Nicaragua

We left Montezuma at 10:30am and retraced our steps back to Punta Arenas and waited by the side of the road for a bus that would take us to Rivas in Nicaragua. There was one slight hitch however as unbeknown to us we had timed our trip to coincide with a transit strike affecting all Nicaragua. Local and national buses, taxis and trains were all on strike. We were a tad lucky that an international (TICA) bus coming from Costa Rica stopped for us.

When we hopped off the bus in Rivas we found an opportunistic local who agreed to take us to San Jorge which is on the banks of Lake Nicaragua where we would spend the night. We shared the ride with a fun couple (Alicia and Jimmy)from South Carolina and ended up hanging out with them for a few days.

The first rain of the 'rainy season'season fell that night and it was like nothing I'd ever seen before as the thunder and lightning raged and endless buckets of rain drenched everything in sight. The storm knocked out the power for the whole town so we were marooned in a bar in complete darkness as the wind blew the rain horizontal thru the doors and windows and soaked absolutely everything.

Finally there was break in the storm and we headed back to our hotel thru the dirt road which had now turned into a river of muck. The following morning we headed for Isla Ometepe on the lake which is quite rightly listed as one of the 'wonders of the world'. There are two volcanoes (1 active) and lush tropical rain forest lining the beaches. Playa Santa Domingo is the best place to stay with a great beach. We ended up staying 3 days and it was one of the highlights of the trip so far. Next stop El Salvador!

P.S. It's my birthday TODAY!

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