¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas to all at home and those jetsetting around the globe! We've seen the BBC updates of more aftershocks at home so we hope that you are all well and that there wasn't too much damage.

Our Christmas celebrations were very nice here, we had a big potluck dinner at the hostel. Harry and I made Naan bread and honey BBQ chicken with avocado and tomato etc and others made big pasta dishes and traditional Nicaraguan dishes. There was about 15 of us from various places like Australia, Germany, Singapore, Holland, England, America, Canada and Belgium. We haven't met any other kiwis so far though!

After our dinner we all went out to a bar and listened to live music and drunk Flor de Caña (the popular rum that is made here in Nica) and then moved on to a kind of night club. Finally we went to someones house where we hung out on the patio until about 10am the next morning!

Needless to say, this was rather exhausting and when we arrived back at the hostel, Harry was asleep in the hammock within a few minutes. However I, being the party animal that I am, joined a few others from the hostal on a trip to the beach for Christmas Day. The 30min bus ride there was on a chicken bus which has a capacity of around 60, needless to say in Nica the capacity signs are more of a challenge than a restriction... After a few calculations I decided there must be at least 110 people on the bus!

It was lovely to spend some time drinking juices, sunbathing and swimming and it reminded me of home! I started feeling a bit average at the beach but just put it down to lack of sleep and food... After getting off the bus it was getting worse and when we got back to the hostel I spent the next few hours leaning over the toilet throwing up! I crawled in to bed at around 7.30 with a bucket and now it's midday on the 26th and I think I have recovered but feeling pretty exhausted. Not sure if it's something I ate or general exhaustion but whatever it was it wasn't so much fun for Christmas evening!

Overall the celebrations were good but I did miss doing the traditional thing at home. We enjoyed skyping all the family on Christmas day, was lovely to see everybody's faces!

Tomorrow morning we begin our 20 hour bus ride from Nicaragua through Honduras and El Salvador to Guatemala where will spend about 3 weeks before returning to Nica :) We have been here for exactly 4 weeks now and have just over 5 weeks to go and a week in the States!

So feliz navidad and a happy new year to you all wherever you are! Missing you all, will update you from Guatemala some time soon!

Somotillo

After our time in León we decided to head up to Somotillo to visit the family with whom I stayed with for 5 weeks last time I was in Nicaragua. Somotillo is not a huge tourist attraction, it's a rural town with nothing more than a small market, some shops and a central park with a church and basketball court. Our main reason for spending 10 days up there, other than visiting friends was to practice our Spanish as next to nobody up there speaks english!

It was strange heading back as when I left last time I really thought I would never return. Two years on and all the same faces were there, a few adjustments to the house with an extra room added on and a little shop in the entrance way.

The house is home to 8 people but as it is close to christmas, there were a few extras from the extended family and when I say a few... There were 15 of us living in the one house...

Inevitably when one of us got sick, we were all going to get it so I had a cold most of the week and now Harry has it too! But I'm not complaining, I will take a couple cold over dengue or malaria!

Our "alarm" in the mornings was when our room was so filled with smoke from cooking on the open fire that it was hard to breath, then you knew it was time to get up! True to form we had water for the first couple of days and then we went without for another 3 or 4 days before it came back on again.

Most of the time was spent reading, eating, Harry practicing guitar and playing frisbee and football during the evenings. As for our spanish... It didn't quite go as planned and the main thing we learnt was how to insult each other... Obviously hanging out with young people and playing sports we spent the time just hassling each other. One of my personal favourites was when you just say their mothers name in a really aggressive way such as "Marta!" "Mariana!" and this is quite a sufficient way to abuse somebody.

On our last day we bought a gallon of icecream, bananas and chocolate sauce and had a big treat with everybody staying in the house. It was a nice way to spend 10 days and now we are back in León to spend christmas here before taking the 20 hour bus ride through Honduras and El Salvador to Guatemala. We went to see Narnia at the cinema yesterday for less than $2, what a deal! We also had a day christmas shopping, the clothes here are super cheap but it means our bags are getting heavier!

So I guess we should say Feliz Navidad to you all at home, we will miss you very much over christmas and new years and it just won't be the same without friends and family! It will be a different christmas but a happy and exciting one none the less.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the christmas break :)

Volcano Boarding and La Gritería!

Up at 5am on the 6^th of December to catch the bus to Cerro Negro, the volcano. We went with a Nicaraguan guy from our hostel and three other girls from France, England and Holland.

We had to go so early because you can’t hike up the volcano any later as the heat is too intense! So after an hour or so on the chicken bus and an hour walk to the bottom of the volcano, we picked up our boards (to use for sliding down) and headed up Cerro Negro!

It was amazing to see the contrast in the landscape, as we were walking on volcanic rock and to our left was the huge grey/black volcano whilst to the right there was a mass of bright green vegetation. It last erupted in 1999 and you could clearly see where the lava had come to a stop and the vegetation began.

After the half hour climb to the top, we stood on the rim of the sulfur smelling, hot crater and you could feel the ground getting hotter under your feet. An amazing view in the distance of numerous other volcanoes smoking away and the sea somewhere far off.

The hard work was over after walking to the top and we jumped on our boards to slide down the scarily steep slope of the volcano (at the top you couldn’t see the bottom because it was so steep!). It was an amazing view and we didn’t end up going as fast as expected so we got to enjoy the view. What a crazy experience!

Then yesterday was la gritería, a festival celebrated throughout Nicaragua, but particularly in León to celebrate the conception of Mary (note: not of Jesus but of Mary who seems to be of far more importance here in the Catholic tradition than Jesus himself).

It began at 6pm with the bells of all of the churches being rung constantly for a few minutes and lights and fireworks etc. During this time I was talking to a guy beside me who was from Nicaragua and had been to this festival 15 times and he warned me to beware of “los toros” when they come running into the crowd and told me to run quickly... This concerned me slightly but I was glad to be prepared (los toros in english means the bulls!) It turns out los toros were not actual bulls but people in bull like structures made from wood with fireworks tied all over them. This was actually not that much less scary than actual bulls as these were decent fireworks and they just shot straight into the crowd... Horizontal, not vertical! People fled the centre of the square to make way for the bulls and grabbed plastic bags etc to protect their faces, the fireworks landed in little artisan stalls and had to be stomped out very quickly – these people are totally crazy sometimes! This was all followed by and amazing fireworks display beside the giant cathedral, coming from all directions and covering the sky. They put New Brighton to shame! Then the orchestra played in the square as well!

The next part of the festival is like the catholic version of trick or treating where everybody of all ages wanders the street going from door to door asking “Quién causa tanta alegría?” or in English “Who causes much happiness?” and the people answer “La concepción de María!” or “the conception of Mary.” Then they give you random treats, we collected lollipops, ice blocks, traditional sweets, matches, marshmallows and even cups and plates! Pretty much, it is trick or treating on crack, way more intense and way more exciting... You have to fight your way to peoples’ doors and grab on to the iron bars over the door and shout the loudest to get the treats!

We then went out for tea with Helio and Maria who took us to meet the ex president of Nicaragua, Arnoldo Alemán – a very controversial figure in Nicaraguan history! See my FB for a bit of an explanation or wiki him, it’s quite interesting!

Anyway, this is already way too long and I haven’t even got everything down but that will do for now! More photos to come and probably no updates for the next week or so as we are heading to a more rural area to practice Spanish tomorrow for a week or so.

Hasta luego amigos!

Fun Fact!

So the yellow buses that all the locals catch here that I mentioned previously are called "chicken buses" this name came about for two main reasons:

1) On these buses that should comfortably fit say 50 people, they tend to squeeze in more like 80 people, it's unbelievable! Much like battery hens in a coop...

2) When riding on these buses it's like playing chicken every time (the game in which two drivers speed directly towards each other until one pulls out or they crash and die...). They overtake in very ambiguous conditions, honking their horn hoping that whoever is in the way will move!

Both of these things make for rather interesting travel experiences to say the least...

And coming up on the blog: Volcano hiking and boarding, national festival in León... Stay tuned!

¡La primera semana en Nica! - The first week in Nicaragua

A quick update on our progress this week... (Ruby writing)

As we said, we arrived in León on Tuesday night and went out to the baseball game with some people from our hostel. Whilst at the game we saw a guy filming the players and interviewing the coach etc and joked about running up to the camera to say hi mum etc. Harry ended up going and giving a big thumbs up behind the coach when he was being interviewd and low and behold we switched the tv on in the hostel the next day and for a brief moment we were all on TV watching the game and then Harry pops up behind the coach during the interview, provided some laughs!

This week we've spent a lot of time visiting the big churches, ruins, cemetery and some museums as you can see in the photos. We went to the museum of myths and legends and el museo revolución where we heard lots about prominent figures in Nicaragua's history and all about the conflict in Nicaragua throughout the 1900's - dictatorships, wars and revolutions. Our tour guide was 20 when he fought in the Contra War!

Yesterday (Saturday) we were invited by a friend I worked with last time to come and stay in his town and go to his son's highschool graduation ceremony. We took the run down old bus (same as the yellow bus off the simpsons, a "hand-me-down" from the US once they're too old and munted to use there, they're everywhere in central america and known as the chicken buses) to Achuapa.

It was a 3 and a half hour dusty, dirty, boiling hot, crowded and uncomfortable ride but we made it (well almost...) The bus stopped about 10mins before our destination due to road works so we had to get out and walk in the blistering sun!

The graduation ceremony lasted most of the afternoon, beginning with mass in the cathedral then a procession to the high school where they received their certificates, followed by a huge dinner with friends and family then a big town wide party with a dj and super intense strobe lights. Luckily we were rather tired after all of this because when showed to our room we realized we were top and tailing it on a single bed... We lay there laughing and unable to move to either side but fell asleep soon enough!

It was good to see Juan (who I worked with) again and little did I know but after I left Nicaragua last time, his family bought a parrot and named it RUBY! So stoked, I've never had anything named after me... Even if it's a parrot, it provided me with some entertainment. They joked that it speaks more spanish than I did when I was first in Nicaragua, quite true though!

So we caught the bus back today and spent the day chilling out at the hostel and snacking on yummy treats from the supermarket.

Our plan now is to stay here until the festival finishes next week, then head to Somotillo for a week to stay with my hold homestay family, return to León for la navidad y el año nuevo. Then we are going to Hondura and Guatemala!!

So not so quick after all, but what did you expect? ;)

After a few tearful goodbyes (on my part, not Harry's!) we left Christchurch bound for Nicaragua:

Christchurch - Auckland - Los Angeles - Miami - Nicaragua...

27 hours, not a lot of sleep, 8 movies and lots of orange juice and plane snacks later...

We arrived in Managua at 8.30pm and it was roughly 28 degrees. The long trip wasn't too strenuous and we had quite a nice surprise on the way from Miami to Nicaragua... Sitting in the seat in front of us was the couple I met and went out to dinner with last time I was in Nicaragua, I had met them on the same flight nearly 2 years ago and we had no idea that they would be on the plane!

We made our way to the hostel in Managua where we spent our first night. Harry was out like a light whilst I felt like my whole body was sunburnt and made regular trips to the cold shower to cool down and felt rather ill, once again I ended up leaning over the basin involuntarily giving up the little food I had eaten over the last 24 hours!

The next day was a significant improvement on the previous as I find the goodbyes and the long journey rather harrowing! It makes me realize even more what fantastic friends, family and bf I have back at home :)

So on our first day (yesterday) we met Helio, the man that was on our flight. He sent his driver to pick us up and bring us to his house where we drank ice tea and played on his ipad and sat beside the court yard on comfy sofas while it was raining lightly outside. He then took us to the private university that he established 18 years ago and gave us a tour around all the different departments, introduced us to many people and invited us to attend some classes there in the summer! We had subway for lunch at the university food court then instead of catching the bus to León as we intended, Helio insisted his driver would take us on the 1.5hour journey. We were dropped right to our hostel door, how fantastic!

Five minutes after putting our bags down, we were off to the baseball game with a few others from our hostel. 25 Cordobas to get in, a little more than UD$1. Crazy dodgy looking fireworks, sweet random music, Ricky Martin with new lyrics and that song that says something like pa pa americano, fried snacks and generally a great time!

Now we think we will stay the next couple of weeks here in León as there is a festival on next week and then we will head to Somotillo for some Spanish practice!

We haven't made many other plans except in January we are going back to see Helio and Maria and they are taking us to stay the weekend on their farm just outside of Managua.

We have sweet free wireless at this hostel now, so will keep you updated... Watch this space :)

Miss you all!