Some say that we need to “wake up and smell the roses”! Some people actually do not have roses to wake up to! Some people never had roses to wake up to, and some people will never have those roses to wake up to! For those of us that do actually have those roses to wake up to and smell…..we are the lucky and priveliged ones!

Alex and I would like to share some of our thoughts and feelings on how other people live and what they have actually lived! The following takes place in Leon, Nicaragua.

On entering the “Galeria de Heroes y Martires” (the Heroes and Martyrs Gallery), the visual impact of hundreds of photos of faces stuck up on several boards was overwhelming! Most photos did not have a frame, some were old, many faded, but they all bore the person’s name, and date of birth as well as the date they died. Most were young, and fresh faced. I noticed that there was no “cause of death” beneath any of the photos! I would soon learn why!

Dona Concepcion Toruna is one of the mothers of the “Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional” (a pro-Sandinista group) veterans and fallen heroes. She is slight set with short neat hair, and is the woman who will give us the tour. Tour? The gallery has photos of over 300 local revolutionaries who died fighting the Somoza dictatorship. Dona Toruna took us around, and simply stated who many of the people were and how they died. They all died for the same reason. Simply……they had had an opinion, they had defied their brutal dictator and dictatorship……and the penalty for having an opinion was death!

As we went from photo to photo, with Dona Toruna explaining as much as she knew and could remember (as she had lived that era) I felt numbed. I looked at each of those photos, read the names beneath……..and tried to fathom what those individuals had been like; did they like reading, did they have siblings, a lover, a passion of some sort. Had they left behind children? What jobs had they held? What food did they like? What was their favourite colour? So many young and wasted lives. As Dona Toruna talked, I was wafting between my own little world, and the world that these people had perhaps lived in. It felt surreal!

I was suddenly vortexed back into my reality, when Dona Toruna pointed to yet another photo, and I heard the words “my son”! My son! Here was a woman pointing to one of the fallen and explaining how he died! I wafted away again! I did not catch how he had died! But here was a woman pointing to her dead son! Life is not supposed to be like this, children are supposed to outlive their parents! Tears welled up in my eyes, and a lump formed in my throat, and yes I did cry! I cried for her son, and all the fallen victims, and for all the innocent people who continue to die today because of ignorant people and their ignorant ideals! I am vehemently anti-war! It’s usually always about somebody’s power struggle with absolutely no regard to anything or anybody else. I was away somewhere in la-la land, when I heard the words, “my daughter”, it was Dona Toruna pointing to yet another photo! This woman had lost two children to a dictatorship that simply wished to anhialate the “enemy”, yet she stood infront of us to tell the tale. The tears were streaming down my face. She came up to comfort me, and to give me a drink of water!

This woman was an inspiration! She told us that she did not feel bitter about the deaths of her two children, because they had died for a cause they felt so strongly about! What a woman! She is a greater one than I will ever be!

That same day, we decided to walk to El Fortin, the National Guard’s last holdout in Leon. It was used by Somoza and his crew to jail and torture people. It was supposedly under 3 kilometres from the town. “Follow this dirt road 2.5km until you reach the abandoned hilltop fort, which affords a panoramic view of Leon”, said our guide book. We walked a fair portion of it, when we were asked by a couple of men in a ute, if we wanted a lift. Doing so is commonplace in Central America, and we obliged. There were a few others, both adults and kids, in there too.

What we were about to see, almost made our eyes pop out of our heads! Within a few minutes, we were driving through a tip, but with views I had never experienced in my life! One of the girls in the ute told us, with absolute sincerity, that we should be careful here as there were robbers around and that tourists had been mugged here before, including recently! The tenacity in her voice and the tone and way in which she advised us, belied her young age. We looked around, and felt like we were in the middle of a scene from Mad Max! Burning trash, leaving such an acrid and pungent smell, that we both felt sick, and people, mostly children, scavenging through the rubbish and finding “treasures” like they had just won Wheel of Fortune! The kids had tattered clothes, stringy hair, and dirt smeared faces! They looked up at us in the ute, like we were royalty, and to them, we probably appeared as if we were!

We saw one child, with some 8 packets of chinese noodles, and another collecting aluminium cans. We were also told that people often picked up and subsequently ate the meat from old and rotting carcasses, some even having died from this…..one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! I looked around, and saw a sea of doe-eyed children. Children who would never have either a hope nor a future. Children whose biggest struggle each day was trying to stay alive!

It was time to get out and go and visit the fort close by. The enegy was heavy! We have NEVER felt so unsafe, and besides we could not see two metres infront of us due to the smoke. Alex and I eyed each other off in a “There’s no way in hell, I am going up there alone” kind of way, and as spokesperson, I told the guys we did not want to go and check it out after all, and that we would go back down with them. They obviously sensed our fear, and drove an extra 100 metres up to show us themselves.

They were good guys, in the real sense of the word, and they showed us the fort. Yes, it did have an amazing view of Leon, but I was so totally freaked out, that I was not taking any of it in. Some of the waifs, hung around, but as I looked through their huge eyes, all I could see was desolation and a bottomless pit of nothing! I felt claustrophobic! I had to get out! And after the quickest tour ever, we were back on the ute once again, passing all those people and smoke and scenes from Mad Max! My mind was everywhere! The guys dropped us off somewhere close to town, and feeling safe but very unsettled, we both simply had to sit down and regroup. My mind was reeling! My heart was thumping!

I do beleive that it was our destiny to see this. This was not hearing about it, seeing pictures about it, or even viewing a documentary on it…………..this was live! A real, and pictographic insight as to how the other half live. These are the people who sadly do not even know that roses exist!

All these experiences and insights have been incredulous, and we are both so grateful to have been able to feel and breathe them. Just when you think you know it all…there is yet another corner to turn, and yet another lesson to learn!

“I have travelled far but my journey has just begun” – Andy Howse.

Ombi

(Photos: 1.- Cathedral bell, Leon. 2.- Sandinista grafitti. 3.- View from El Fortin. 4.- Kids getting away after work. 5.- Young kids looking surprised to see us; with their reddened eyes from all the toxins from the burning rubbish. 6.- Rubbish truck dropping off the goods for “classification”; kids & adults looking for their next meal. 7. Rubbish is classified and then transported to recycling companies in Managua.)

First of all……sorry about the delay in updating the blog, but we went through a 10 day patch of no internet accesswhatsover, and then another 4 days of very limited access! Story to follow later. How did we ever cope without internet?!

Leon is only a short (chicken bus…..well, kind of) ride away from Granada. Although it took us around three hours, this involved getting to the outskirts of Managua first, and then changing for Leon. Now remember, it was the day before New Year and all forms of transport were crammed full. We took a mini van both times, but it may as well have been a chicken bus as there was not a spare centimetre anywhere to be seen, or more to the point, to be felt! Trust us, cosy is an understatement! We had bags behind us, beneath us and on top of us, literally! And, as Alex would say, ¨Estoy sudando la gota gorda¨(I am sweating fat drops…of sweat). Once we arrived in Managua, we had to wait in a line for an hour or so, as several mini vans took off with the many people infront of us, who were waiting in ¨line¨. Ah, the concept of a line here is somewhat more blurred than back at home, and we both had to remind several individuals that the line was behind us and not infront of us! Hey, it was the day before New Year for ALL of us and we ALL had a place to get to!

We arrived at the central bus station in Leon, which was several blocks out of town, and right in the middle of a bustling market place. We were offered food, accommodation, chickens, drinks and more. The mind seems to go into shut off mode as one becomes focused on the job at hand, looking for a place of slumber! As we walked to the city centre, my first visual impact was how much rubish there was on the streets, actually, much more than I had seen anywhere thus far. As we walked I saw a number of people throw their remnants on the floor, and not in the, very few, bins around. Such a beautiful place, yet so much trash. Leon grew on us both, almost immediately, however, and so the rubbish soon became only a memory. My desire to change both people and habits overnight is strong at times, I guess.

Leon is hot, very hot actually, and as it is not set near any mountains or volcanoes, like Masaya, it is hot at night too. The residual overflow of this, is that one seems to constantly feel tired and lethargic. It took us a while, but we ended up staying at a place called ¨El Colibri¨(the Hummingbird), owned by an Italian/ Nicaraguan couple. At USD $15.00 a couple a night, it was a real bargain, taking into consideration that it included free internet and a fully equipped kitchen (and I mean fully equipped), not to mention that it is categorically the cleanest place we have stayed in since leaving Australia. Thank you Dona Consuelo for keeping the place so immaculate! And what a wonerful and warm woman Dona Consuelo was! We have had some amazing food and drinks here, including fresh shakes and smoothies, with fruit bought from the market, veggie stir fries, salads, and I even made pasta one night!

Leon and Granada have been ¨rival towns¨for a long time now, and it is not hard to understand why! Whilst Granada has a colourful, colonial and very right-wing vibe, its juxtaposition is the fleshy, outwardly leftist ¨taste¨that Leon provides you with! There is no lack of pro- Che and anything Sandinista here in this little town! In a nutshell, the Sandinistas were communist, and Somoza (the president at the time) and his ¨contras¨committed atrocities such as killing and torturing anybody that ¨wasn´t on board¨. We found out that the ¨contras¨ (the army that did all the killings) were on the USA payroll! Hmmmm!!!!!

New Year was much more sedate here than I expected. We spent it with Paco (Robert from Alaska), and Joyce and Jules from England. We were hanging around the central plaza when “midnight struck”, but we felt that it was not on time and a little early. As we had met some other tourists and Aussies, we took it upon ourselves to do the ten second countdown……Aussie style! Now, we´re talking, this is the REAL New Year! With the formalities now all worked out, we made ur way to ¨Don Senor¨, supposedly the place to go boogie! There we danced for a couple of hours, and then went back home. I am able to proudly say, here, that I still have it in me to dance several hours without stopping.

New Year´s Day was spent totally relaxing in the hotel’s outdoor hammocks.. More to the point, my body hit the wall, and I felt like I had been hit by a bus! No hangover here. As you know, I neither drink nor smoke, but it was my body´s way of saying, ¨Take it easy girlfriend!¨. We have been on the road for almost five months now, and I think I simply needed some R’n’R (rest and relaxation).

In the days after New Year, we walked around town, checked out some museums and went to Las Penitas beach, about 45 minutes away. For those who love literature, and know something about Central American literature ( I didn´t until I arrived here), we went to the Ruben Dario Museum. It is said that he is still Central America´s most famous poet and writer, although he died in the early 19oo´s.

After spending almost a week in Leon, which is longer than we usually spend in a place, it was, yet again, time to move on. We decided that our next destination would be El Salvador. The guide book says that it is the most ¨off-the beaten track¨ country in Central America…..but you will be surprised to find out, not the most dangerous! I will tell you later which one is!

And so, after packing and saying goodbye to our new found “family”, we were off once again!

“It’s not who we are that holds us back, it’s who we think we’re not” – Michael Nolan.

Ombi

NOTE: A recommended link for Nicaragua is www.vianica.com Here you will be able to explore the entire country .

(Photos: 1.- Leon Cathedral, 500 years old. 2.- Market 3.- Recoleccion Church,Leon. 4.- Night market on New Year’s Eve. 5.- Dancers in the plaza.)

On the morning of the 26th, we made our way to the dock, where we would catch a ferry back to the mainland. Our next stop, heading north, would be Granada. Granada is known for being one of Central America´s most beautiful and well kept colonial cities, which indeed it is, especially with its colourful architecture. What we didn´t like as much was how touristy it was (say the rtourists!), and what we found was a downtown area full of foreigners and foreign investment. As usual, Alex and I find beauty in getting out amongst it all, and chatting to the locals. We met an older gentleman, Enrique, who invited us to sit on his porch, and chat. He imparted with us some amazing things about the culture and history of Nicargua.

Travelling, in my opinion, is about learning, and getting out of your comfort zone, about meeting the locals and going to the markets to see how the people live and try the food that they eat, it´s about learning the language and trying to converse. It´s about experiencing new cultures. There is a lot to be learnt from ¨integration¨. All too often, we see travellers who make no attempt to learn the language, stick around the central few blocks or so, eat at places that have ¨recognisable ¨food (ie. what they eat at home, in an establishment that looks like something they´d find at home as well) and who basically want to find their home in a different country! Our challenge to them is to get out their and not only experience, but embrace the new culture! What does one travel for if she or he simply wants to find their own country somewhere else on earth? Take the Ombi and Alex challenge: leave your comfort zone, you will be amazed at what you will discover!

Whilst in Granada, we visited Las Isletas, a group of about 365 diminutive islands, scattered off the coast of Asese. They were formed some 10,000 years ago by an erupting Volcan Mombacho. Although the pictures looked impressive, our one hour boat ride revealed no such thing! Of course we only saw a small portion of the many islands, and we were horrified by the amount of construction going on, and by the many already established mansions on many of them. I felt like I was being taken on a tour of Beverley Hill´s rich and famous! The straw that broke the camel´s back, was the monstrous house with several big blow up dolls of Santa, snow and other Christmas objects. We later found out that it belonged to a Nicaraguan living in Miami. Alex and I want to know where we have gone wrong in society, and why so many people aspire to what has now become a commercial norm. When is this all going to stop!

A few days in Granada was enough for us, as we wanted a more traditional option. We thus made our way to Masaya, which although only 20 minutes away from Granada, is far less commercial, and much more authentic. Although Masaya is known for its ¨artesanias¨ (handicrafts), I must say that it does not compare to places like Guatemala, Mexico or Ecuador. All the same, it was a great place to hang out in and submerge oneself in the local culture.

One of our first stops was the local market. Selling everything from fresh produce to cooked meals to clothes to shoes, we always find that markets are the epicentre of a community, and it is here that you can see how the locals interact and live. We stopped and had ourselves a meal of the local food: ¨gallo pinto¨(beans mixed with rice), ¨maduro¨ (deep fried plantain, which is a cooking banana), ¨tostones¨(squashed and deep fried plantain) and salad. Oh, and Alex had something meaty thrown in there as well. We both just love markets, and when there is one available we always try and eat there. Furthermore, the food is always cheap and almost always better than its more expensive counterparts, with measly portions (which have become the bastions for foreign travellers). As I said, get out amongst it, there is a whole other ¨real¨world to be explored out there!

The day after we arrived in Masaya, we visited a place called the Volcan Masaya National Park, which has the most easily acessible active volcanoes in the country. Only a short ride from Masaya, we suddenly found ourselves on the edge of the Santiago crater. Although we could not see the bubbling lava, which we were told existed, the volcano was certainly billowing smoke, and occasionaly we got a whiff of sulphur. On the pamphlet given to us upon entering the park, it stipulates that you should try and spend no more than 20 minutes up at the top, and that if rocks are emitted by the volcano, that you should hide under a car! I could not help but think that it was all a numbers game really! What are the odds that I…………………….or someone………or several people could be here when this actually happens? We beleive that when your time is up!

We then walked around the rim of an extinct volcano close by, and once again, were afforded breathtaking views: the lush vegetation within the crater, birds akin to the vulture family flying overhead, the imposing Lake Masaya in the immediate distance. I felt like I was alive and on the top of the world.

Whilst in Masaya, we also visited a centurty old fortress called Coyatepe. A decent one kilometre hike up a hill, the views of the surrounding area were, yet again, both spectacular and rewarding. As we walked back into town, we stopped by the roadside to buy a hunormous fresh papaya, for USD 50 cents, and also took the opportunity to chat to the guy who sold it to us. In the same area, were a couple of ladies weaving the hammocks for which the area is famous for.

On the 30th we made our way to Leon, the place we would spend New Year in.

¨From the early ages, there has always been someone before us, someone we have displaced, someone who has marginalised us, someone against whom we eventually mixed¨- Victor Hugo Acuna.

Happy reading, until the next installment.

Ombi

(Photos: 1. On the way back to the mainland, Ometepe Island. 2. Sunset hike. 3. Folklore on Nicaragua Lake, Granada. 4. The colourful houses of Granada. 5. ¨Vigoron¨, one of national dishes of Nicaragua (cassava, pork and coleslaw, on banana leaves) 6. On the rim of the Santiago crater , Masaya National Park. 7. Traditional market, Masaya. 8. Getting into the guts of one good papaya! 9. View of the sky, as seen from Masaya National Park.)

A 3.00am start it was! After being told that all the inter-country buses were full, and that we would have to do it in ¨sections¨on the local buses, we figured that we should catch the first bus out. The bus we needed to catch was the 4.30ish bus ( I say ish, as everything is ïsh¨in these parts…things just happen…when they happen!), which would take us to the Pan-Americana Highway, from where we needed to catch a bus to the border. A bit of trivia: the Pan Americana is the main road which runs all the way from southern South America, all the way to the top of Central America. It is basically the heart beat of the Americas.

Luckily, the bakery was open, so just before boarding the first bus, we grabbed some bread! We took off in the dark, and some two hours later, we reached the highway! As it turned out, we befriended a Nicaraguan man, with whom we shared ¨breakfast¨with at the bus stop, waiting for the next bus! He too was off to Nicaragua, to spend time with his family. Pedro was so sweet, and really looked after us. When we finally boarded the Nicaragua-bound bus, at around 8.00am, it was packed to the rafters, but at least we got on. We had heard horrendous stories of the border taking hours to get through, especially being the festive season, but it was not too bad! And then we had Pedro, the local, showing us the ropes………..it was flawless, really, we crossed the Costa Rican border, to then have to enter and cross the Nicaraguan one. Heads tucked down, smiles on our faces, and following Pedro, we did it effortlessly! Welcome to Nicaragua!

This place has a totally different vibe to Costa Rica; more hustle and bustle, more animated people, and in my (humble) opinion, much more -like I would expect of Central America! Yes, what we had been waiting for! We thanked Pedro profusely, as we waved goodbye and hopped on a ¨chicken bus¨for Rivas. What is a chicken bus? Humans, animals (large and small!), bags of food (also large and small) and whatever else can be shoved on! Yes, it´s a labour of love, where it´s all about sharing…everything…including personal space! If you are not into up close and personal, Nicaragua isn´t for you! As I sat there…..with humans, and food and animals poking their heads out of bags, I felt a sense of euphoria! YES, bring it on, I am ready for the ride!

We immediately sensed how genuinely helpful and friendly Nicaraguans are. Whilst on the bus, another guy told us where we needed to hop off, in order to get a a short taxi ride to the dock, where we would then catch a ferry to Ometepe Island. He even bargained with the taxi driver to make sure that we did not get riped off! Alex and I usually do this, but it sure is nice to have someone else do it for you!

Ometepe is an imposing island, in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (which happens to be the 21st largest lake in the world, at 8264 km2, a litle bit less than Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, and the third largest in Latin America), which was actually formed by two large volcanoes;Volcan Concepcion, which rises 1610m above the lake in the perfect cone for which volcanoes have become famous for, and Volcan Maderas, at 1394m. The former is an active volcano, whose mouth is always shrouded in ¨mist¨. This island can actually be seen as you cross the border into Nicaragua, and it is truly a very sobering and majestic view. Despite religious beliefs or the way in which you beleive the world was formed, one cannot but stop and wonder about this amazing feat of nature!

The 45 minute ferry ride across to Moyogalpa, the island´s capital, was fine, apart from me suffering the usual minor symptoms of nausea (for those of you that don´t know, I suffer motion sickness: type of transport irrelevant!). One of the first things we noticed about Nicaragua was how hot it was! As opposed to Costa Rica´s lush and green landscape, Nicaragua is much drier and hotter, with nowhere near as much rain (it actually has not rained the entire time we have been in Nicaragua). On touching terra firma, we both realised how exhausted we were, but the usual ¨hunt for a home¨ was our obligatory first. Sometimes travelling can be hard yakka! Neither of us could be bothered to look, but it had to be done. We settled on a place called Hospedaje Central, which as the name suggests was central.

The guide books all say to make sure that you have enough money when you come here , as there are no ATM´s on the island. I should add here, that although the country´s official currency is the Cordoba (at almost 18 to the American dollar), American dollars are also widely accepted and used. Well, we saw history in the making..the day after we arrived, the very first ATM opened, and we were two of its first customers! I wonder how this will change things? For the better or for the worse? Time will tell! Our first few days on the island were spent chilling out. We felt that our bodies were starting to slow down. We walked through the side streets, chatted to people, played with the local children, and caught up with e-mails. It´s hard to move ¨fast¨on an island whose pace is ¨slow¨anyway!

After a few days, we caught a bus 20 minutes away to a place called Charco Verde, where we stayed at a place called Hotel Finca Playa Venecia. This beautiful lush and untouched area was pristinely isolated. A truly unspoilt place, where we afforded spectacular views of ¨nature untouched¨, as it should be! A walk through close by Charco Verde Reserve, gave us rewarding views of both volcanoes, from a vantage point that could only be described as spectacular. Then of course there were the birds, parrots and monkeys.

This is where we spent Christmas. As most people want action for the festive season, there were only four others here, besides Alex and I. Joyce and Jules, from England, were two of these other people. On Christmas Eve, Alex and I sat outside, and made ourselves dinner, whilst looking at the serene lake infront of us…….and we felt very, very, very lucky! We both realised that tonight we would have much more to eat than many people in the world! To be perfectly honest (as my close friends would say, am I ever any other way!), we were both glad to be able to escape the Christmas commercialism and hype, as it has truly become an exercise in over indulgence and expenditure, and focusing on the not so important things in life. Our gifts are surely our lives and the capacity to be able to live fully!

That night, the owners took us out with them, and we went for a bit of a boogie in the big smoke, Moyogalpa. We had fun, we chatted to the locals, and we danced…and I danced a lot! How did I have that much energy, a few people asked? I am glad that I still have it in me.

On Christmas Day, we hired some bicycles, and rode to a local watering hole. Local….well…….although the ride was only slightly uphill, it was hard work, in the searing heat of mid afternoon, and it still took an hour and a half or so. We stopped to grab a drink, as we were parched and dying of thirst, and although I am not a soft-drink fan, you have never seen me down a bottle like I did that afternoon! Whilst we were there, we met a boy who was on an errand to buy some cooking oil for his mum. I asked him if he wanted a soft drink, and his eyes lit up. Ah, the simple pleasures of life! If only we could see the merit in giving as well as receiving. It is the circle of life, the ¨balancer¨as I call it.

After a wonderful stay on Ometepe Island, it was time to move on.

Ombi

(Photos, 1. Border crossing, Costa Rica to Nicaragua. 2. Ometepe Island, Concepcion volcano. 3. ¨Chicken Bus¨4. Sunset on Moyagalpa, Ometepe Island 5.The local children of Moyagalpa. 6. Daily life of a farmer, herding cattle & taking them to drink water. 7. Sunrise over Charco Verde. (That´s my shot folks!, Ombi!!!)
8. ¨Shy¨monkey near our room in Charco Verde. 9. Ombi on Charco Verde beach, just after sunset.)