As you read, we finally made it to Granada, Nica. We stayed at a hostel called the Beared Monkey, where they had great food, hammocks to ´hang´ out in around the open courtyard, and 75 cent beers. We spent our first day there going to a town nearby called Masaya, known for its crafts. We did our souvioner shopping there, but if you are over the age of 18, or not Kimberly or Jimi, you didn´t get anything. When we returned to Granada, we vistited an old catherdral and climbed up the bell tower for some amazing views of the city. Pictures to follow later... when we can find a computer that doesn´t threaten causing the whole island computer failure if we attempt to upload pictures (although I am tempted to see if they are bluffing or not). The next day we took a riduculously bumpy truck ride out to a coffee plantation to go on a canapy tour. For those not familar, these are zip lines hung up in trees which you whiz along in a harness. At the end, they have a repel, or as they called it, freefall (Jimi was a bit concerned about that one), which made Jimi scream like a girl. I did, too, but I am a girl, so...
Later that day, we took a boat ride across the lake to Isla de Ometepe. This island was formed by two volcanoes, either of which you can climb.
We decided to climb Concepcion, the larger of the two, on the north side of the island. We arranged our guide ath the hotel and went to sleep to get an early start on the climb. As they say, the early bird gets the worm, well, we opened a huge can of ´em that day. We´re not sure what the other two trails up this volcano are like, but ours was more like a climb than a hike. The ´trail´is basically 5 hours up muddy, loose, sharp volcanic rock, to a height of 1610meters, or just over 5000ft. And it looked suprisingly like the path water might take down a mountain after a storm. Nothing was meant to go up that way, ever(in 9 hours up and down, we saw not one other person).
It´s all worth it in the end, though, where this trail hits the top, there is about a 5 foot wide area you can sit without sliding down, if you are careful, and you are greeted almost insatntly by HUNDREDS of insects that swarm all over you (our guide assured us they dont bite as he squatted and ate a bug-covered mango, and they didn´t). And the view...well the clouds cover the view most of the way up, and the last hour is so thick with volcanic fumes it smells like a fart while you scramble on all fours for the 3rd straight hour, but your hands don´t get cold from the altitude, as all the rocks are blazing hot.
So we prepared to tumble to our deaths, I mean climb down safely, after only 5 minutes at the top. We somehow made it down alive and not well, and got the next bus out of town.
