Honeymoon in South America: Part 2
The next episode...
Tue, 25 May 2004 22:43:17 +0100
Hola alll you crazy cats!!
Well Angela and I have been adventuring for another month and we thought
perhaps we should send y'all an update on what has been going on over here
in the badlands of Central America. It's been a month of drama and
excitement "on the road" so get yourself a coffee, divert your calls to
voicemail and read on...
After a week learning spanish in Antigua Guatemala we decided that we were
ready for more action! So, over the border to Honduras AKA the "Banana
Republic" owing to the large quantities of bananas produced there by US
owned companies (and subsequent US political and military involvement in
Honduran affairs).
Our first stop just over the border from Guatemala was Copan Ruinas the
ruins of a Mayan city. Copan is unique in the Mayan world for it's
sculpture which is quite simply beautiful. From intricately carved totems
of former chiefs to embellished temples it was all quite breathtaking. The
incredible skill of the city's artisans can be seen best in a delicately
carved pelican with a fish leaping from it's open bill - all carved from a
single chunk of rock.
From Copan we decided to take the less travelled route and so we headed for
the hills. A couple of chicken busses later we were landed way out in the
sticks in a little farming town called Gracias. Gracias does not have much
- but it does have a fantastic set of hot baths. The pools are set in a
gully which has been dammed at intervals forming pools of varing size and
temperature - the largest is big enough to do laps in. We didn't do laps
but we did resemble prunes after a few hours soaking.
Moving on from Gracias involved catching the one daily "bus" to La
Esperanza. For this leg of our journey we were folded origami style into
the back of a van of dubious service history. Our driver nursed his trusty
workhorse along the brink of a tree covered chasm whilst we watched our
lives flash before our eyes. Fortunately we were able to keep our minds off
a probable plummet to certain death by cracking funnies about how many more
passengers our driver could wedge into his decrepit machine - could he break
the world record for this model of van...should we get the Guiness people on
the phone?
Now it's fair to say that Honduras doesn't get a whole lot of gringo
tourists through the door - so we found that the people there were more than
a little curious. Usually they'd grin a toothless grin and ask where we
were from (and then which part of America is New Zealand in?). Whilst
waiting for a bus in La Esperanza I spied a music stall selling CDs and went
to peruse the selection. The vendors were advertising their wares by
playing samples (loud) on their stereo. I picked up a nasty looking trance
CD had a look at the back then put it back and went to get on my bus. As I
sat down on the bus I noticed that the blokes on the stall were curiously
checking out the CD I had been looking at - they decided to unwrap it and
give it a test drive. The puzzled looks on their faces as they skipped
through the tracks were very funny...suffice it to say that Honduras is not
quite ready for a dance music revolution yet, it appears that they are going
to stick with Phil Collins for the moment.
Further evidence of the locals interest in Gringos was waiting for us when
we arrived in Tegucigalpa - the rather seedy capital city. Angela needed
some new shoes for hiking so we decided to check out the local shops for a
new pair of trainers. We were approached by two separate blokes just
curious about who we were and where we were from. One ended up following us
around for about four hours whilst we shopped for womens shoes...this
included a taxi trip to a mall on the other side of town!!
After a(nother bloody) marathon bus journey, a manic taxi ride and a
routinely hair raising van ride we made it to Granada Nicaragua. This
former spanish colonial city on the shore of lake Nicaragua has seen better
days (like much of the country). The city still manages to exude a fairly
shabby kind of charm - stuccoed villas, wide avenues and shady squares. One
of Granada's best features however is a hostel bar where you can buy 4
mohitos for less than 1 dollar!!
After spending a couple of days relaxing (one at a nearby swiming pool
nursing a mohito hangover and another perusing outdoor markets - ask us
about the purses featuring dried frogs heads) we needed a bit of a walk. So
when a couple we had met suggested a gentle hike up nearby Volcan Mombacho
we decided to give it a crack. After convincing the ranger to let us go up
(the volcano was closed on Mondays?!) we walked around the summit. The walk
through lush forest filled with butterflies was fantastic offering views
(and odours) of the collapsed volcanic cone, lake Nicaragua and nearby
Granada.
Also whilst in Granada we decided to try out the local specialty called
vigoron. Our Lonely Planet informed us that vigoron was a tasty snack
served by kiosks in Granada's central park. Walking through the park during
the last few days we had seen loads of locals chowing down so it must be
good - right? Wrong! - Angela and I managed a few bites: boiled yucca
(tasting something like warm contaminated wax), fried pork skin (something
like dirty polystyrene) and some kind of icky coleslaw on top. Angela
enjoyed watching the faces I pulled. I don't think we will be seeing this
dish added to the Sainsburys "taste the difference" range anytime soon.
One thing Nicaragua has in abundance is sun - so the obvious place to go is
the beach. San Juan Del Sur right at the bottom of Nicaragua is a bit of a
resort town and surfer hangout - so Angela and I headed there to hang ten
dude. The beaches were amazing all white sand and waves and not much else
but a few surfers and us. We ate grilled fresh fish and honed our surf
speak with a welshman who'd studied "surf science" at university...onshore,
offshore, gnarly, hot tuna etc.
Next stop Costa Rica! When Christopher Columbus first landed on the
Carribean coast at Puerto Limon in 1502 he noted that some of the local
indians wore gold decorations and so dubbed the area Costa Rica (the rich
coast). Nowadays Costa Rica is a nature tourism jewel - having over a
quarter of it's total land mass protected in national parks and sanctuaries.
WeŽd been looking forward to getting stuck into the parks and seeing a bit
of the wildlife on offer since the start of our trip so we were ready for
this place!
Our first destination in Costa Rica was the cloud forest reserve of Monte
Verde. Here we spent a couple of days hiking in beautiful cloud forest,
visiting a local garden filled with hummingbirds and (for Angela) doing a
canopy tour. So yes - I chickened out and it was up to Angela to carry the
flag for this one. The idea of zipping through the forest canopy miles
above the earth with only a little nylon strap between me and breaking every
bone in my body was too much. Angela managed it rather well though and said
that even though she was terrified for parts of it, it was rather an
exhilirating ride through the treetops.
Near Monteverde is Volcan Arenal the most active volcano in Central America.
The promise of red hot lava, billowing clouds of ash and flying chunks of
rock had us hooked so off we went. We stayed in a little town barely 6km
from the foot of the volcano called La Fortuna. The volcano definitely
obliged us - during the day there were distant rumbles and shakes and during
the night lava and hot rocks were visible rolling down the flanks.
Unfortunately the clouds rolled in and obscured our view of the fireworks so
we decided to head for the beach again (yay!).
One of the best spots for beaches in Costa Rica is the Nicoya Peninsula.
After a couple of days lazing on the beach in Monteuma, a little town on the
tip of the peninsula, we headed around to the Pacific side and Mal Pais - in
English Mal Pais translates to "Bad Lands". Far from being bad we found it
rather good - we also saw rather a lot of wildlife from the comfort of our
hotel. Whilst swimming in the hotel pool we could see Iguanas patroling
their teritory, red squirels foraging for food, hummingbirds flitting about
tropical flowers and a multitude of pretty butterflies as well. In the
morning and the evenings the mango tree outside our bedroom was visited by a
group of howler monkeys (and we were bombarded with mango pieces by the
little hooligans).
Not having had enough wildlife viewing we decided to head along the coast
for Manuel Antonio. This is one of the countries most popular parks located
on a small peninsula on the Pacific coast. One can easily stroll around the
park in a couple of hours and see different types of lizard, monkeys, snakes
and sloths. The park contains pristine jungle and beautiful white sand
beaches rated amongst the best in the world. The sand on these beaches has
an amazing sparkle to it as if it contains fragments of glitter or diamond
dust. Once again our hotel got in on the wildlife act with giant jungle
frogs in the drains, land crabs in the showers and the elusive red eyed tree
frog resident in our bathroom.
Our last jaunt in Costa Rica was to the massive Tortugera national park on
the Carribean coast. This is one of the largest protected areas in Costa
Rica consisting of primary rainforest threaded with a maze of waterways.
The park was formed to protect Carribean beaches which are the nesting
grounds of (amongst others) the giant Leatherback Turtle. Unfortunately we
didnŽt manage to see any turtles nesting but during an early morning canoe
ride we did see caimans, tucans, spider monkeys, howler monkeys and capuchin
monkeys - simply awesome.
That about wraps it up for Central America - an amazing couple of months
exploring. Five countries with completely different cultures plus massively
diverse landscapes and biospheres. The good news is that we still have some
of the best stuff to come in South America...bring it on!!
...but this is (more than) enough for now - so until the next episode,
Lots of love to you all.
Angela and Matthew
Tied together but not tied down