We step off the ferry San Juan del Sur is a very small town. The ferry dock is just a dirt road out into the water. I wonder if staying on dry land would have been a better idea. The ferry ride was great not even a bump, we had read that approaching the shore it could get really wavy and there was a good chance that even of you were down in the enclosed area of the boat that you to would be splashed by waves. Not for our trip. As we are walking down this dirt road to the town we pass a mini van, I saw some Americans that we encountered in Leon getting onto it. For a brief second I question if we should ask to get on it thinking it would land us in the bigger city but I soon dismiss that and fallowed everyone else. Once we hit the main road we ask some local about getting to Moyogalpa. The locals said there are no taxi and the busses are finished for the day, it is dark out. Mateo had already looked up a hostel, the directions were as followed go to the main road turn right and you’ll find us. With no other options we did just that. I felt weird with the darkness surrounding us and only a couple locals in sight. We soon arrive at Hostel Sinai. A young boy greets us with a giant smile and good English. After getting into our rooms we sat down for a bit to eat. This little hostel had a welcoming family feeling to it, wifi and a restaurant. We order quickly because the lady working the kitchen will not go home until we have hot food in front of us. Danny tells us of the lack of rain, the rainy season should have already started there but it has not rained once. Shortly after informing us of this it starts to pour rain. Danny was really helpful, we told him of our want to ride motorcycles around the island, many books have said it is the most efficient way to tour the island. We could see many sights in one day instead of only a couple with many hours of hot chicken busses. Mateo was aching to get on a motorcycle. He spends some of his internet time looking at craigslist for motorcycles, and a replacement engine for his own. Timmy said he knew how to drive as well so Danny sets it up for two motorcycles and four helmets to arrive at 8 am the next morning. We are eating dinner and the power goes out. The power goes out here randomly and stays out for long periods of time it is understandable. The power plant gets over worked and the power goes out. Many people are saving for solar panels, at the hostel Danny has already set up enough solar panels to generate electricity to keep the coolers running when the power shuts down. Danny is impressive for a 25 year old. Practically running the hostel on his own and also the restaurant. The power come on and off throughout the night making sleep difficult. I don’t mind sleeping in heat but when the fan shuts down I start to heat up to a point I cannot sleep.

8 hours of travel will make you crazy

We woke up and cooked beans, rice and eggs. Yes we are officially Central Americans, beans, rice and eggs for breakfast by choice. I am missing the awesome salsas of Mexico and the pupusas of El Salvador. We packed up our tent that still smelled of camp fire, went to catch the chicken bus. No taxi this time, we will be heading all the way to Ometepe, an island made of two volcanos, and surrounded by fresh water that was once salt water. This time we did not have any idea as to how we will get there, chicken buses yes but connecting all those buses unknown. We get into Matagalpa, and we are at the North bus station and need to be at the South bus station. Times like this Mateo and I would have walked but with no knowledge on how long it is going to take us to Ometepe we chose to take a taxi, splitting it four ways isn’t bad. We find a bus to Managua, another chicken bus another couple hours.

beauty

It feels like we have been in an armpit all day, a sweaty arm. The schools bus windows do come down but they don’t help with the sweat that puddles in every area of my body, as well as my legs that stick to the seats. Oh and do you remember the wheel wells that come up under the seats, I hope our next seats are in a different area of the bus or no chicken bus at all. We countiue on, we are trying to make it to the island and have been fortunate to get this far with no problems. We grab some Coke-a-cola to substitute a meal, Managua to Rivas and Rivas to San Jorge. I feel a bit like we are on the amazing race. We get of the bus in the central part of Rivas. We talked with a taxi driver said we needed an ATM and to get to San Jorge. He took us to a gas station, he told us that there was no more ferry to the major town on the island. We said to take us San Jorge anyways we would find a hotel and depart early the next morning for Ometepe. Our taxi driver warned us that we should not go out at night because it wasn’t safe. Our hotel was right right next to the ferry terminal. Our taxi was gone quickly. It appreared that there was a line to the ferry doc, we chatted with with the guards at the gates, the 530pm ferry was late, we can get on the ferry to San Jose Sur, not our original destination on the island, but still on the island. Some one told us that the main town is only 10kilometers north of where we were heading. So on to the fery we went.

Boat researching