Well, up at 4am to try and catch bus to mountain. The only problem was that the bus was not running until 7am. The guys were not as excited at 4am as they were last night, so they went back to bed, leaving me to find a way. I looked at the map and realized that the mountain was only 2 miles away. I figured I could walk it. When I got about 10 minutes outside of town I was told by a farmer that it was illegal to hike without a guide and the guides needed to be hired back in the city. I wasn't going back to the city so I just kept walking. A pickup truck rolled by and I decided to try hitchhiking, so ended up riding the last 10 minutes with some locals.
I got off at the trail, which took another hour to reach the volcano itself. I admit, once I started climbing it was no easy go, especially with all my belongings on my back. I was climbing and suddenly heard this load roar. Not like a high-pitched scream you hear from the Lemurs or monkeys at the zoo but one you hear from a large 4-legged carnivore. I froze, then pulled out my worthless pocket knife and continued, completely attuned to all sounds and motions around. These birds that look like Blue-Jays with long tails and a bell hanging off their head were following me making all this noise. I tried to shush them, but was not working. I felt like Eddie Murphy in the Golden Child (very few will get that reference and I am ok with that). Eventually I started hearing the noise more often and then saw the offender to be a howler monkey and not a puma. As the climb became more difficult I began to think of the kids that functioned as guides here. They spend 10 hours on the mountain to make $8. It has to be tough to go to bed at night knowing each day you have to get up at 6am and climb the same mountain you have climbed 100 times already, let alone drag some annoying American and his gear up with you.
I made it about halfway and realized I needed to get down to make the boat back to the mainland in order to make bus from Rivas to San Juan Del Sur. I was on the way down this subtle grade, walking over boulders, almost rolling an ankle every few minutes and thinking back to a recent hike down Mt Washington on Tuckerman's Ravine. Sometimes climbs are not physically demanding but rather test of mental fortitude. These 2 trails were just long boulder fields that needed to be picked through. Not challenging, but requiring concentration to avoid injury. On the way down I ran into some kids that were eager for bracelets and insistent that I take pictures of them wielding axes.
I found this little creature hidden under a chair at a cafe near the dock. I believe it is a Capybara.
The ferry was not scheduled for a couple hours so I opted for the small boat. The guide book said to steer clear has it has a high chance of capsizing in the lake in rough seas. I took my chances and getting sick right now just thinking about the rocking of the waves that day.
I ended up letting the cab driver convince me to drive all the way to San Juan. When I got there I was surrounded by Americans from California enjoying the prime surfing conditions. I checked into a nice hostel just off the 1 km crescent-shaped beach and headed out to some exploring
At 4pm I boarded a bus for a beach just north of town that is a favorite surfing spot and also the new hot spot for Americans looking to retire without breaking the bank in Southern California. The ride was extremely rough in my doctored pickup.
I got back to the hostel and after meeting a girl from Michigan decided to shower quickly and catch sunset on the beach. Well sunset passed when I got going and a group of us headed for a beach bar where we discussed our travels and where would be the next great adventure. I visited a couple dance clubs before closing the night down around midnight for an early morning trip back through Managua and up north to near the Honduras border. At one dance club about 4 local cops showed up with AK-47s. They are not as professional as military as they seem to have no problem drinking and socializing while on duty. I am not sure the reason for the machine gun vs. the hand gun. It seems a bit of overkill, but I guess when shit gets bad you want to be able to mow 'em down.
Thought of the day:
I realized quickly that you cannot ask someone a question in the confirmation format or they will agree. For example, instead of asking, "Does the bus come at 5?" You must ask, "What times does the bus come?" It seems obvious but it took me a while but eventually I got better. Unfortunately by asking open-ended questions you were not ensured a correct answer only improving your odds. I found that no one really knows what is going on down here. Ask 5 different people and you will get at least 3 different answers. By the end of a trip I would attempt to achieve a sample size of 5-6 and then take the highest value given.
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