So some of you might remember my really well figured out plan to take a river boat to the Caribbean coast. Well plans change. On the way I got to know briefly the island of Ometepe. While leaving from the island I met two Finns and an Austrian. After that plans changed. We ended up to the islands of Solentiname where we stayed for 3 days. It’s hard to come any closer to early-August-Finnish-summer-night in Central America. Beautiful islands in the middle of the lake. Fresh water to swim in, Finns around you and few beers. The biggest difference to Finland was that we don’t have bull sharks in our lakes.

If Ometepe with two volcanos was nice Solentiname was great. I bumped into a big group of old Finnish people who were traveling together. I panicked and tried telling all of them “hola!” (“Hi!” in spanish) but I think they knew where I was from. After dozen of spanish greetings one man said “Terve!” (“hello!”) so confidently that I knew my cover had been compromised. I ran back to our lodge as fast as I could hoping the old folks wouldn’t follow.

After doing pretty much nothing for some days in Solentiname, which was great, we returned to civilization and started heading down river. At this point our Finnish girl left to Costa Rica so it was just me (Que Chevara), Sandianista and Dr. Gonzo.

After a loooong boat ride we ended up to a river village. No names this time. There are some places I want to save just for me and this is one of them. If you really want to find out where I was it wont take a lot of detective work.

We saw monkeys, river, locals, river, jaguar prints, river, boats, a few travelers and river shrimps.

We also kind of got stuck to that place and never made it down the river. Plenty of reasons for that but the most important was that we didn’t feel like going down. It was time to change the country. On my second last day in Nicaragua I wanted to fullfil my long dream of eating ´gallo pinto´ for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The plate consists of fried rise and beans. It’s usually served with tiny salad, cheese, maybe a tortilla, eggs and hot sauce. After those three strikes I was out.

This adventure would have a lot more to write about but already knowing how people react to certain things, subjects, opinions and generalisations I find it a lot easier for everyone to just let the photos do the talking. Thank you so much M&M&P for the company during this lake/river trip, it was awesome! :P

It’s a bit long photo gallery but if you’re not in a hurry sit down and see what river and lake life in Nicaragua looks like.

You know who was free? The fish that got away. He only had a hook in his mouth as a reminder.

The hike up a volcano starts from the bottom.

Few more interesting facts about this island on Lake Nicaragua (Lake Cocibolca). It’s 276 square kilometers big, it’s got 35 000 people living on it and the 2 volcanos are 1610 meters (Conception) and 1394 meters (Maderas) high. The island hasn’t yet blossomed in the touristic sense. So here is the controversial phrase you’ve heard thousands of times: I recommend you to come here before it becomes really touristic and the prices and atmosphere changes significantly.

We woke up at 5:30 a.m to start climbing up, two Austrian girls, a swede and me. 2 liters of water, some moldy sandwiches and my camera equipment were backed ready the previous night.

The hike started of easy by walking through cafe plantations and passing through huge trees where you could see howler monkeys sleep. Of course our hikers made so much noise with their feet and mouths that many of the animals on the way heard us miles away and ran or climbed away.

Soon the clouds of the mountain surrounded us and it started raining. The wet micro climate of the volcano made it possible that the volcano had a beautiful cloud forrest with many different trees and plants. As the rain picked up the path got muddier and muddier. Little did we know how bad it would get on our way down.

Three and half hours later we had climbed over the highest point of the volcano and had reached the bottom of the crater. There was a gorgeous small lake and we decided to take swim. Nicely fresh water was perfect. The only problem was getting to deep water since the bottom of the lake was so muddy that I was almost up to waste in mud when there was only 10 inches of water. Still it was worth it and after the swim and light lunch other people started pouring into the crater. Luckily we had left early and were the first ones there and had the place for ourselves for the first hour. Noisy people aren’t really my cup of the tea.

On the way down the 20+ elephants on the trail had pretty much turned the whole trail in to a gigantic mudslide. It was slower to go down than to go up. Our swedish member of the crew had only flip-flops for hiking and those things were pretty much useless on mud and rocks. He ended up walking almost the whole mountain up and down barefoot. :)

Howler monkey

Half way down my left knee started hurting. The old battle injury had returned and I was limping down the volcano and only the crazy Swede was slower than me. Eventually we got down, ordered big plates of food for 4 dollars and congratulated ourselves for a great hike by saluting our beer glasses. Everyone was happy but quite tired. Little did we know that police, fire department and volunteers were searching for the barefooted crazy Swede who people thought was missing on the other volcano on the island. More about that on my previous post.

Volcano Concepcion

Some hikers got a bit muddy on the way down

Island dog

Two nights later you come back to the village and the owner of the hotel where you are staying has a weird look in his face. He starts telling how he thought you were dead or lost on the volcano. He was worried to death. He went to the police station and reported you missing. Now the old man is obviously relieved and happy. As you are speaking to the hotel owner there are over 20 people looking for you on the volcano. At 6 a.m this morning the best guides of the island climbed to the top of the volcano and inside the crater, where toxic fumes are always a threat, to make sure nobody is in there. Several people have lost their lives on this volcano, mainly tourists.

An hour later some of the search party come and visit the hotel. The “lost Swede” goes out to meet these young men.

I personally think this photo pretty much summons up the feeling at that moment. Selfishly out of the topic I might even say that it’s one of the best photos I’ve taken.

It’s a happy ending but sometimes we ‘independent travelers’, me included, fail to remember that there are actually people who do get worried and care about what we do and where we are.

And what did we do during the two days when people were worried to dead? We had fun and went hiking to another volcano on this island. It’s not active so we swam on the crater. More of that trip later since I feel it’s off the topic of this post.

Last 7 days I was on an isolated beach sleeping in a hostel right next to the beach. It was called xxx. Cool place and good for learning surfing. No internet and the solar power gave just enough electricity to bring some light to the architecturally not so pretty building during the nights. I ended up spending most of my time on reading and enjoying the sea and waves.

Photos? Sorry. Surfing was best at sunrise and sundown and during the day it got incredible hot so I just stayed in the shadow trying not to get skin cancer.

I have a surprise! I have a week long plan (give or take few weeks)! One of the first ones of this trip. I’m now in Granada, Nicaragua. I’ve decided to take a boat to the island of Omitepe where there is a volcano in the middle of big lake. After that I’m taking another boat to the Caribbean coast cruising through the river San Juan at the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It’s one of the only border rivers in the world that is totally owned by one country (Nicaragua). Lots of history on that river. Back in the day Henry Morgan the famous pirate did trips up to river to spread fear and terror to local communities. Also the river was suppose to be the connection between the two major oceans but eventually Panama got the fame from that thing.

The rom is kicking in and I’m tired of writing. dozen of replied emails and facebook messages is hard work. It’s time to call it a night.

I’ll promise to try to take proper photos of the river so stay tuned.

Some snapshots and and the end a bedbug photo. This time they were smaller so one bite didn’t itch that much. The problem was that there were around 200+ bites. It’s going to be one of those itchy weeks, again.

I’m starting to repeat myself. Photos and countries keep changing but diet is the same. I’m not talking about just beans and tortillas but about the challenges I’m facing. Mountains, oceans, heat, cold… It’s all becoming one. There are still moments of zen when I’m able to stop and enjoy the surroundings but I feel that my hunger for doing things is changing.

I have this itchy feeling in my chest and it’s not the horrible rash on my chest that is bothering me. Although the rash is pretty god damn painful and it burns like hell. Then again, I can deal with the burning pain but what I can’t deal with is the fact that I’m missing ‘the’ challenge. I do have my surf board and that is physical challenge for life but that’s not what I’m looking for. It took only the worst earthquake UN has ever encountered to realize all this.

I was two mouse clicks away from buying a flight to Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic but then I hesitated for a second and that was enough. After walking back and forth on the porch of my hostel I decided to still continue repeating myself. There is no point on looking back on that decision but still something changed at that moment.

Three hours later I woke up. It was 3 a.m and I took a two day hike. Quetzaltrekkers ( the very same organization that I spent 6 weeks with in Guatemala) also has an office in Nicaragua and I decided to see the local volcanos with them. It was an awesome hike except I got sick. I don’t know what it was but on the second day I was just exhausted and felt like shit.

Still, seeing a long line of volcanos, running down one of them, sleeping on one of them under the stars and finally swimming in one of them was a fun experience.

Overdosing on fun is not that much fun anymore.