I am pleased to tell you that the loud band stopped playing
soon after 9.30 pm last night, and we had a peaceful night ! Bit damp underfoot after lots of rain
overnight, but all good. Can strongly
recommend this camp site if you can get in.
We then wound our way on pretty good roads all the way
down to a place called Sebaco, where we found ourselves in a traffic jam – Nothing
was moving, and people were starting to do U turns etc. We thought we might try a different route,
but when we asked a policeman he said “No problem” and sent us back into the
traffic jam ! So I parked the car in a side street, left Janet in the car, and
set off down the road to find out what the deal was. I asked various bus and truck drivers whether
it was an accident or what, and after about 4 people speaking very rapid
Spanish thought I understood something about Police, and Guns ! My next question was to two well-dressed
young guys in their almost new car, and they spoke perfect English and told me
that the local towns people had “seized” the bridge and blocked off the road,
and that the police were trying to resolve the situation, but it might take
several hours !
The driver of the car, Federico, asked what kind of vehicle we
had, and when I told him it was a big 4WD that could go anywhere, he asked if
we were interested in following him round a big loop on country roads, as he
would like to have another car with him “in case”. He also said he had someone who was going to
show him the way. Federico was a local
who worked in Sebaco during the week, but lived in Managua, so knew the area
quite well. So rather than sitting in a
traffic jam for an indeterminate period of time, we set off back the way we had
come, following XXXX and another car who was presumably the guide. About 10 kms back up the road, we turned west
on another smaller, but still good, road, and I was starting to wonder why Federico
wanted a second vehicle with him. Then
after about another 15 kms we turned back to the east, crossed a weir and kind
of dam area (with lots of FLSN / Sandanista logos on the walls (the current
government)), and then the road deteriorated rather quickly, and we found out
why he wanted a second
vehicle !!
Suddenly we were on a dirt country road, where horses and bicycles
outnumbered cars by a considerable margin, and for an hour or so we went
through some incredible countryside, right out in the middle of no where
!! What an adventure !! We could see where we were on Google Maps,
but when it started raining when we were still several kms from getting back on
the main road about 20 kms south of Sebaco, we started to be pleased we had
some good 4 WD capability !! When we
were nearly at the end, we came into the little village of Dario, and suddenly
there were not only cars but also trucks and chicken buses coming the other way
on these narrow roads ! I am pleased to
say that in a head to head confrontation with a chicken bus, I made him back
down and reverse by creeping forward slowly until he realised I was NOT going
to give way !! These buses push everyone
around on the roads, so I really enjoyed this little battle and “victory” !!
Finally back on the main road, Federico set off home to
Managua after we bid farewell, and we continued on towards Granada. We don’t know how long it took to resolve the
bridge hijack in Sebaco, but we were not affected any more so not a problem !!
By now it was about 2 pm and we were getting peckish, so
we stopped beside a lake for a sandwich.
In the lake were 6 people fishing – 3 in a small wooden boat, one
standing on a log, and two actually in the water, fully dressed, with the water
up to their armpits !! Must have been
good fishing !! As we were about to
leave, a group of about 7 women / girls, two young boys and a
baby came along
the road past us. We said “Buenas Dias”
to them as they passed and they giggled and kept walking, but about 30 yards up
the road the hesitated – You could see them laughing and egging each other on,
obviously saying things like “I wonder who those people are and where they are
from, lets go back and talk to them” and so on. Eventually one girl obviously
said she would go back, so then they all did, and they shyly approached us and
started asking us questions and reading the writing and stickers and map on the
car, and were fascinated by everything. We gave them all some boiled sweets we
keep for that purpose, and ended up taking their photos, for which they all
posed and laughed, and even handed Janet the baby to hold while I took the
photos ! A very pleasant and unexpected
interlude once again – Although I have to say we have found the people all
through Central America to be just SO friendly and happy and helpful, so we
were not surprised by the girl’s coming over for a chat.
Talking of the stickers on the car, we have now visited
all the places on the first side, so they are now all crossed out, and
Tegucigalpa in Honduras was the first place on the second side, so we really
feel as though we are making progress !
I took a few pics of the sides to show you all how crowded the car is
getting !! As expected, the stickers
really get people coming up for a chat, so it is a good conversation starter
that, if I just had a plain car, people would just walk past and not pay any
notice nor come up and chat to us.
As we continued down the road towards Granada, we passed
several people holding something up dangling on a stick, for sale – At first we
couldn’t work out what they were – Then we realised they were live armadillos,
trussed up, but alive. Presumably they
were offering them to eat, but needless to say we didn’t stop to buy one ! In the same area, there were also lots of
wooden flamingo statues for sale (?!), and then we saw a couple of boys with
something small on sticks – And realised they were small parrots for sale
!! You really can buy anything round
here !!
As we dropped down towards Managua, we could see the big
lake Managua to the west, and the absolutely enormous Lake Nicaragua to the
East. Lake Nicaragua is the largest body
of fresh water in Central America, and is so big it even has its own tidal
system. Additionally it houses the
world’s only fresh water sharks !! Anyway as we approached Managua and the roads
became busier, we saw some interesting sights – Like chickens loose in the back
of a pick up in front of us that stuck their heads up for a look around
occasionally, and then lay back down again !!
We decided not to go to Managua as all the books said it really was a
busy mess of a city and that Granada was much nicer, so we were actually
heading towards Masaya in between the two, where they is a National Park with
several active volcanos, and we understood we could camp in the park. It was only about 3.30 pm, but the skies were
getting VERY black, and a big storm was obviously imminent, with lots of
lightening and thunder. Before we could get to the National Park, the heavens
opened, and we arrived amidst a torrential downpour. We climbed up the hill to the visitors centre
car park, and then
sat in the car for half an hour or so waiting for the rain
to subside !! Eventually we were able to
get out, pay our camping fee, and have a quick look at the displays in the
visitor centre before they closed and went home, leaving us locked on a
mountain with an active volcano or two.
I might add that just before they left, a bunch of the rangers came down
from the volcano crater saying there were some big explosions happening and
rocks being thrown up ! Yup, this is a
live volcano ! they also said that
unless the weather improved and the volcano settled down, we wouldn’t be able
to go up to the crater in the morning.
We met Leif in the visitor’s centre, a girl from Turkey
who started in Florida a couple of years ago and is cycling on her own down to
Tierra del Fuego. She also was camping
in the park, so after supper we sat around chatting about our respective
adventures and experiences, and had a very pleasant evening chatting with
her. Finally we turned in for the night,
hoping we would be able to go up to the crater in the morning.
Pics are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0104EsteliToMasaya?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2CorSE_uqZXQ#
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