Nicaragua – Page 2 – Ian Louis Harris

Nicaragua, Jicaro, 12 February 2016

We rise early today, as we have our walk/hike through the plantations at the foot of Mombacho, arranged for an early start to avoid the heat.

We are brought coffee and a delicious spice cake in our casita at 6:30, then go down for breakfast at about 7:20. Or rather, I go down and order a simple breakfast for both of us. Smoothies for both, yoghurt, fruit and granola for Daisy, oatmeal for me.

Even then, we find it hard to get away bang on 8:00 but I think we really are away by 8:15. Our guide is Eduardo,who actually works at the resort.

We start off by looking at the lagoon, which is warmed by hot springs. Then we go for a short hike through the dense woods below the cloud forest around to the other side of the lagoon. We see termite nests, birds (but far fewer than on the water) and some amazing butterflys. We also see a large rodent, aguote, that Eduardo assures us tastes delicious; like a cross between rabbit and pork. It’s just as well we are walking this trail quite early; it must get well steamy in the hottest part of the day.

On the other side we can see the hot springy part of the lagoon and sense that the water is incredibly hot. People swim and kayak there at times, but currently the water is too hot for swimming and too shallow for kayaking. The fault of El Nino, we are told.

We meet some of the farmer’s security folk down there with guns and machetes. We don’t argue with them. Nor, mercifully, do they seem to want to argue with us. Eduardo explains that we are invited and welcome visitors. They give him some alternative trail advice for future reference.

Then we head uphill a bit, towards the plantain and cocoa plantations. This uphill bit is the hardest part of the walk, especially where there are long stretches without shade, but it is all beautiful.

We see the plantations, then hike back down, with some difficulty as the stony trail seems a bit more slippery when you are hiking down it. A good discussion about Nicaragua’s revolutionary history and remaining political problems makes that part of the hike pass quickly. Then a celebratory soft drink while waiting for our boat in a shady pavilion at the end of the walk.

It was a super hike; not quite as photogenic as the boat trip but in many ways more atmospheric and wonderfully peaceful.

Back early enough to shower and take lunch; I started with a chayote greek salad while Daisy started with a red bean hummus. Then Daisy had the Jicaro burger (which was basically a cheeseburger) while I tried some garlic prawn tacos. Good shrimp, as everyone seems to say about Nicaragua.

Then a restful afternoon; short siesta, writing, playing with photos and reading.

Dinner comprised:

carrot soup for Daisy;
quesillo (a type of cheese) tortilla with sour cream for me;
Spicy shrimps with brown rice for Daisy;
Fish (I had asked for guacote, which I think it was, as it was earthy, but I was told it was tilapia again);
chocolate cake for Daisy, passion fruit sorbet for/me.

We were both tired and ready to sleep early.

Nicaragua, Jicaro, 11 February 2016

We have opted for a mostly relaxing day today, with just a bird-watching boat trip late afternoon. It dawns on me at dawn that the volcano hike I booked, for tomorrow, sounds eerily familiar; indeed when I check our itinerary I realise that we are being taken on that walk as part of our transfer to Morgan’s Rock on Saturday. Five minutes at the reception/activities desk and it is no problem to switch to a plantation hike/walk for Friday instead.

Meanwhile Daisy toys with the idea of joining the 8:00 yoga class…and then decides that an earlier breakfast is a more enticing idea. Daisy had an omelette while Ged, feeling just a little icky, had a variation on French toast. We both had some crispy bacon on the side.

We relax by the pool after breakfast; everyone else seems to be checking out or off doing morning activities, so we really have the place to ourselves all morning. It is easy to find sunny and shady spots; from around 10:30 shady is the order of the day. Good chance to read, drink some king coconut water and generally rest up.

We weren’t very hungry for lunch, but managd to force down some gazpachio soup (cucumber in my case, tomato in Daisy’s) followed by a small plate of vigaron (pork with yukka) for Daisy and a chicken sandwich thing for me. Then a short siesta before our bird boat tour.

The bird boat tour around the islets was a real highlight – even my dislike of boats was mitigated by the extraordinary sight of so many exotic birds in those wetlands and the lake, I’ll upload some photos, a link to many photos and a scan of the birdie leaflet when we get home.

Returned to dry land at sundown to shower and get ready for dinner. Dinner was excellent again:

crab soup with great chunks of fish for me;
Daisy can’t remember hers but it will probably come back to her – ah yes, a review of the menu reminds her that she had an eggplant parmesan thingie (normally a veggie main) as a starter-sized portion;
Daisy followed with a tasty chicken leg dish in a sort of caramilised rum sauce;
I had a spare rib dish, the pork had a sort of guava-based glaze;
I ended the meal with a sorbet, while Daisy declined.

Another very enjoyable day draws to its inevitable end.

Nicaragua, Leon to Jicaro via Granada, 10 February 2016

We rise and take breakfast a little earlier today, as Guillermo is due at 8:30 to take us touring and on to our next destination. Similar breakfast to previous days, with some convention delegates around us, replacing the large US tour from the previous couple of days.

Guillermo rings up before 8:00, which we try not to let faze us; in any case we are both ready around about 8:30, by which time I have chatted with Guillermo and also with Edgar and David who are there for other guests today.

First stop; a primary school just outside Leon where we meet teachers, the principal and of course loads of kids. There are just about enough pens to go around here; one per kid. Guillermo is involved with a charity, World Challenge, that has worked with this school before and he knows they need the pens!

Then a long drive to Masaya, a very pretty, colourful little town but what turns out to be an uber-touristic market. On the outskirts of town (before we reach the market) we stop at a viewing point for Laguna de Masaya and see vultures and also a Panamanian hostel proprietor, ex US military, on vacation himself. We see him again at the market and we debate who is following whom around. I defer to his judgment that we are following him around on the grounds that he’s much bigger than me and ex military. He says that I made a wise decision.

The market temporarily spoils my mood, as does the next viewing point in the “”white village”” of Catarina, overlooking Laguna de Apoyo, with its cafe touts and very touristic atmosphere. We (Janie, me, Guillermo) quickly take juice, Coke and lemonade respectively up there after seeing and photographing the view.

Then on to San Juan de Oriente, a very pretty village with beautiful nurseries which we view and photograph from a distance. We stop at a traditional pottery-making outfit and watch the son of the potter, who claims to be no use at pottery, start to make a pot. The master potter turns up towards the end and we buy some little nick-nack ceramic bird-whistle things for little Penny.

Then on to Granada, where we start at Le Merced but cannot climb the tower because it is closed, then on to and through some other historic buildings and round to the cathedral, where we see the new ceiling paintings being done, then (although we are pretty churched-out by now) on to El Convento San Fransisco where again (perhaps mercifully) almost everything is closed. Guillermo seems upset for us, despite our insistence that we really don’t mind. Perhaps he is upset for our souls.

Then we get hold of the final CD for my collection; to include some Nicaraguan/Carribean style music, in particular Dimension Costena, which Guillermo manages to source on the street for us. Then we stock up with water and down to the pier (or, as it turns out, the marina) to pick up our boat transfer to Jicaro Lodge and say goodbye to Guillermo.

We meet a quartet of young Americans on the boat; it seems that Jicaro is mostly populated with those (judging also by the friendly youngsters who greet us around the pool) so our role is to bring up the average age of the clientele and add a little English class to this English-owned property, not least through the dulcet tones of Benjy, my baritone ukulele, of course.

Jicaro looks lovely – Nubia spends about 45 minutes orienting us and we choose our sumptuous-sounding dinner. Sumptuous indeed it was:

chayote (a “cucumber-like thing” but with more flavour – transpires it is actually a water squash) & papaya salad with lime, dried fruit and mint starter for me;
fresh watermmelon with feta, balsemic and basil starter for Daisy;
baked tilapia with rice and vegetables for me;
seared red snapper with papaya and grapefruit compote with brown rice and vegetables for Daisy;
chocolate cake thingie for Daisy;
frozen banana with chocolate and cashew for me;
all washed down with a fine organic biowhateveryoucallit sauvignon blanc wine.

I give Benjy a good go, for a while before dinner and then a longer thrash afterwards, by the end of which Daisy has long since gone to bed.

Nicaragua, Leon, 9 February 2016

I was up earlier than Daisy again this morning and brought Ogblog up to date. While doing so I realised that my hat was missing and concluded that I must have left it in Cafe Taquezal. I’m making a habit of abandoning that battered old hat temporarily these days – must be a sign but I was hoping to get it back for a while longer – it makes a good talking point on this holiday.

I try some cornflakes this morning rather than the yoghurt, but the milk has a similar unreal taste to the yoghurt – perhaps they have milk fortification regulations here that make all dairy products taste that way. Toast and bacon was an improvement on the pastry things. Janie stuck with that from the previous day. The orange juice is very good here, btw.

We have a free day in Leon today and fancy only a light bit of touring. We go across to the next block to the Ortiz-Guardian Foundation gallery/museaum. Despite the proximity of this visit and my enviable track record as a guide, Daisy still stops on the way to ask directions from a bemused fellow who speaks no English and doesn’t seem to know where museums are in any language.

We get to see a Joan Miro exhibition and also the Ortiz-Guardian’s fine collection of Praxis Movement and other modern Latin American artists’ works. There was also some seriously old stuff of the religious iconography kind, which we walked through swiftly. Daisy noticed that the Ortiz family seems to have styled the garden of the convent hotel on the style of their old house complex, which this museum presumably is.

Next stop; again just a block or so away, the Ruben Dario Museum. Daisy wants to photograph me reading my Ruben Dario book in the inner courtyard, which takes a while to stage manage.

At one point Daisy complains that the signs are all in Spanish so she dosn’t understand, at which point I try to help by pointing out pictures of his two wives and explaining the story of his marriages. “Are you making this up?”, asks Daisy, perhaps unable to imagine that I might have actually taken in the stuff I read about Dario’s life in that book. I shouldn’t have dignified that remark with a reply, but I did.

Next we continue the search for CDs, by stopping at a musical instrument shop where a very helpful fellow takes great pains to show on a map and via Google traslate where a good possible source is located; near the Cathedral, where we are heading anyway.

Next stop, El Sesteo, where we take some refreshment (Coke Zero in my case, Carrot and Orange juice in Daisy”s case) and conclude that this place really does offer the homely local dishes we want to try, so we shall indeed return here tonight.

Then on to our hot lead for CDs, where we have certainly scored to some extent, not least because the CDs are so cheap. I buy four and we can see if Guillermo can help add to my collection tomorrow; I don’t think the Caribbean side’s musical tradition is much represented on the four I have bought. But we shall find out what Elvis Crespo sounds like, which is important.

Then round to Cafe Taquezal, where an inquisitive gesticulation towards my head soon leads to recognition and the production of my battered old sombrero. Sweet success.

We could have come straight home, but I suggested a quick look at an artesenal shop we passed near the Ruben Dario Museum which might have a suitable little ornament for Mandy White’s sand pit (long story). This proves to be a relatively expensive suggestion on my part, as Daisy spots some rather beautiful and well-made occasonal dishes, which should make nice gifts.

Then back to the hotel, for some beer and nuts. I earn my right to those after working out how to use the lightening adapter thingie to import our photos onto Daisy’s iPad, which is a jolly good way of looking at the pictures on a decent-sized screen, although perhaps not an ideal method for uploading pictures to Ogblog and making sure they look the right way around on all devices – we’ll live and learn.

Then we both feel sleepy so decide to take a siesta – Daisy clearly in more need than me as she has slept on long enough to enable me to write up the day so far and more besides.

Indeed, Daisy turns out to be so sleepy that I need to wake her up in order to have any chance of getting some dinner. She claims she is now refreshed and busily gets ready to go out for dinner. “Don’t let me forget my hat”, I say as we set off. “Do you really need that thing this evening?” asks Daisy. She has a point, unlike the hat which has a hole where the point should be.

So it is off to El Sesteo, where we try three massive dishes of local fare – nacatamales (a sort-of Nicaraguan pork and chicken cholent), a variation on vigoron (pork with yucca) and a mixed plate of shredded pork, rice, plantain etc. which I think is designed to give tourists a low-risk try of several tasty local things. It was all very enjoyable and of course far too much food.

A little boy hangs around, almost discreetly, outside the restaurant near our table. Daisy wonders whether we should give him some of the food. I wonder whether the restaurant would approve of that. Daisy asks a waitress, so after getting the nod she makes up a little food parcel for the kid before we send our plates back. The kid thanks her politely and skulks away to eat alone in a cat-like fashion.

Two glasses of wine, water, more food than we could possibly eat for $25, including a healthy tip which seems to please the staff. Great to try, but we won’t be rushing to try those local dishes again.

We get home, Daisy more or less immediately puts herself to bed despite her long afternoon sleep, but before dropping off says, “where’s your hat?” I suggest that she forgot to remind me; Daisy suggests that my stupid hat is my own stupid responsibility. She has a point again.

I offer to return to the restaurant alone, but Daisy insists that she is not letting me out of her sight. I wonder whether she is worried about me falling foul of the pretty Nicaraguan university student girls, but she says she thinks the greater risk is me falling badly in one of the copious potholes in the Leon pavements.

Anyway, it is but a short walk and of course, yet again, my hat is still there.

Nicaragua, Leon, 8 February 2016

Rose early (still a bit in lag mode), I wrote up Ogblog some more and fidded around charging up devices etc. We took an early breakfast. Daisy had bacon and eggs. I tried pastry things that are a little difficult to describe. Think infeasibly thick, heavy pastry, possibly the early efforts of a child and you are imagining along the right lines.

I read some Ruben Dario and also had a short go with Benjy (the bariton ukulele) as we had so much time before guide was due to arrive; pretty pleased with the results of putting pdfs onto the Kindle Fire for the ukulele purpose.

Our guide was named Danny Morales; very young and eager. He explained our itinerary. We were already aware that some of the smaller sights would be closed on a Monday, but he at least oriented us so we can go to those on our own tomorrow.

We started in Parque Central, looking at the various buildings, the Gigantona (gigantic facsimile of a Spanish girl) and especially the Cathedral of Leon, aka the Basilica de la Asuncion.

This is an enormous church, the largest in Central America. There was a mass in progress as we went in; the use of guitar as the accompaniment to the singing gave the service an immediate Latin feel. We saw all the bits you are supposed to see, such as the Black Jesus and the tomb of Ruben Dario, then climbed up to the roof and explored that strange construction barefoot, taking in the vistas and taking many photographs.

After the Cathedral, a few short steps to the market, primarily a food market, which was wonderfully photogenic and about as friendly as you’ll find anywhere. We treated ourselves to some king coconut water at the end of that bit; Danny tellingly lugged the coconuts around with him for the rest of the day.

We then looked at some murals depicting the Nicaraguan struggle. After finding and buying a clutch of just the right type of bandannas in the Parque Central, we then visited the rather depressing Museo de la Revolucion, where we met some of the FSLN vets.

By this stage Daisy was getting quite hot and bothered with it all, but we persuaded her to progress to our next stop; Al Carbon restaurant, where the definition of a light lunch turned out to be a huge platter of meats served with some beans, taters and fried plantain thingies.

Danny then went off to get what we thought was a driver but in fact was a car under his charge for the rest of the day.

Our next stop was an art school in the Sutiava district, where we got to try our hands at “carpet making”; a local art form using dyed sawdust to make artworks on the ground ahead of a procession which will then destroy the works. Traditionally these pictures are religious and fairly classic-looking in nature, but Daisy and I went uber-modern for our effort. I tried to get away with it by naming the piece “madonna and child”; indeed if you look carefully at pictures of our seemingly abstract effort, you can distinctly see all the religious faces, bodies and symbols required for that name to be utterly appropriate. Or perhaps you can see an image of me kissing Daisy at the bottom of the work. We eagerly await notification that our masterpiece has won a prize.

One of the art school boys then offered me the chance to play his guitar, which was quite a stretch from the baritone ukulele, but I managed to bash out all three chords of First Cut Is The Deepest and then La Bamba, the latter enabling the youngsters to join in. Funny that.

We were supposed to then see the house where they make the Gigantona, but when we got there we discovered that the man of the house is sick and it was all closed up. Instead, Danny took us to Radio Shack as I was keen to acquire some adapters for these US sockets (success) and also in search of some good music CDs (failure).

Back to the hotel for a while; Daisy was so tired she wanted to skip the evening, but I suggested she fight the lag by coming out again. We had hoped for some Gigantona/street parade action around central parque but it was all very quiet, as were the bars which we were told tend to have live music; but not on a Monday evening.

Daisy had a beer in Cafe Taquezal, before we hit on the idea of having a room service sandwich with our remaining wine back at the hotel. There is a lovely nook overlooking the courtyard garden containing modern portraits of famous people, so we enjoyed a light supper and the rest of that good bottle of wine in the company of Yasser Arafat, Princess Diana, Charlie Chapin, Pele, Sandino and many others. Daisy had brought a few little Valentines chocolates and decided (I think wisely) that they were unlikely to survive much more travel in the heat, so we did the sensible thing with those too. A very lovely evening in the end.

Nicaragua, Towards and In Leon, 7 February concluded

Daisy took a photograph or two of that part of the malecon, known as Puerto Savador Allende, which we decided reminded us a little of Canvey Island.

Then we drove on, initially to Old Leon, which is some distance from the modern town of Leon. Old Leon is a UNESCO Heritage site, but frankly a rather sad specimin for one of those. The site has huge historical importance, as the early colonial twin cities of Granada and Leon were pre-eminent. But all that has been excavated so far is the shell of some 70 buildings. Even the grandest, the ruins of the old cathedral (photographed) needs a lot of imagination and artists impressions to give you an idea of what the renaissance-period city might have looked like. Add to that the intense heat and we politely chose to move on quite quickly.

So to Leon itself, which we shall tour tomorrow and explore ourselves the nextday. Guillermo helped us to orient the town by driving us around (it seems pretty small and walkable in the main) before dropping us at El Convento. We have indeed been allocated a beatiful garden-view room which turns out to be lovely and quiet.

We’re both quite tired at this juncture, so we merely sort ourselves out, arrange to have dinner at the hotel and go down for that dinner ridiculously early by our standards (just after 6:00) although our brains probably still think it is midnight.

It’s hard to describe the meal politely. Such a beautiful location, but the lighting is bright, the air-conditioning is set to “fridge” and the music is a sort of synthesiser-thumping-bollocks-remix of 1980’s western pop songs. The food is a selection of good ingredients thoroughly overcooked and unsubtly seasoned. We both had a starter of prawns in basil, which Daisy followed with pork medallions in gooseberry jelly and I followed with steak and porcini.

The wine was ludicrously cheap and pretty good – we had an apperitif glass of house white each and a bottle of Trio red, most of which we’ve saved for a rainy day. Except there almost certainly won’t be one of those,so we might just drink it during the remainder of our stay, when we’ll be dining in more traditional type places, I imagine. The whole meal came to less than $80 dollars including a hefty service charge for the comedy waiters who spoke no English and seemed entirely unaccustomed to serving wine. Janie said it reminded her of Fawlty Towers, except without the rude proprietor.

We went to bed about 8:45 so it is no surprise that we both woke up early too. We need to work on this jet lag thing.

Nicaragua, Managua to Leon, 7 February 2016

Our guide, Guillermo, was waiting around for us when I went down to reception ahead of Daisy. I could very quickly tell we would all get on well.

We set off to tour Managua on our way to Leon. First stop, Parque Nacional de la Loma de Tiscapa with its panoramic view of Managua. We also saw the silhouette of Sandino and the Laguna de Tiscapa.

On the way up, Daisy stopped the car in order to take a picture, only to fall foul and then eventually fair of the soldier posted near the miltary buildings to stop people taking photographs.

Then on to the Museo Nacional, near the Casa Presidencial and the ruins of the old cathedral. We decided that my hat looked very Sandino when we were outside the museum, even down to the “bullet holes” in the crown.

Guillermo wanted to give us full value in there so we tried to speed him up a bit. Saw some quite interesting modern art towards the end from the Praxis movement, in particular Armando Morales.

Daisy was feeling the heat by then, so it was good news that our next stop was the malecon where we stopped at a rancho-style place for some light refreshments. Guillermo had lemonade, I had Coke Zero and Daisy had a beer. We all shared some fried plantain – initially a packet thing but then a dish of fresh food with cheese and cabbage salad (we abstained from the latter).

While washing my hands I made a new friend, Dennis, who was drunk as a skunk and wanted to know if I loved his country (which I said I did so far) and wanted to tell me that he loved my country, which was nice. Unfortunately, he thought my country was the USA so he seemed a bit discombobbed when I said I was from England. He then introduced his wife, who I realised was both very good looking and extremely unimpressed by Dennis’ desire to chat with me. I made my excuses to them both and moved on.

Nicaragua, Arrival, 6 to 7 February 2016

6 February, rose early to catch earlyish flight. Left home at 7:15 – same Ethiopian driver as took us to Kim and Mickey’s recently. He’d forgotten the conversation we’d had with him that time about our visit to Ethiopia 10 years ago, although I don’t suppose he has that sort of conversation very often.

Enjoyed the benefits of the Virgin Upper Class check in and security check, then the benefits of the lounge. Last time we were in this lounge was 9 years ago (flying Air Jamaica to Havana) and I was not too well that day; this time I was able to enjoy the benefits of the place. Enjoyed breakfasty stuff such as yoghurt with granola and smoked salmon bagels,

Soon enough we were in the air on our way to Atlanta, where we are to pick up our ongoing flight to Managua.

Daisy tucked into the grub more than I did, having a sort of marinated beef dish, which she enjoyed. I just had the soup and the cheese/biscuits without a main.

Daisy slept a fair bit more than I did (probably all that food and wine) but I took advantage of the time to read about Nicaragua and watch two movies; Mistress America (on Nigel Hinks’ excellent and reliable advice) and then the Minions movie (following my own heart to the animated stuff). Both wonderful.

Change at Atlanta – the usual US nonsense of having to enter the country merely to leave it and all the paperwork and queuing that entails. At least the officials in Atlanta seem to have been trained to try and deal with vistors nicely, rather than the “illegal migrant” treatment we experienced transiting in Miami all those years ago.

The Delta lounge was very pleasent, not least because we could enjoy a glass of wine on the sun deck, check the cricket score to discover that England won the second ODI today and try cheese grits – perhaps the blandest savoury dish in the world.

A bit of a delay for the Managua flight, despite the “on time” message right up until we went down for boarding. In the end, about 1 hour delay but irritating and at the end of a long journey not exactly fun. The flight was mostly/populated by US churchy-folk off to do missionary/charity work and it was clear that some of them were known to the crew. Our cabin attendant was very friendly and attentive.

We were met by Edgar who took us straight to the hotel, which seems lovely on reflection this morning, but last night seemed a bit dingy and we struggled to get a room with double bed and air conditioning that works properly, In the end of course we achieved both.

The breakfast was a little uninspiring, not that we needed inspiration this morning. Daisy got excited at the sight of an espresso machine much like mine, but we were told it doesn’t work so had to make do with some fairly stewed stuff. Daisy had bread and banana, while I tried some cake and a cinnamon bun that was pretending to be Danish. We both had a fortified pot of yoghurt made palatable with honey.

In fact, Los Robles is a beatiful hotel and we are retrospectively pleased we chose to stay locally, avoiding yet more travel late last night and providing an opportunity to see Managua and Old Leon on our way to Leon today. Exciting prospects indeed.

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