(sunset at San Juan del Sur)
As soon as I was physically able, we got out of Granada. My back still wasn't nearly 100%, but I could move enough to endure a few hours on a bus to get to a beach, where sitting around doing nothing -- to mend my back -- is much, much more palatable. So with Jenny's help (she ended up carrying her bag and then going back to the hostel to get mine too cause I couldn't lift it), we were off to San Juan del Sur. San Juan is a famous tourist destination in Nicaragua, probably their most famous (and therefore, touristy) beach. But really, all in all, for the amount of tourist traffic that they see it was remarkably chilled out. And it being low season, there weren't many tourists around either. Nothing too exciting happened there, other than an anti-inflammatory injection in my butt that really helped me out.
A few days later, I was able to lift my bag, so we got out of there and headed to Playa El Coco, where we spent only the one magical night watching the sea turtles nest (see the other blog entry). Playa El Coco is a 1 km slice of paradise, essentially undeveloped, with only one hotel and one over-priced restaurant on the beach. The "road" to get there is all mud and water in the rainy season. The bus had to cross a few rivers which were in the place where the road previously was -- apparently, sometimes in October the road is closed for a week at a time if it's flooded out. The bus boys have learned to collect money before they get to the hills, in case they can't make it up a hill, at least they've already collected the fares.
We stayed at a beautiful place on a hill -- the top part of a retired Canadian's house, and as far as I know, the only non-hotel accomodation in Playa El Coco. It was gorgeous! For $20, we had a deck with picnic tables, hammocks, and wicker rockers, a fully-equipped kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. And the view, wow! The house was built on a hill, so the view overlooks the beach and the ocean, with Costa Rica to the left, and Nicaragua to the right.
(our deck)
(dusk at Playa el Coco, view from the deck)
From Playa el Coco we headed to Isla de Ometepe. This place is really what fairy-tales are made of. It's an island formed by two volcanoes with an isthmus between them, in the middle of a gigantic lake (the 10th largest lake in the world).
(heading for Isla de Ometepe)
There are two towns and a couple of small villages, and the pace of life is very, very slow. The days just kinda go by, all melting together into one pleasant and somewhat indistinct memory.
(hippy haven)
The days we spent there, and I think in total there were 5, were very relaxed. We went to the fresh-water beach a few times and swam in the beautifully tepid lake water. We rented bikes a few days and visited the local attractions, like a natural swimming pool (that you have to cycle through fields and a banana plantation to get to) and the wholly under-whelming 35 meter waterfall (that requires a few hours of biking and an hour hike to get to). But what really made the time here, was where we stayed.
(banana bikin')
(my pipes are bigger than this waterfall)
We stayed at an organic farm run by an Italian father and son called El Zopilote. There's a winding 500 meter walk from the road up through all sorts of vegetation along a little footpath (complete with bamboo bridge) to reach the reception. The accomodations are very basic: the occasional thatched-roof hut hidden amongst the vegetation just off the maze of footpaths. This was perfect: even though there were maybe 10 or 15 other people there, you could always retreat into a private place.
(butterfly kisses)
There was a wood-fire stone-oven used 3 times a week to make home-made Italian pizza for pizza nights, and bake fresh organic whole grain bread and cookies, and some other goodies like quiche and muffins. There was a common area near the kitchen where people would congregate to play guitar, listen to music, chill in hammocks, play chess or cards, read, or just hang out. And one of my favourite parts of the farm, was the mirador. They had built a look-out tower over the top of the banana trees for the view of the sunset over Conception Volcano, or the sunrise over the lake.
(sunset from the mirador at El Zopilote)
Almost nothing was wasted at Zopilote, they re-used what they could, recycled what they couldn't re-use, and had a very small garbage footprint. People were encouraged to pee wherever you wanted (girls and boys) although preferably not on the footpaths, and the toilets were all dry compost-toilets. Our shower was a Japanese shower -- basically, an overhead tap hidden amongst some tall bamboo and banana leafs for cover. Brilliant! It was so hot all the time when it wasn't raining that a cold shower in the outdoors was such a great relief!
(Japanese shower)
El Zopilote has a massive gravity. It's hard to leave. People were always saying "ya of course I'm leaving... tomorrow!" Eventually tomorrow came for us, and we packed our bags and headed for the Costa Rican border.
Fittingly, it was raining the day we left Nicaragua. Pouring really. But only when there was no shelter around. We were walking through the border checkpoint between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and even though it was pouring, I had to stop and take one final picture. This guy takes the cake for how to beat the rain.
(stayin' dry in style)
And now, Costa Rica! La Pura Vida!
Oh, and I've bought a ticket home: I'm coming home in less than 2 weeks.
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