though as the day trippers from Guatemala city started heading home, making the streets very busy for a while.

Antigua is in the mountains and surrounded by volcanoes, so the air was cooler and dryer, it's great to have left the humidity and heat from Nicaragua behind.

Day 168 - One day of the year

San Salvador

We had decided on a couple of sights to visit in San Salvador - El Bosqueron volcano crater and Joya de Ceren archaeological park. However our one day in San Salvador was a major public holiday for the city, it was San Salvador day to honour the city's patron saint, so the archaeological park was closed - just our luck!

We knew it wasn't safe to hire a taxi off the street and another passenger on the bus had given us the number of a trustworthy driver in town but he didn't answer his phone (it was a holiday). The woman at the desk of the hotel was very helpful and arranged a driver who would take us up to El Bosqueron and wait for us. El Bosqueron is a huge cylindrical volcano crater with another small, perfectly symmetrical volcanic crater inside the other crater, not too far from town and easy to walk around.

We were surrounded by Salvadorean families enjoying their day off, the place reminded us in some ways of the Dandenongs on a Sunday - lots of day trippers, some nice looking restaurants with great views along the road that led up the mountain, plenty of souvenir shops, etc. We were the only gringos there but felt completely safe, families having a day out are pretty much the same all over world, it was good to go and see something with a real "local" atmosphere.

We made it back to the car just as the rain started. Our driver told us it was related to the cyclone from Hurricane Earl that had been crossing Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. We have been keeping an eye on this hurricane and hoping it will have done its thing before we arrive further north in the next week or so.

After arriving back in town we decided to visit some of the holiday festivities. First though we went back to our hotel and removed anything that could be possibly be stolen from us. We walked the few blocks through the crowds and it felt quite liberating walking through that large amount of people, not needing to worry about being pickpocketed. From what we could tell there was a huge fair on, something like the Melbourne Show but without animals. It was packed, so we decided we didn't need to go in. We spent some time wandering the area near our hotel (the area was known as the Zona Rosa) which we had been told was safe, as long as we didn't move too far from the hotel, and ended up at a nice bar overlooking the main road to have a couple of drinks.

Day 167 - No murders, just lots of rain

Leon (Nicaragua) to San Salvador (El Salvador) via Honduras

As part of our Tica Bus ticket we were to be picked up around 11.30am by a taxi to take us to the bus, which was starting from Managua and stopping to pick up passengers in Leon on the way. Around 12:30 we were finally collected and dropped on the side of the road in the heat to wait for the bus. Fortunately we spotted what looked like a small waiting room and we waited in there with a growing group of other gringos who had all been told different times they needed to be there .... one couple had been there since 9:00am, the bus finally arrived about 1.30pm.

Next stop was the exit from Nicaragua on the border with Honduras, where we had to hand over US$20 each to cover our exit and entry. This was higher than we had read about, so we suspect some of the money had made it into someone's pocket. The thing with the Tica Bus though is that the conductor takes care of much of the border formalities, so on the Nicaraguan side the bus conductor took our passports and managed the process for us while we tried to find some shade to wait in.

The Honduras entry a little further on was different again where we didn't even leave the bus this time, is it really that dangerous out there? Honduras isn't classified as a safe country and has one of the highest murder rates in the world, so we just stayed on the bus and drove through some very heavy rain to El Salvador, which has a slightly better reputation than Honduras, but still has issues with violence.

By the time we reached the Honduras/El Salvador border it was dark. Here all luggage was removed from the bus so it could be inspected by customs. They decided they wanted a closer look at K's case - about 40 people on the bus and they chose her, is it because it had a combination lock? After the bag was put through the x-ray machine a couple of times, K and the case were taken to a separate room where they decided to remove everything from the case, finding nothing of interest of course. However they wouldn't let K do the repacking, so the case could barely be closed because of the mess they made. This mightn't seem like a big deal but when you've been living out of one suitcase for nearly six months everything has its place so it was very frustrating.

The scheduled arrival time at our hotel in San Salvador was supposed to be 9pm, but we finally arrived there around 1am. The hotel is owned by the bus company and rooms have a discounted rate if you're on the bus, so that you can have a few hours sleep and pick the bus up again early the next morning. Everyone had to be ready for at 5am departure, but as we thought it was a bit of a shame to be passing through San Salvador and not seeing anything, we had booked two nights. We did however starting to think we may not have made the right decision, as we were the only gringos on the bus that were staying on in one of the murder capitals of the world - everyone else was leaving the next morning.

Day 165 to 166 - Nothing on in Leon

Leon

Day 165

Our next main destination from here is Guatemala, but to get there by bus you need to travel through Honduras and El Salvador, which are known for not being very safe. We spent the morning looking in to the options. We ended up choosing the Tica bus, which goes through Honduras and into El Salvador on the first day, spends the night in San Salvador at a hotel owned by the bus company, then continues on to Guatemala City the following day. It was a shame to just sleep the night in San Salvador though, so we decided we should also spend the next day there to do some sight seeing before continuing.

After sorting that out we then booked to go volcano boarding, where you "surf" down the side of a volcano on a plank of wood. For this we went with Quetzal Trekkers, for a couple of reasons - first, you get to do the volcano twice, and secondly all profits go to support underprivileged kids.

There had been a big thunderstorm overnight so the temperature was more bearable today. We wandered the streets and churches and generally felt more positive about León. The Museum of the Revolution was closed, but some of the old men that were part of the Sandinista revolution were sitting out the front and one of them showed us in to see some murals and hear some information (in Spanish) on the history of the place. We then paid to see the top of the cathedral which was quite different from any other we had visited, with white  domes and towers that you could walk around.

There was supposed to be a free walking tour at 4pm, so at 3:45 we turned up and were told to come back in 15 minutes. At 4pm we returned, only to be told that the tour had left and we should wait until tomorrow! We sat not far from the starting spot while waiting and didnt' see a group, so we think they may have just cancelled it but didn't want to tell us, it was all a bit strange.


Around 9pm that evening we received an email telling us that the volcano boarding had been cancelled due to lack of numbers, shame we weren't told earlier as we would have booked with someone else .... León really doesn't want us to experience much!

Day 166

This morning we went to the Museum of Myths and Legends which was based at the old jail that had held and tortured many political prisoners during the civil war. The jail was filled with mannequins, life sized and larger, made up to represent many of the Nicaraguan myths and legends, including one memorable figure of an ugly woman with huge breasts who smothered men to death.

We spent the rest of the day taking it easy in the heat, and doing some research into our planned destinations over the next couple of weeks.

One of the things you have to love about the local people in Central America is how like the Aussies they don't like to use too many unnecessary words. When you meet people here its not the normal buenos días, buenas tardes or buenas noches  - just "buenos" for all times of the day, makes life so much easier as you don't have to think about what time it is before greeting someone!

Day 164 - But the bed hasn't been made!

Granada to León

Today we caught a shuttle bus to León, it was a pretty easy "door to door" service. We were dropped off in the right street but not in exactly the right place. It was very hot and the directions we'd been given weren't 100% accurate, but with the help of a friendly local we finally found our accommodation. We were a little disappointed after we checked in as the bed wasn't made and the room hadn't been cleaned properly, the managers however were quite apologetic and agreed to fix the situation while we went for a walk to check out the city.

We had expected a place similar to pretty Granada so were a bit surprised to find a dirty and shabby city with nothing like the bars and restaurants that we had enjoyed in Granada, and as for the heat .... boy, was it hot! It didn't cool down later in the day either, so we started thinking we'd left Granada too soon.

When we eventually returned to our airbnb after doing some grocery shopping we found that the managers had been true to their word, the place was clean and looked so much better, so after cooling down in the great air conditioning we started to feel a bit better about the city and our choice of accommodation.

Day 163 - Hot lava

Granada

Nicaragua is hot so we were pleased we had picked a place with air conditioning, interestingly most of the cheaper places charge up to US$10 extra per night for air con, which seems expensive, and we've only encountered this once before (in Piura).

We wandered the streets looking at churches and colonial buildings, and close to lunch time we walked up to the fort to find it was closed. There was hardly anyone around and it was only after about 2.30 that the town became busy again. The difference was quite remarkable, the streets went from very few cars and people to being packed and the shops have re opened. We guess they must do the siesta thing here, and of course we were the stupid ones walking in the heat while everyone else tried to stay cool.

Granada has lots of attractive, colourful colonial churches and La Merced was striking in a different, un-renovated way but was nothing much on the inside.

That afternoon at 4.30 we joined our tour in a mini van to visit Masaya Volcano, which is notable as it is still active and you can drive almost all the way up to the rim. We arrived at the park about 5.15 and joined the long queue of cars and mini vans waiting for the park to open at 5.40. The queue was so long however that we didn't start moving until 6. The idea is that you visit the volcano when it is dark so you can see the lava.

We discovered that they let groups of vehicles into different sections at different times, it is pretty well coordinated so that when it is your turn you get 15 minutes at the crater rim with quite a reasonable amount of people, meaning everyone gets a good look and has plenty of time for photos. At the end of your time a whistle is blown and you leave so the next group can have their turn.

Seeing the boiling, spitting lava was amazing, we haven't seen anything like it, it can be described as an orange boiling sea in a blow hole. You could see lava spitting up the side of the volcano crater, and the while thing was quite mesmerising.

We arrived back in town just 8 and met Trina for a farewell drink, this time we are pretty sure we won't be crossing paths again.

Day 162 - The bus was early?

Liberia (Costa Rica) to Granada (Nicaragua)

We were told to be at the bus station in Liberia by 9am for the bus that was due to get there from San Jose at 9:30, we walked down and fortunately were early, as the bus arrived at 9:15 - that was a first, an early bus!

We are used to the Tica buses now as they are a pretty comfortable way to travel, and it wasn't long before we approached the border with Nicaragua. Just before the border we saw lots of tents on the side of the road, many of them made out of garbage bags, we were later told they are Cubans trying the get to the US but they get stuck at this border. The exit from Costa Rica and the entry to Nicaragua was fairly painless, we took the advice from someone in the queue and paid our exit tax from Costa Rica before we went to immigration, but there was a young American guy doing his first ever overland border crossing who decided not to take the advice, needless to say he had problems, not the least of which was the ATM eating his card when he tried to get money, so the bus was kept waiting for while.

We'd never get these souvenirs through Customs

We arrived in Granada around 2pm so a pretty easy trip compared to some we have made. We went up to the main square for a late lunch of bocas (tapas) before walking down to the lake and the malecon along the waterfront. This area was full of families enjoying their Sunday afternoon, though the place was looking a little rundown, and the long pier was closed for some reason. Overall the town is very colourful and colonial with lots of bright horse drawn carriages, which are also used by the locals for transport.

Granada has a a great street that was closed to traffic and lined with bars and restaurants, with many more people sitting outside enjoying Sunday afternoon food and drinks - definitely a Spanish feel to this area.

We met Trina from our San Blas boat trip for dinner, she had taken a volunteering position at a local hostel for four weeks. Free (shared) accommodation in exchange for 20 hours work a week - we thought the hostel was doing pretty well out of that, but it is a good way to save money.