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baby blue pickup is my salvation, or why i am not a mountain climberJul 30, 2005
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everything you need right near the hostel...playa tamarindo costa rica
crocodile on estuary tour, costa rica
the shore was covered in crabs, but they scattered for the picture
| So, another fun day of travel adventure! So i arrived on the island ometepe last night, booked my 6am tour to climb the volcano, and went to bed. 5:30 this morning i was up and ready, but the agency didnt show up until 7am...i was just about to go back to bed! An ominous start...so the travel agent says that they had a flat tire, and there were two cranky brits on the trip with me, and boy they were not happy! During the drive to the volcano they asked a different tour guide what the problem was, and he said he was tired...a tire, tired...whats the difference...the brits were pissed...went on and on about being lied to, tour being late...then they didnt bring water or snacks, and threw a fit when the place we stopped to buy drinks didnt have hot chocolate for breakfast...hello people....we are not back home...get over yourselves! The day was very gray and already raining at 8, and the top of the volcano was completely covered in clouds...we had 3 guides, but 2 decided they didnt want to climb with us becuz they figured the weather would be bad, so off we went...me, the cranky brits, and a dreadlocked 18 year old spanish girl. The hike was supposed to take 5 hours up and 2 down. We stopped a few times in the first hour to look at plants, animals, monkeys...the guide showed us a stinky plant that we rubbed all over ourselves as mosquito repellent...the path was one big mud pit...slipping and sliding everywhere, so i was already imagining the way down. Saw some ancient petroglyphs on the way up too. So, here is something i know about myself...i am not very sure footed, and in order to hike at any reasonable rate of speed (especially on uneven terrain) i need to watch my feet at all times, which means i dont get to enjoy the scenery cuz im staring down most of the time...when i used to hike the drakensburg mountains in south africa with alice, she was a super speed hiker and id spend all my time watching the rocks below my feet and trying to keep up! Anyways, so we went about 90 minutes, and i had a revelation...i really dont like climbing mountains (or volcaonoes for that matter)...i hated climbing mount fuji in japan, and when we did make it to the top at 5 in the morning after climbing all night there was no sunrise...it was a flippin blizzard up there! I didnt make it to the top of that volcano in guatemala, there was absolutely no view from mombacho in nicaragua...so i looked up and saw that we were just under the cloud line, and thought "what the hell am i doing?" So i decided to turn around...the others couldnt understand becuz i hadnt achieved the goal of reaching the top, but honestly the muppet saying that "getting there is half the fun, come share it with me" is totally my thinking...life isnt about the goal but the travels we take. So i decided to turn back...i got a great view, and any further up you wouldnt be able to see your hand in front of your face, so i didnt feel like i was missing much. Since there was only one guide, i had to walk down by myself, but that seemed simple enough becuz we had followed a mud trail all the way up, so i figured i couldnt get too lost...umm, right... So, i head down and immediately find several forks in the trial, with each fork looking like a main trail, and since i had been staring at my feet the entire way up i couldnt recognize any landmarks, so i figured as long as i was heading downwards i must be going in the right direction. After about 20 minutes, i was sure that i was not on the same path that we had taken up (i hit a barbed wire fence that i couldnt have missed on the way up!) but decided the safest bet was to keep going down. It was kinda nice...i saw tons of amazing butterflies...black and red striped, and huge tan ones with a black circle on the wing...lots of bluish black lizards were running out of my way on the path...but then the skies started to get really dark, and i had been walking for about an hour and was obviously not going back to where i came from...then the howler monkeys started growling...i knew they were monkey noises, but man they sound like something big and scary and it was kinda creepy! Eventually i started entering fields with ox and cows...ok, im so city, but i wasnt sure if the big oxen with the big horns would bite me or something so i was a little freaked out, but i guess cows are cows and are pretty tame...i was starting to get scared, but figured the worst that could happen to me was that i would get eaten by mosquitos and id have to sleep outside...i had plenty of water and food...but of course i had been reading that book about people dying on everest, and had heard lots about snakes and creepy crawlies in nicaragua...so i alternated between being wowwed by the nature around me and being kinda nervous...finally found a farmer riding a horse and asked him where the "highway" was...he just pointed in a direction across a field and started to ride off...i about cried! I couldnt believe that i finally found someone and he just left me there, but then it turned out that he was riding in the direction i should walk and wanted me to follow...there was no path so i was running after him through fields and brush...he got me to a path, then took off, so i figured i should just follow the path...after about 30 minutes on that path i was starting to wonder if i was going anywhere in particular when i saw it...A baby blue pickup truck!! Oh my gosh i was happy! I had no idea what it was doing in the middle of a field or where it might be going, but i didnt care! Happens that there were 2 guys close by who worked for a hotel nearby and they were picking up some corn and vegetables from the field...salvation! They were just about to leave and offered me a ride to their hotel...yippee! Ometepe (the island) is two volcanos connected by an isthmus (i think thats the word) of lava (looks like a figure 8) with one road going around the outside, and two port towns...the guys took me to their hotel and told me i could get a bus in the nearer of the port towns (altagracia), so i asked how far it was to walk to altagracia...10 kilometers!! But, actually, at that point, i was just happy to be back to civilization! So off i headed...walked all the way, got blisters, drank 3 gallons of water and never peed once cuz i was so hot, but i finally made it! By the time i found a bus back to my hotel, i was absolutely wiped out so i got on the bus and immediately conked out...woke up i dont know how long but i was sure i had slept through my town and id be on that bus for another 4 hours while it did the figure 8...luckily i didnt, so i got off in my town, found my hotel, and decided right away that i had had enough of ometepe and packed my stuff to leave back to the mainland. Everyone says how beautiful ometepe is (and nicaragua for that matter) and i know i didnt give it a fair chance, but i just got a bad vibe from that island. Took the big boat (the car ferry) back to the mainland...much smoother ride..ahh. Got back to rivas and decided to take a taxi back to granada, so here i am. It cost $17, which is a fortune (the entire ride from managua, nicaragua, to playa tamarindo, costa rica, costs like $3 on a bus, and this taxi ride was only 1 hour) but i figured if i got stuck in rivas i would end up spending a lot on a hotel and i knew where cheap hotels were here in granada, so it would even out in the end. Taxi driver was on a mission! He was passing on 2 lane roads in no pass zones...i was screaming "no!no!no!"...i actually smacked him (harder than i meant to) on the shoulder cuz i was so scared...i totally get that from my mom (who spends the entire ride in the passenger seat with her hands on the dashboard yelling "julie...oh my god...slow down!). Got to granada safetly, so now im only an hour from managua where ill go tomorrow to spend the night...fly out monday afternoon back to guatemala. When i arrived in granada, i tried to check into a hostel called "the bearded monkey" but they were full, so i went back to the same hostel i stayed at before..hostel oasis...nice, free internet, restaurant, small pool...so i go to check in and i give the woman at the front desk my passport and she says "oh, you are julie...someone has been here looking for you with your picture"...lovely. I gave a copy of my passport photo to the host mom i had here in granada cuz she wanted it, and she must have given it to daniel, so i guess he has been searching for me with my picture. Im going out to dinner close to the hostel tonight and leaving early tomorrow by taxi to make sure i dont run into him! |
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