Nicaragua

So we´ve made it to Nicaragua. We are currently in Grenada, which is another colonial town quite similar to Antigua, Guatamala. Most importantly, we are not in Honduras anymore. We missed our connection on Tuesday and ended up staying in Tegucigalpa for the evening. The hotel was ok, but the following morning capped off our less than enjoyable experience in Honduras. We got up at 5 oclock in the morning to catch a 6 am bus. Unfortunately, the 6 am bus no longer runs, so we had to wait till the 930am bus left from a different station. So, we ended up walking to the other bus company and buying our ticket. They close the shop in between busses, so the clerk recommended we get a cup of coffee or eat some breakfast. This was a much better suggestion than Heather´s idea of poking each other in the eyes with sticks for 3 hours, so we embarked on an epic journey for breakfast.

Evidentally, the restaurants and coffee shops, which were sparse in the first place, don´t open until 8 or 9 in the morning(and neither do the bathrooms). So, we just wandered around for about 2 hours through immense amounts of garbage and scowling locals. The unfriendly faces were offputting, but the sour cream on the cake was a man stating, kindof threatening, that they kill white and black people in Honduras. This finally convinced Heather of what Abe had been saying since our first day in Gracias, Honduras is not a place you want to visit. We both agree that maybe an outreach program or something would be worth while, but a vacation spot...not so much.

After a lengthy bus ride to Managua and getting ripped off at the Honduran border(also fitting), we took a minibus to Grenada. Abe managed to get ripped off by a crippled man with HIV on the ride, which turned the trip from 3 dollars to 30. Oh, when will Abe learn. Abe is typing by the way. Anyhow, we took a tour of Mombachu the next day. It is a mostly inactive volcano just southeast of Granada. We ended up getting a private tour with a billingual guide by the name of Julio. Others were intimidated by the description of the hike, which we thought was pretty easy over all. There was a bit of elevation gain and drops as we circled the main crater, but since most of the path was well maintained, it was really more of a relaxing walk than a difficult hike. Heather is experiencing some calf soreness, but this can be chalked up to her being a big baby! Ouch, now I´m in pain. Evidentally, Heather would word that differently!

Anyhow, the hike through the magical cloud forest was very beautiful and full of hummingbirds and butterflies and parasitic trees. Once we finished the Puma trail as it is called, we had the choice of walking the road next to some telecom towers or returning to the trail we started on to finish the hike. We chose the road so that we could see some new sites, and it´s a good thing we did.

Drumroll please.........

We saw two sloths!!!!!!!!! One of them even stopped napping for a second and we saw it´s face! They were so awesome!!!!

We also got to see some white faced monkeys on this part of the road. One of the monkeys even appeared to be posing. Our guide told us that the male white faced monkeys sometimes will see women and men walking together and they will get jealous and throw sticks and rocks at the male people. Heather thinks this is because male people tend to call their partners things like big babies when they are a tiny bit sore after a hike.

Today we are going to head to San Juan Del Sur to get a bit more beach action before we leave. We are realizing that we are not going to have much time at all in Costa Rica, but figure that perhaps our future travels will just have to begin there and go further south.

Hope all is well. Much love.

Abe and Heather