14/9/05
Hey There to all you Narly Rad Tube Dudes
Well firstly, I’m gonna make you all spew chunks of envy by telling you that I am currently typing this whilst sitting in a hammock outside our cabina on the beach with the surf breaking behind me and there are heaps of purple and orange crabs running around the sand beneath me….
Yep, we’ve hit the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and we’re in a place called Playa Majugual which is a major surfer’s hangout and is literally FULL of Aussie and German surfers…
Man… there are some seriously hardcore surfer dudes here including guys that track the swells on the US navy website for months and then shoot down here to catch them when they break.
In fact we have come to realise that we are a complete embarassment to Australia since we don’t surf, and somehow even telling them that we have watched Point Break about 10 times doesn’t seem to cut in these surfing circles…
Actually, for all our surfer friends… if anyone is interested in surfing down here… one Aussie dude we met reckons that Playa Maderas and Popollo in southern Nicaragua is some of the best surfing that he has done in Central America whilst another Aussie we met almost died at Ponelitas on the North Coast, when a storm set in and 1 storey waves suddenly became 3 storey waves and he was almost electrocuted by lightning like our mate Darren…
One of the guidebooks even labels the surf here as having supernatural force, but I think we’ll stick to doggy paddling in the shallows, thank you very much…
In anycase, we deserved a bit of a seachange since the last few days have been spent on a volcanic island.
Last week, we hired a 4×4 and headed out to Ometepe Island which is this massive dumbbell shaped island with a bigarsed active volcano at one end and a bigarsed dormant volcano at the other end.
We were a little nervous at first, as the active one, Volcan Concepcion had erupted 5 weeks before we got there, and we actually met a dutch couple working in a school on the island who had to be evacuated.
But talking to them, we were fortunate to learn that if there was another eruption, then we would need to put our mattresses on our heads and run to the nearest field. However, they then happily told us that no-one knows what is supposed to happen after that, but they assumed that there would be a lot of people running around with burning beds on their heads which I guess would be kind of funny as long as it’s not us…
It was all a bit FREAKY since we were also told that we also couldn’t get into the lake otherwise we’d be boiled alive…
In anycase, we opted to climb the inactive volcano Maderas which was a monster 8 hour hike up a really steep slippery mud path, so that night we were completely shagged, but that’s when Avril felt the earth move..
Now I would love to say that Avril felt the earth move right before MY eruption… but in actual fact, I was dead asleep so it was definitely the volcano next door… DUDE… that volcano didn’t just ROCK…. it RUMBLED!!!
It was only twice and for a few seconds, but Avril was so excited to feel her first volcanic tremor that she totally FLIPPED OUT… in anycase Volcanoes are totally COOL so we definitely want to be Volcanoes when we grow up…
However, it hasn’t just been all surf, lakes and volcanoes here… Nicaraguan people have been really warm and friendly despite being so poor, and we’ve been amazed at how positive the place is considering how much war and suffering they have gone through…
Now as you know, normally we prefer to sit and talk about comic books, glittery things and fluffy animals, but you just can’t help sitting and talking politics down here especially since more than any other latin American country we’ve been to, Nicaragua is a place where you actually see how US foreign policy affects the people at a local level.
It’s actually REALLY REALLY SAD, since down here, you can see that such a pissy little country like Nicaragua could never threaten the US and yet the US sanctions in the 80’s have completely obliterated their ability to recover from so many disasters.
However, it’s also been fantastic to see the building and recovery efforts just starting now and it’s also been great to meet a heap of fantastic young Americans down here who are all pissed off with their government so they’re all doing social projects and trying to bring more Americans down here to open their eyes up…
And it’s especially good since you can always tell a country needs lots of help when Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” is on high rotation on the radio…
Anyhows, we are heading off to Leon a political city in the north and then to Cuba on Monday so it’ll be a whole new Scooby Doo adventure.
Apparently Uncle Fidel monitors emails so we are not sure if we’ll be able to access our mail accounts, but send us stuff anyway…
We’ll only be in Cuba for a couple of weeks until the 4 October before heading to Cancun and then San Francisco for my cousin’s wedding.
We’ve loaded up our Nicaraguan pics now as well including Avril’s aussie cossie pics on page 2.
Gotta go and read up on Cuba which sounds like some really hard communist travelling…
Lots of love and rumbles
Shark Boy Ced &
Lava Girl Avril
PS Trips stats. Don’t stay in Hotel Ometepel on Isla Ometepe which was infested with cockroaches, but they hire 4×4 for $70 per day with NO brakes. Finca Magdalena on Ometepe Island was cool and the 8 hour round trip hike up Volcan Maderas was one of the best cloud forest walks we have ever done. Stayed at Camping Matilda at Playa Majagual which was better than the other places around. Leon is a bit of a dive, but lots of political history here which is worth a day or two.
PPS We have really loved coming back to Latin America and our Spanish has improved heaps, so we think we may come back here for the third time next year on the way home, especially since we really want to do a trek in Colombia and we want to explore more of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. So if anyone of you guys has ever wanted to backpack to Latin America and wants to join us, just drop us an email.
What can you tell me about Matilda’s? I will be going to Nica next month. Thanks
Glenn
(removed Glenn’s email to prevent spammage)
hi glen
unfortunately you can’t book it as these places are essentially first in first served
we stayed there and was pretty basic but the best of a bad bunch
don’t stay at the ecolodge at majugual which is the big one you see when you get off the boat
they rip you off and have bizarre rules like swicthing off the lights and fans and they stink like mould and then also over charging you for heaps of things
however, that is the only place to eat and you may need to stay there if mathilda is booked out
we stayed at mathilda and ate at majugual- the food is not bad and the boss is a friendly aussie but the guy on the front desk is a wanker
when you arrive off the boat walk up the beach to the ecolodge and then through the eatery and out the front to the dirt road- then turn right and keep walking- don’t take the left turn just keep going striaght about 20m and you’ll see the beach- mathildas is on the right -a mum and dad owned place
if you want other bungalows, you walk onto the beach and keep walking – quite a long way to the other surf beaches though- i’d say a good 1/2 km walk
ced
Wow. Thanks for the information. What is the set up at Matildas? Is it strictly camping, or do they have cabinas? What about the other places around there, do they even have names or are they little mom and pop places? Any info. you have would be great. Also, did you make it up to Salinas area?
Glenn
its got some camping in the courtyard for about 3 tents and they also have a cabina with very basic cooking facilities which we didn’t use and also a en suite (cold water of course) see this pic of the cabina- about USD35/night- not cheap and very basic
http://www.cedavril.com/wp/gallery.php?album=415775&photo=44445802
also there are 4 other cabinas with 2-3 beds from USD15-USD 20 and they have a shared toilet and shower
there are about 4 other places along the beach- can’t remember their names but they are in the lonely planet guide- they were even more basic but have the better surf but swimming is a bit rough and they are a good 1/2 km walk from the ecolodge- most seemed to be run by young nicas- and you really have to be very aware of theft so make sure you take your own locks and chains- again you are unlikely to be able to book
you can drive also to all the places but you have to bargain in san juan del sur or rivas
if you stay at the ecolodge- make sure you double check costs for everything eg, they charged a friend to use a locker that they said was free and then turned around and said the charge was because they supplied the lock and it would have been free had she used her lock- which of course they didn’t tell her
sorry didn’t make it to salinas
ced
Thanks. One final question, your cabina, was it a double bed, mulitple beds, etc. Which was it and would you recommend the place. Costa Rica was each easier to plan.
Glenn
mathildas had a double bed in the self contained cabina and the others were dorm type single beds
can you tell me a bit about what your plans are before i tell you whether i recommend the place eg. how’s your spanish and are you planning on surfing or seeing culture
ced
I speak un poquita espanol. But, my fiance speaks pretty well. She had minored in Spanish in college and lived in Spain for a summer. When I go to San Juan del Sur, I would like to surf. I do surf a little bit back hime in New York, but I’m not that good. Just like to have fun doing it.
Glenn
ok glen
we liked nicaragua more than costa rica as far as a destination to backpack in as it is less touristy and the poverty is actually worth seeing… where as costa rica to us was full of american college students just partying which we find annoying after a while
both are nice places though and if you have time for both, then that is worth doing… costa rica is definitely easier to travel around and better organised but we found the people to be sick of tourists
nicaragua is also going that way but a lot of people are still very welcoming… and it’s cheaper
i believe from friends that surfing in costa rica is probably better in costa rica and the surf in nica is good but for more experienced surfers, but you may want to google that to confirm
best advice is don’t plan ahead too much for nicaragua or costa rica and just get there and wing it
but basically you will want to not spend too much time in managua and head straight to granada for a few days followed by time in majugual and perhaps ometepe- see our blogs for what we did, and then if you want to do the north then leon is the place to be… everything else is a bit off the beaten track
costa rica is a big circuit so you can just go around and see most of the places in a circle
good luck though
let us know if you need more advice
ced
Thanks again. Costa Rica I’d been to a couple of times, so thought it was time for a change. Plus, figured Nicaragua would be a real experience. I really appreciate you taking the time to communicate with me and giving me tips. I’ll let you know if I have any more questions and write you when I get back, let you know how it went. Also, I would imagine that you went to Masaya market. Is it good, or am I better off doing my shopping for crafts somewhere else.
Thanks
Glenn
We’re not really market people but there were certainly a good range of handicrafts so I think you’d be happy with the large selection of crafts if you are into that stuff.
You’d just factor in a couple of hours there on the way to or from Masaya Volcano if you are going there. It’s thankfully not too big that it is daunting
Ced
Great, thanks.