Week 15, Honduras, Nicaragua
12/9
Slept in until 10.00. Can you believe it? Beer may have been an influence.
Showered, made a little breakfast on the truck, finished my laundry and went for a long walk. First a good coffee at the mall, then to the (crappy) beach. Round 15.00 to the beachrestaurant for a coke and then it started to rain and thunder like ... well hard!
So, i decided to have an early dinner there and wait for the rain to stop. It took forever, but i thought that i could manage to walk home dry... well, i was wrong.
Bad timing, deep puddles along the pavement and bypassing cars soacked me completely.
Back at the hostel, a shower, and then shopping for tomorrows cookgroup (wildcamping it is (hopefully dry, coz its still rainy season up here)).
All done now and i just published week 14 of my blog. Laterz...
Video-chatted with Mariya. She had her advanced bday party, so i could at least witness them having fun.
Sipped a beer with Lutz and slept good.
13/9
Rose at 7, breakfast on the truck. At 8.15 the rest of the group came back. Everybody breakfasted and we left for a long drive at 9.30.
I sat up front with Jono, which was quit nice for a change. Good view and comfortable seats.
Arrived at a petrol station round 6.30.
I had cookgroup and Lauretta replaced Bijan (thx for that Lauretta). It rained like hell, so ... we struggled, but managed some salad, cooked potatoes and sausages.
Slept on the truck. Badly.
PS: still unhappy with the endless stream of complaints of some of us. Wills emailbox must be overloaded. Complaining seems to be a hobby. Sometimes deviations of the itinerary can not be avoided. The spoiled tourists among us can not cope with that. It's overlanding guys. Not a cruise.
14/9
Happy birthday sweetheart! No wifi, so im too late ... 😯
Rose at 5.00. Made breakfast, packed and on our way to Leon, Nicaragua. Hope to see you there...
It took ages!!! First of all ... the last part of the road in Honduras was one big series of potholes, that slowed us down. Leaving Honduras was not a problem (done in an hour or so), but then the waiting started. Entering Nicaragua took ages. And just when we thought everything had been taken care of, and we wanted to go the highway, we were stopped again. Another document missed... another hour of waiting on the truck, while it was warm. Luckily it started to thunder and rain.
On the truck Juanita hung out of the window, to order food and drinks ... her screaming voice was so anoying to me... it pissed me off.
Finaly at 9 pm we could leave, a 110 K to go to Leon, where we arrived at 11.
The hostel was really nice. Its huge, we all fitted in the same big airconned dorm and after unpacking we had a few beers and could finally laugh a bit about this day. Slept really good obviously.
Here's an impression of the hostel...
15/9
Woke up at 8, showered , breakfasted, did the media, visited 3 ATMs before i finally got one that accepted MasterCard. Updating blog now ...
... and about to see the center of town. Oh, town is called Leon, and we are in Nicaragua. Or did i already say so?
I'll make some pictures ...
Leon is a very nice, colorful, little town. Look...
Met this nice man (bit dirty, bit smelly) that asked me where i was from. I said soy Holandesa and to my suprise he started talking to me in dutch. Not perfect, but fairly well. I asked him when he lived in Holland. He never had. His hobby was leqarning languages. He just buys a book and studies it. He spoke french, italian, german, english and spanish (obviously) too. Peculiar isn't it? Of course he asked for money at the end of the conversation, so i gave him all my coins (which was 50 cents or so... bit shameful... should have given him more).
The wifi in the local park was incredibly fast. Never expected that... Nicaragua is not a third world country guys!
Then, on the way back to the hostel, i heard a jaz band rehearsing. Sounded really nice. So, i went in and asked when they would perform. Tonight at 7 they said. Will check that out!
Right now, back at the hostel , a young aussie is laying near the pool. Nice game he did: drink a shot of alcohol every 10 seconds or so. I think he managed to do that for 2 minutes or so.He does not look very wel now. Smart dude huh?
Oh well, see you all later....
PS: a day strolling through this gentle city, on my own, is good for me. I feel a lot more cheerful , than the last couple of days.
Met this dutch girl, from ... well, guess, ... Hoogeveen of all places. A town nearly 20 K away from my home town. Her name is Jennifer and she seems to get along quit well with our youngster Karim. Both of them stayed behind in Leon to visit the vulcano ...
All right, at 6.30 i went for a small bite. Found this beautifull lambdish on the market in a banana leave for almost nothing. So Good.
Went back after dinner with Richard to sip a beer, and witness some local activities ...
... then to the jazz band i (thought i had) found earlier this afternoon . It turned out to be a family party, so .. i left. Did take a picture ...
Then, after a small meeting where some deviations wrt the itinerary were discussed, again back to the centrale plaza. Laura wanted to buy some arm braces for friends and on the way back we visited this latin musisc back opposite our hostel.
A beer there as well and then i called it a day.
Slept like a baby. Didn't even hear the rest coming home from a beach party at 2 am.
16/9
Rose at 7.15 or so, breakfasted, chatted with friends, packed and on the road to Granada. Only 130 K or so, so at the end of the morning we arrived here in this very cosy hostel. I quit like it, but the tourist (and the elderly) among us updated (obviously). There's even a little swimming pool.
Ok, i unpacked, installed myself in a dorm bed, slept for an hour and went ot the central plaza of this old, colorful, colonial city. Ate a local dish, that tasted a lot like "zuurkool" and therefore was lovely.
On the way back in ran into crazy grandpa (Ken), who was hiding behind a huge bottle of beer. I joined him and we spend some nice talking time in a "beer garden" like place in the center of town...
On the way back, we climbed the local tower, and took some pictures. ...
Back at the hostel now... swam in the litle pool, with Led Zeppelin and the Doors playing in the background.... *smiles*
Here's a pic of the hostel ...
About to fall asleep in a hammock right now..
Laterz...
Went to eat something with Lauretta. Very nice steak.
A last drink at the hostel and to bed. A warm night it was. No aircon, but better get used to it. Lots of our "hardcore travelers" upgrade now of course...
17/9
Happy birthday Sis.
Woke up at 7.00, but snoozed on untill 8.15. Breakfasted, did the media.
It appears that a few groupmemebers built a nice party last night. Even dancing in the pool was included. Never noticed a thing...
Everybody is upgrading now. Only a few stay behind here. I'm one of them.
Im going to the lake soon. First a shower.
What a lovely day it was: on my way to the lake i was interviewed by a student english, who asked me for 10 minutes of conversation and to fill out a review form afterwards. So nice.. her English was good. Better than Richards anyway 😆. Forgot to take a picture. Sorry.
Granada has, just as Leon, a very colonial and colorful atmosphere. Look ...
Then to the lake. Not spectaculair, but turn right and walk on for 500 m ... a big local tourist place with restaurants, live music, boat tours, bars, swim locations, drum bands, you name it.
Spend hours there. Got the attention of some very kind locals and chatted for an hour. Both in poor English and poor Spanish.
Then the daily downpour ...
Managed to stay dry between the showers
Watched the local Baseball team on the way back.
Sheltered at the beerhouse, ate something healthy and compensated that with a big beer (they serve in bottles of 1 L here)...
Back at the hostel now. Did a swim, showered, update blog and am tempted to try a "mojito", a local cocktail of eh... wel lots of alcohol. You know what.. i will. Laterz...
After blogupdate .... i sipped a cuba libre at the pool, checked the news and will do an episode of fringe soon.
Or so i thought... met these german young people and 1 other dutch... nice chat it was (and 1 more cuba libre) ... now... get some sleep Jan.
18/9
Rose at 8.00, pancakes for breakfasted, did the media.
Round 11.00 set off to the lake with Ken. A big milkshake to get the necesary fuel for the walk and then again to the centro touristico, but since it was not weekend there was not much to do anymore. Had a good chat with Ken though. Took some nice pictures too ...
Headed back to the hostel round 2 pm. Stopped for a burger and a coke at the beerhouse (and Ken for his second milkshake).
Relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
At 7.00 i went out to get tomorrows breakfast, coz we leave early. We wil cross the border into Costa Rica. Will miss Nicaragua. Great country. Together with Mexico and El Salvador one of my favorites.
Getting some fringe and sleep now.
See you all next week.
(And yes, i am in a better mood than last week. Some time alone did me good.)
Slept in until 10.00. Can you believe it? Beer may have been an influence.
Showered, made a little breakfast on the truck, finished my laundry and went for a long walk. First a good coffee at the mall, then to the (crappy) beach. Round 15.00 to the beachrestaurant for a coke and then it started to rain and thunder like ... well hard!
So, i decided to have an early dinner there and wait for the rain to stop. It took forever, but i thought that i could manage to walk home dry... well, i was wrong.
Bad timing, deep puddles along the pavement and bypassing cars soacked me completely.
Back at the hostel, a shower, and then shopping for tomorrows cookgroup (wildcamping it is (hopefully dry, coz its still rainy season up here)).
All done now and i just published week 14 of my blog. Laterz...
Video-chatted with Mariya. She had her advanced bday party, so i could at least witness them having fun.
Sipped a beer with Lutz and slept good.
13/9
Rose at 7, breakfast on the truck. At 8.15 the rest of the group came back. Everybody breakfasted and we left for a long drive at 9.30.
I sat up front with Jono, which was quit nice for a change. Good view and comfortable seats.
Arrived at a petrol station round 6.30.
I had cookgroup and Lauretta replaced Bijan (thx for that Lauretta). It rained like hell, so ... we struggled, but managed some salad, cooked potatoes and sausages.
Slept on the truck. Badly.
PS: still unhappy with the endless stream of complaints of some of us. Wills emailbox must be overloaded. Complaining seems to be a hobby. Sometimes deviations of the itinerary can not be avoided. The spoiled tourists among us can not cope with that. It's overlanding guys. Not a cruise.
14/9
Happy birthday sweetheart! No wifi, so im too late ... 😯
Rose at 5.00. Made breakfast, packed and on our way to Leon, Nicaragua. Hope to see you there...
It took ages!!! First of all ... the last part of the road in Honduras was one big series of potholes, that slowed us down. Leaving Honduras was not a problem (done in an hour or so), but then the waiting started. Entering Nicaragua took ages. And just when we thought everything had been taken care of, and we wanted to go the highway, we were stopped again. Another document missed... another hour of waiting on the truck, while it was warm. Luckily it started to thunder and rain.
On the truck Juanita hung out of the window, to order food and drinks ... her screaming voice was so anoying to me... it pissed me off.
Finaly at 9 pm we could leave, a 110 K to go to Leon, where we arrived at 11.
The hostel was really nice. Its huge, we all fitted in the same big airconned dorm and after unpacking we had a few beers and could finally laugh a bit about this day. Slept really good obviously.
Here's an impression of the hostel...
Woke up at 8, showered , breakfasted, did the media, visited 3 ATMs before i finally got one that accepted MasterCard. Updating blog now ...
... and about to see the center of town. Oh, town is called Leon, and we are in Nicaragua. Or did i already say so?
I'll make some pictures ...
Leon is a very nice, colorful, little town. Look...
Met this nice man (bit dirty, bit smelly) that asked me where i was from. I said soy Holandesa and to my suprise he started talking to me in dutch. Not perfect, but fairly well. I asked him when he lived in Holland. He never had. His hobby was leqarning languages. He just buys a book and studies it. He spoke french, italian, german, english and spanish (obviously) too. Peculiar isn't it? Of course he asked for money at the end of the conversation, so i gave him all my coins (which was 50 cents or so... bit shameful... should have given him more).
The wifi in the local park was incredibly fast. Never expected that... Nicaragua is not a third world country guys!
Then, on the way back to the hostel, i heard a jaz band rehearsing. Sounded really nice. So, i went in and asked when they would perform. Tonight at 7 they said. Will check that out!
Right now, back at the hostel , a young aussie is laying near the pool. Nice game he did: drink a shot of alcohol every 10 seconds or so. I think he managed to do that for 2 minutes or so.He does not look very wel now. Smart dude huh?
Oh well, see you all later....
PS: a day strolling through this gentle city, on my own, is good for me. I feel a lot more cheerful , than the last couple of days.
Met this dutch girl, from ... well, guess, ... Hoogeveen of all places. A town nearly 20 K away from my home town. Her name is Jennifer and she seems to get along quit well with our youngster Karim. Both of them stayed behind in Leon to visit the vulcano ...
All right, at 6.30 i went for a small bite. Found this beautifull lambdish on the market in a banana leave for almost nothing. So Good.
Went back after dinner with Richard to sip a beer, and witness some local activities ...
... then to the jazz band i (thought i had) found earlier this afternoon . It turned out to be a family party, so .. i left. Did take a picture ...
Then, after a small meeting where some deviations wrt the itinerary were discussed, again back to the centrale plaza. Laura wanted to buy some arm braces for friends and on the way back we visited this latin musisc back opposite our hostel.
A beer there as well and then i called it a day.
Slept like a baby. Didn't even hear the rest coming home from a beach party at 2 am.
16/9
Rose at 7.15 or so, breakfasted, chatted with friends, packed and on the road to Granada. Only 130 K or so, so at the end of the morning we arrived here in this very cosy hostel. I quit like it, but the tourist (and the elderly) among us updated (obviously). There's even a little swimming pool.
Ok, i unpacked, installed myself in a dorm bed, slept for an hour and went ot the central plaza of this old, colorful, colonial city. Ate a local dish, that tasted a lot like "zuurkool" and therefore was lovely.
On the way back in ran into crazy grandpa (Ken), who was hiding behind a huge bottle of beer. I joined him and we spend some nice talking time in a "beer garden" like place in the center of town...
On the way back, we climbed the local tower, and took some pictures. ...
 |
| Catweasel... |
Back at the hostel now... swam in the litle pool, with Led Zeppelin and the Doors playing in the background.... *smiles*
Here's a pic of the hostel ...
About to fall asleep in a hammock right now..
Laterz...
Went to eat something with Lauretta. Very nice steak.
A last drink at the hostel and to bed. A warm night it was. No aircon, but better get used to it. Lots of our "hardcore travelers" upgrade now of course...
17/9
Happy birthday Sis.
Woke up at 7.00, but snoozed on untill 8.15. Breakfasted, did the media.
It appears that a few groupmemebers built a nice party last night. Even dancing in the pool was included. Never noticed a thing...
Everybody is upgrading now. Only a few stay behind here. I'm one of them.
Im going to the lake soon. First a shower.
What a lovely day it was: on my way to the lake i was interviewed by a student english, who asked me for 10 minutes of conversation and to fill out a review form afterwards. So nice.. her English was good. Better than Richards anyway 😆. Forgot to take a picture. Sorry.
Granada has, just as Leon, a very colonial and colorful atmosphere. Look ...
Then to the lake. Not spectaculair, but turn right and walk on for 500 m ... a big local tourist place with restaurants, live music, boat tours, bars, swim locations, drum bands, you name it.
Spend hours there. Got the attention of some very kind locals and chatted for an hour. Both in poor English and poor Spanish.
Then the daily downpour ...
Managed to stay dry between the showers
Watched the local Baseball team on the way back.
Sheltered at the beerhouse, ate something healthy and compensated that with a big beer (they serve in bottles of 1 L here)...
Back at the hostel now. Did a swim, showered, update blog and am tempted to try a "mojito", a local cocktail of eh... wel lots of alcohol. You know what.. i will. Laterz...
After blogupdate .... i sipped a cuba libre at the pool, checked the news and will do an episode of fringe soon.
Or so i thought... met these german young people and 1 other dutch... nice chat it was (and 1 more cuba libre) ... now... get some sleep Jan.
18/9
Rose at 8.00, pancakes for breakfasted, did the media.
Round 11.00 set off to the lake with Ken. A big milkshake to get the necesary fuel for the walk and then again to the centro touristico, but since it was not weekend there was not much to do anymore. Had a good chat with Ken though. Took some nice pictures too ...
Headed back to the hostel round 2 pm. Stopped for a burger and a coke at the beerhouse (and Ken for his second milkshake).
Relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
At 7.00 i went out to get tomorrows breakfast, coz we leave early. We wil cross the border into Costa Rica. Will miss Nicaragua. Great country. Together with Mexico and El Salvador one of my favorites.
Getting some fringe and sleep now.
See you all next week.
(And yes, i am in a better mood than last week. Some time alone did me good.)
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