3rd & 4th Days in Belize & Guatemala

We went to pick up Patty & Erinn the following morning and together we couldn't really decide where to go & what to see... so we decided to show them the best that area had to offer... Rio On. We did our bone rattling ride once more to the wonderful pools and hang out there for a bit with couple of cold ones in the water with us. Once we got our fill of Rio On we backtracked to Five Sisters - another lodge by Five Sisters' Waterfalls. It would be a great place to stay if you were to go solely to Rio On and Caracol... but driving back to San Ignacio from that place would be nuts (which is what we had to do in order to meet up with the girls).

We headed back to Black Rock for the family style dinner and played cards afterwards with Giovanni.

The following morning we woke up early and went for a hike to Vacca Falls (approximately 5 mile round trip). We were supposed to meet the girls by ten to head out to Tikal. We were ready but unfortunately the girls were not so we spend the next hour plus waiting around until finally at 11:30 we were finally able to leave on yet another adventure.

We were not quite sure what to expect on the border we have heard many stories and some good and others not so much. Luckily we didn't encouter any major issues - only the long wait... maybe one and half hour to get through the whole thing. Over all... not bad at all.

The roads in Guatemala were quite comperable with the ones in Belize. First section mostly dirt road with pigs running across and random times and the second - paved but filled with unexpected pot holes that were not fun at all while hit at full speed.

It took us about two hours to reach the Tikal National Park border and once there drive was very smooth. We were quite entertained by the crossing sings - snake, puma, turkey, cow, deer, coatimundi... and may others.. almost funny what all they can come up with. How do those animals know that they can cross only in these areas? Beats me!

2nd Day in Belize

We started the day early as there is really no sleeping in with all the jungle noises. We headed to San Ignacio, had a breakfast and left a message for Patty & Erinn that we would not meet up with them until the following morning.
The main destinations for the day were Rio Frio, Rio On and Thousand (actually 1600ft) Foot Falls. Little didn't we know how long 15 miles can take. Two hours later we finally bumped and rattled our way to Rio Frio. We did not see one car on the road the whole way there, the only human contact we had was the armed checkpoint we had to go through. Rio Frio was a really huge cave tunnel with waterfalls and pool. Once we got our fill of the cave we backtrack 30 minutes or so to Rio On. Rio On is a sequence of pools and waterfalls and I manage to wipe out quite nicely on the very slippery rocks before I even got wet, oh and I thought I killed the camera too. Luckily for me.. and Chris (since he would have to listen to me complain) the healing waters cooled down my huge bruises and I walked away almost without a scretch - just my elbow hurt and the camera just needed lil convincing to work again.
We did end up driving to the Falls but we regreted that decision as it took us almost 1.5hr round trip and it really was not worth it... but who would have known that. Driving on the actual road during the night sucked so bad as our lights didn't really shine ahead but rather down below (that proved to be very handy on the dirt road but not so much on the asphalt) and we couldn't see any pedastrians or the plentiful farm animals strolling along the way.
All of this was followed once again by plentiful cuba libres and nice dinner with our new friends from Canada.

Our Introduction to Belize

The following morning we boarded a plane for Belize City through San Salvador. We arrived in Belize, picked up our car and started on our Belizean adventure. At first, we were in a little bit of a shock as Belize was completely different from Nicaragua. Judging from the prices in Belize (same as in SF) we expected it to be lil bit nicer - but it wasn't. And unlike Nicaragua, which was very much alive and humming with people and animals... this country was rather dead. I guess one can't expect too much from a country of the same size as Marin & Sonoma county put together and half the inhabitants.
We hoped that we would see some more of what really Belize was all about in it's capital - Belmopan... once again we were rather disappointed when we realized that the crappy block of a street that we just crossed through WAS THE DOWNTOWN!!
We thought that maybe Belize would improve it's standing if we visited the highly recommended Blue Hole National Park. The park was known for the St Herman's Cave and the actual Blue Hole itself. But yet again the hike to St. Herman's cave and to the watch tower thereafter was a muggy and mosquitoes filled experience. At least we were able to wash off all the sweat in the Blue Hole before we headed towards San Ignacio.
Unfortunately, San Ignacio was not what we hoped for either so we just tried to get out of there as quickly as possible just so we can get to our Lodge in the jungle.
The turn off for Black Rock Lodge was only a few miles outside of the town and it took out about 45 minutes to cross the 6 miles of dirt road that lead to the lodge itself. The views along the road were spectacular! (through the farms, orchards and finally the jungle itself we arrived at our destination!)
We checked in, had a glass or two or maybe three in the hammock by our cabin and headed for the family style dinner Black Rock was offering. It was a great way to meet and connect with all the other people that stayed here. We had a great time talking to one couple from BC but originally from Slovak late into the night!

Ometepe to Managua

The following day was our last day in Nicaragua so we had to figure out a way to get back to Managua. We booked a taxi to pick us up at 10 the following morning. Only during our breakfast we talked to a couple from Canada and a family from Australia and they told us that there is a bus leaving at 10:30 - so instead of $30 we could pay $5 - sounded good to us. We got our stuff together and went to wait for the bus. While waiting I managed to loose a banana to a monkey with some serious attitude. Granted in Nica nothing happens on a precise time schedule... so no surprise the bus was about 30 minutes late. But once we finally saw it... we knew that we were not going to be taking it back to the ferry terminal. There we people hanging off of it... fully packed with a huge load on its roof. After a brief consultation with our newly found friends we decided to order a cab and split the cost. Of course the cab driver was on the other side of the island so we had an hour to kill while waiting. Hey, what better way to wait than with Media serbida :o)
Our drive showed up and to our incredible luck we got into town just as the ferry was about to leave. We took the - this time mostly empty - ferry back to San Jorge where we got yet again really lucky as the bus for Managua was just leaving. It was a long ride back and after the bus and another cab ride we finally found ourselves back in Managua around 6 pm. We were supposed to meet up with Chris' family but when we called she told us that under any circumstances should we be leaving the hotel after dark as they have had some violence in the streets due to the results of the elections. We took her advice and stayed in. We had a wonderful dinner by the pool.

Isla de Ometepe

We started the day with an early breakfast and headed out for our scheduled tour. Only we thought it would be an actual tour, but instead it was just us and our guide - Jose Maria - who didn't speak a word of English. We thought it was going to be a very long day as we were going to spend most of the day with him... but to our surprise we got by just fine. I guess our conversation wouldn't have been as pretty to an actual Spanish speaking person... but hey... we understood each other (barely). Jose Maria showed us and told us about the island, the plants, the animals... and so much more about everything around us - we even heard about the "walking tree", which can actually move a few meters a year by eliminating roots on one side and moving toward the sunnier areas by growing new roots in that direction.

The main object of our tour were the San Ramon waterfalls. The drive to the hike was only about 10 miles but it took us over an hour of a very bumpy road. And if that was not bad enough from the bumpy road we got on even bumpier road. On the way up we picked up a New Zealand family and gave them a ride in the pick up, no idea how they all managed to stay in during this bumpy ride. The hike up was beautiful and Jose Maria continued stopping and pointing out many of the interesting things around us.
We got back to our hotel took a nap and headed out for a short hike to Ojo de Agua (spot recommended by JM). We didn't really know what to expect, we thought it would be a whole in the ground like cenotes in Mexico were, but we were pleasantly surprised once after hiking through the plantations of plantains we stumbled in a clearing with beautiful crystal blue water pools. It was so beautiful and people hanging around there were very nice. We talked to a group of guys from Canada that were (motor)biking all the way from Canada down to Chile. We swam around, had a beer and once the sun started going down - we headed out.
And then... you guessed it we finished the day with Media serbida and a wonderful lobster dinner.....ahhh...

Our Journey to Ometepe

After two marvelous and relaxing days in Granada it was time to depart on our next adventure. This time to the volcanic island in the middle of The Lake Nicaragua - La Isla de Ometepe. Ometepe has two volcanoes - Conception & Maderas. In order to get there we intended to get a taxi to the local bus station from which (supposedly) buses leave quite frequently for Sam Jorge(the departing town for the ferry to the island). To our huge surprise there were no buses leaving for the rest of the day due to the elections. Hmm.... so we just stayed in our partially falling apart taxi and paid our non English speaking cab driver $50 to take us all the way to the ferry (about 1.5hr drive). On the way there we picked up his wife to keep him company on this long journey. We arrived at the ferry only to find out that we had another 3 hours to wait as the service was limited due to... you guessed it... the elections... those damn elections. Luckily, the local bar was willing to server us alcohol as long as we masked it and put it out of sight in case cops came by... no problem... right! We passed the time by drinking and playing cards.
On the ferry ride over we climbed up on the top of the ferry and hung out with about 30 or so backpackers heading to the same destinations. We met a few interesting people... mostly Canadian... guess they don't like to spend winter back home.
Two or so hours later after a beautiful and bumpy ride through and around a variety of farm animals, we finally arrived at our destination - Villa Paraisio. Chris was right it was a beautiful place... lil paradise on the shore of the lake that looked more like an ocean rather than a lake. Chris was telling me about this beautiful beach this places was supposed to have.... the best on the island...but there was none... was he laying to me? hmm... Later on we found out that there really usually is a beach but not during these months. We would have to wait until February to see the beach again.
We finished the day... yep you guessed it... with Media Servida (not too many cops walking by here, so it was ok to serve alcohol)...and a delicious dinner.