Grutas las Maria / Semuc Champey

After the crazy leap of faith, it was time for the Grutas Las Marias. This is a set of interconnected caves that run for some 10 kms under ground. They have pools of water that are sometimes quite deep, a few water falls, and it is pitch dark. We were given no warning about what we were about to get ourselves into. We only knew that it was going to be wet and dark. We were handed out candles that we had to hold up over the water.

As we entered the cave, I was a little apprehensive. Yannick is a confident swimmer and our friends Susana Ion and Ameya were with us so that was not a worry. The worry was Nu and me. Both of us can swim but I wasn't sure what we would do under pressure, and the pressure monted as we started our walk. At first the water was waist deep so it was ok, until I feel back a little while trying to take some photos. Next thing I knew , our group was in pitch darkness with only candles for light, and could not locate a way forward. Moments later we found the entrance but it was scary. We continued to walk through head high water, sometimes needing to swim, then climbed up a little water fall inside the cave, and a few ladders until we finally reached the spot where we had to turn back.  There were many moments where I was swimming in the water, doused my candle, and then had no idea where the hell I was and more importantly why I was putting myself through this. The caves were unbelievable but we were a big group and the guides were not really safety conscious. The trek was a tough one and they hadn't bothered to find out if all of us could swim but it was an adventure in the truest sense.

The caves have numerous stalactite and stalacmites but they were all dark and ominous looking. Getting back to the cave entrance was as exhilarating as the entry.

Next up was Semuc Champey, a natural formation of 7 lakes at 7 levels before the descending water ends in a cascade into the Cohabon river. The water is a beautiful green and the perfect temperature to swim in. Fish abound in these waters, and I got a pedicure just sitting in it. Semuc is formed because the river suddenly runs underground and at this point a part of water escapes from the underground cave that it runs into like an over spill. This over spill creates the first lake. The water then flows down into the second and so on and so forth. This forms a stunning visual.

These caves are amazing, and Semuc was stunning. This isdefinitely one of the highlights of my trip.

I really felt priveledged to be in the midst of such natural beauty.

Lanquin, Grutas las Maria , Semuc 1

From Flores we took a minivan to Lanquin. The van came by our hostel to pick us up and was already packed. This meant that the 6 of us had to use the last 2 seats at the back , 3 of the additional fold out seats that vans here attach to the existing seats, and only one of us had a decent seat. These fold out seats are like baby seats. They have a back rest that is about a foot high so no back support whatsoever. Gautemalan van drivers have a penchant for lying about schedules. When you get to a bus stop, all waiting vans are just about to leave, and when you are in the van and ask how much longer it will be, it is never longer than 2 hours. Many 2 hours later we reached Coban, and then continued on to Lanquin.

It had begun to rain quite heavily, then lightening and thunder added to the caos. The roads were dirt and I could not make out the difference between the road and the river below. The drive was really stunning. The vegetation here is thick! It covers every possible space, even the rocks on the mountains around are not spared. It seems like the greenery is having a continuous war with the road, waiting to take back what it used to own. Waterfalls cascade down hills swamped in clouds. Suffice to say it is breathtaking.

Anyway we reached Lanquin around 7 pm. It was pitch dark . El Retiro, the hostel we wanted to stay in was quite full, but we managed to bag the last two triple rooms. Dnner here was supposed to be splendid, an all you can eat barbecue was the menu of the day, but as our luck would have it, we had reached too late and they had run out. El Retiro is not a place you can get any sleep in. It is a party hostel, very scenically situated on the Corabon river but the party does not stop and I'm getting too old for this.

The next morning we headed to Semuc Champey and the Grutas Las Marias. The hour long drive in the back of a pick up with a bunch of Gringas and gringos was eventful, and the view spectacular.

We finally reached the river and changed into our swim wear. We then walked up to a swing that was tied so that it would swing high over the river and asked to swing on it and jump into the gushing river as some kind of initiation rite. I wasn't too sure about it given my swimming skills but when a bunch of guys and girls did it, and finally Yannick too did it, I had too. It was fantastic! Leaping off a swing and falling some 20 feet into a gushing river was exhilarating but this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Tikal Mayan

Flores is an island in the Peten Itza lake. The lake is small in comparison with to the huge lakes we had seen earlier. The town itself is little but pretty. Due to the huge influx of tourists, the town has become quite turistic, therefore the prices are little higher than you'd expect but the town is geared as a base for both Tikal and genereal travel in Gauteala. Its been really hot so even though the lake wasn't pristine, we did spend some time in it. We reunited with our  friends Susana and Ion here. Ameya a friend of susana had joined them a few weeks ago so now it was the 6 of us. Yannick, Ameya and Ion jumped off the peir into the lake while Susanna and I generally hung out in the lake cooling off. We stayed at a col hostel called Los Amigos. One of the owners Matheus is an indo phile and so Nu taught them an Indian recipe.

The next day we took off at 4.30 am to Tikal. Tikal is the largest Mayan ruins. It is set in the middle of the jungle and that makes the huge towers even more impressive. The oldest temple was built around 300 bc while most of the rest of the complex of temples were built around the 7th and 8th century. It is an impressive place but I think I've done too many ruins to really feel the enormity of being in such a place. We did see a toucan though! It is such a beautiful bird!!

The next day we set out to Lanquin and Semuc Champey.

Gautemala Crossing

From Roatan we headed to Copan. We ended up staying in San Pedro Sula for a night because a bridge on the route to Copan had collapsed. SPS is the 2nd biggest city in Honduras and quite unsafe after dark, which meant we were stuck in our hotel room playing cards and drinking flor de cana or local rum with our 2 friends Liz and Mel who we had met in Roatan and bumped into once again on this bus.

Copan is a beautiful little town in the mountains. It has a wonderful central square around which the entire city of 6 streets is laid out. We had a super street barbecue near here and genrally hung out here in the evenings.
The hostel we booked Iguana Azul and the Gringo owner, runs an interesting scam.They confirm a booking , then when you get there, they give you story about how they can't help it but they don't have a room anymore , but they can accomodate you in there more expensive property next door at a discount. After the discount, it still costs twice as much as the first place but it is nice room and breakfast in included so we took it. I know it is a scam becasue we met 6 people who had got the same routine! My guess is that he does this bacuse IA is a few block from the parque central, so he wouldn't get any walk ins, since normally all backpackers get to the centre of town, and look for a place to stay around there. Anyway, the next day turned nasty when the guy suddenly told us we had to vacate the room even though we had a 2 night booking. Don't want to get into the details but this was just the start of an interesting 2 days. Iguana Azul depends on good references and I will on trip advisor soon...

Anyway, the ruins are 7th century Mayan, and Copan is the location where the most pre colombian artifacts were found, so it is definitely interesting for those so interested. Yannick and I have had our fill of ruins but I still think it was worth seeing.

The next morning we got into a micro shuttle to cross the broder to Gautemala. The lady officer at the Honduran migracion would not stamp us out until we made sure we did not need a visa for Gautemala. I walk across to the Gautamala migracion and the old gentle guy across the table tells me it will cost $200 per person for the visa. I don't get it, and explain to him that the Gautemalan visa is free, and on arrival, for Indians. He brings the price down to $100 each and this is when I get what he was really asking for. I was shocked, and I told him I wouldn't pay anything for the visa. The micro was waiting and people were getting hassled. We then pulled out our laptop and told the officer we would show him a letter I had from his embassy (which of course was bull shit) when he finally asked for $10 per passport, and without waiting for me, began to stamp us in. This, without an exit stamp from Honduras!

In the confusion I gave him $10, and took the passports. He came after me and said I had to give him $20 more, but I had the stamped passports in my hand so I just walked away! Went back to the Honduran side to get the exit stamped and the lady asks me how much I paid for my Gaut visa? I said nothing, and she says you must've paid a minimum of $10 a passport, but if you did not you need to pay me to stamp you out. I acted like I did not understand any spanish and took my passports to leave when she gave up and stamped us out! Talk about international cooperation!

Not the adventure we were looking for, not the entry we wanted but exciting all the same! It has me ready for anything now! It was the most disgraceful welcome to any country. I pray this nevers happens to anyone entering India. I would be shamefaced.

Eventually we crossed and waited for our A/c PUllman bus coach that we had paid for to show up. Something that looked like a bus did show up, but it was very local, no a/c and no seat numbers so we had the last row. I guess we were now getting a real taste of Central America. Without a complain we took the 7 hour ride and finally reached the isla de Flores.
It is a very pretty island, and we look forward to meeting our travel friends Susana and Ion after travelling together in Bolivia a couple of months ago. We plan to spend a couple of weeks exploring Gautemala together so that will be fun!

Destined to Dive??

So, we're in Granada, back from a disaster called Tree Tops, find our old hostel booked out and so move into another one across the street. At breakfast, we're sitting around and we hear someone say he was from Corn Island. Abdel lived in Panama city but was originally from the Corn. What you need to know is that the corn Islands were on top of Nu's list ever since we decided to ditch Ecuador and head into Nicaragua. Problem is that the islands are right across the country and really out of the way to plan a route. Once we got into Granada we began to hear stories of how the weather (rain) was making it next to impossible to do the boat crossing from Bluefields to Corn.

Anyway, we got talking to Abdel and then a few others and were pretty unsure about the trip when Broadfoot, an older American guy staying at the same hostel piped in asking if we had given the Bay Islands in Honduras any thought. We hadn't, in fact we were planning to give Honduras a skip. He made a case for it saying the islands were stunning and that the snorkling and diving spectacular. It definitely sowed a seed. At this point two girls had joined our breakfast group. They had just been to the islands and had just got their diving licenses. Oe of them did it in Utila and the other in Roatan. From their experiences, Roatan was a clear pick. They told such stunning stories about the islands that we were quite sold on it.

We still had some doubts but that night we hung out with some friends we had made in the hostel we stayed at earlier, and in conversation we realsied that one of them was a proffessional wreck diver! After a chat with him, it was clear that the universe was colluding and conspiring to make sure we got to Roatan. Decision made, we picked Native sons , a dive shop that had been around since the 90's with an old hand who used to free dive in his earlier days helming the crew, as our first stop.

Native sons, Alex and Fiona were super as were the rest of the dive crew. Raotan has some 60 dive sites and some fantastic reefs with crystal clear water with beautiful fish, turtles, rays , barracudas and a ton of others I can't name right now.

4 days, some serious studying, painful videos,  final exam and 4 stupendous dives later , all three of us are now certified open water divers!! I hope we can dive again in Mexico...

Ometepe, Managua, Leon .....Honduras!!

We were set to leave Ometepe and decided to do the cheapest route back to Rivas and then from there on north to Leon. This meant we take the 8.30 chicken bus from Hacienda Merida to Moyogalpa, the capital city of Ometepe, with our bags. Was a daunting thought but it would only cost us $5 while the taxi was $35.

The bus got crowded but it wasn't too bad. We were the frst pick up, so we got seats, and our bags were thrown into the back. The ride itself was over 3 hours in the slowest, least powerful vehicle we've ever been transported in. We got to the wharf just in time to catch the ferry back to Rivas. A quick meal and we jumped into a min bus headed to Managua. In Managua, we took a short taxi ride to UCA where the micros to Leon start off from. The ride was much nicer than the crazy heat of the Rivas Managua ride as the micro was air conditioned. 2 hours later we were in Leon. All in all we had been travelling for about 10 hours and we were tired.

We headed to find the Tica Bus agent to buy our ticket to Tegulcigalpa. Yeah, we had decided to give El Salvador a miss and instead go to Honduras. There is a story there which I will write out soon. An hour or so later we had fixed on a hostel, got our tickets for the day after and started walking around exploring Leon.

Leon is the 2nd oldest colonial city in Nicaragua. It has an important University therefore the overall feel of the city is young. The catheral is the largests and most impressive in Central America. The story goes that the colonial head of the city got a plan approved in Lima, Peru from his superiors and then just went ahead changed the design and built a humungus cathedral in place of the much more modest one Lima had approved.

The town itself has an interesting history being build only 2 months after Granada, and being the capital city at one time. All in all, a nice town to hang around in for a day or tow. Once again we couldn't find any local food so had to make do with shewarmas and some other international food. We found a great super market and loaded up for next stop, as we knew Roatan would be crazy expensive.

The next morning we headed to the bus stop at 5.15am, crossed the border at about 9 and reached Tegulcigalpa around 12.30. A mad rush to reach the Headman Alas bus office before 12.45 to catch the 1.30 to La Cieba worked out. We got to La Cieba via San Pedro Sula at about 9.30 pm. Another long traveling day. Spent the night at a hostel, ate balleadas or Honduran tacos with a bean paste base and meat and eggs thrown into a roll. Next morning we headed out to the Ferry and two hours later we were in Half moon bay, Roatan, Honduras. Our first Carribean experience!!!

Ometepe

Something about ending up in Miami changed things a little for us.  I think we slowed down, and weren't getting into the crazy driving rhytm that we had going until this point. Granada helped! The city has a bunch of things to do but we choose to just hang around, eat well, drink many beers, and hung out with a bunch of new friends we made. We walked around the city quite a bit and just experienced it. Granada is touristy at least by Nicaraguan standards, but it was the non touristic side that had my interest. Granada is on the The lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca in the native tongue, and is surrounded by Volcanoes (Masaya and Mombacho).
We did travel out for a day to a place called Tree tops or Poste Rojo. Poste Rojo is set in the dry rainforest area around Granada and the setting allows you a beautiful view of the surroundings. The place is infested with howler monkeys. These monkeys can really howl!! They had a cable walkway that is quite fun, but everything else about the place is a disappointment. I'm tired of words like organic and eco when they are used purely as excuses! This place had an 'organic' toilet which basically meant it was a hole into a reservoir below with no water to flush, no permiculture in place, and really really disgusting! It stank so much that we left rather than use the loo the next morning. We were promised a great dinner for $6 each. Now you have realise that $6 goes a real long way in Nica, and so when we were given mac and cheese with some grilled chicken, I knew we were also paying for the volunteers dinners.

Anyway, we got out of there quick, tried to find Apoyo, the 48 sq km lake that the volcano Masaya or Mombacho (need to re check which one) left when it blew its top off a long time ago. we got to Apoyo but no one could get us to the hotels that supposedly lined the lake. After a couple of hours of trying we gave up and took the chicken bus back to Granada. The chicken bus is basically the old American school buses that are used extensively in South and Central America for local transport. They are really quite quaint and interesting. The locals will take anything onto these buses, livestock, dogs, birds, ...

The next day we headed to Ometepe, an island formed by 2 volcanoes, Volcan Concepscion and Volcan Maderas. We took the chicken bus once again to Rivas. The drive was truly calming. The lush green vegetation has such a wonderful effect on the senses! On reaching Rivas we took a cab to San Jorge and then a ferry to Mojogalpa the capital of Ometepe. From here we jumped into a van with 4 others since that was the best way we could get a deal. The other 4 were headed to a place called Hacienda Merida while we planned to saty in playa Santa Domingo. Luckily for us we couldnt find a decent hostel in SD and so tagged ablong with the others to HM.

This is the nicest hostel we've stayed in yet for the price! The rooms are beautiful, and place has been built with love. The owners do a ton of great work with the kids of Merida so all in all it feels nice to be here, even if it is gringo infested. We've spent all of the last 36 hours hanging around, kayaking to the different islands and swamps around and just being! Anu just cooked a meal for everyone!

We've also just decided to go to the Honduras before heading out to Gautemala. we'll probably head out to Leon tomorrow and then move on the Honduras in a coupe of days. The best part of this kind of travel is the freedom to choose when and where we want to go....