Nicaragua

Our first two days in Nicaragua were dreamy—we are happy we found Rancho Esperanza. Along with accommodation, they offer yummy vegetarian and carnivorous food, local tours in the area (palm tree climbing, tortilla making, fishing, etc) and volunteer opportunities. The young Canadian Owner Nate and his staff work closely with the community to try to increase the tourism benefits to the local population. They also offer volcano and kayaking tours as well as surf lessons and board rentals to take advantage of the friendly waves.

When we finally managed to tear ourselves away from the palm frond beaches, warm water, and happy tranquilo vibes of Jiquilillo, we headed through Leon towards Cerro Negro. The most popular tour in Northern Nicaragua is volcano boarding at Cerro Negro (look it up, it’s pretty entertaining), but we had a different goal. From the limited information we could gather, it looked like a perfect bald rounded cone that has amazing potential for flying and relatively easy access due to the volcano boarding traffic. We enquired in Leon, and a nice girl at one of the tour companies told us the chalk van would ‘probably’ make it to the Volcano. We set out on the narrow, sandy access road, which turned out to be an awesome hour-long adventure. It winds through pasture and crop fields; past rural houses and through little tree tunnels; and is frequented by a variety of people on horseback or mule carts, wandering cows and horses, and the occasional rooster. We waved at everyone we passed and got lots of big happy smiles in return. When we arrived at the Volcanic Reserve, we found the little trail and headed up the hill with our Fazers. Rok led the way and wasn’t bothered a bit by walking through a volcanic boulder field full of sharp pokiness. On the hike up, we were treated to amazing views of steam vents in the crater of the volcano, the green patchwork fields below, and a fantastic sunset at the summit. Unfortunately the wind was the wrong direction and surprisingly strong on top, but we decided to follow the volcano boarders down and do a little evening volcano running. It’s kind of like running down a big sand dune but with much sharper (and blacker) consequences, and Rok hasn’t been so excited since we left Wyoming. We realized after the fact that we weren’t properly outfitted with the standard volcano attire—overalls, gloves, and goggles. We’re still trying to get all the pieces of volcano out of our shoes. Back at the base of Cerro Negro, we set up camp and settled in to enjoy yet another spectacular campsite all to ourselves. We cooked a sweet pasta dinner complete with fresh-baked French bread and local goat cheese we had stumbled upon in Leon. 

 

 

In the morning, we awoke in the shadow of the big black hill, surrounded by yellow-flowered trees and crazy tropical bird noises. We had hoped to hike and fly, but found more North wind, even stronger than the night before. So we settled for a game of volcano bocci with our coffee. We added Cerro Negro to our ‘places to return to’ list, as we’re sure that with the right conditions, the flying and photographic opportunities here could be awesome.

Our drive through the center of Nicaragua was slow and beautiful. We encountered a few rainstorms, which are always interesting due to the tie-dyed water washing our art away in streams of milky colors. We’ve also been battling our windshield wipers since we left home. Something in the connection is bad, which causes them to stop working at completely random intervals. Cade has replaced the motor, which didn’t fix the problem, so now we just cross our fingers and hope they’ll decide to function while it’s raining. We’ve had some pretty funny moments stopping on the highway in the pouring rain to wiggle the connection point under the hood, which usually makes them kick in just long enough to get back in the car and drive a few hundred more feet. Unfortunately, the farther south we get, the fewer junk yards and Chevy’s, so we may have to wait til we get back North to Guatemala or Mexico to get a replacement.

We also managed to find a 60km section of highway between Leon and Managua that was completely torn apart and deconstructed to the state of a half-washed-out rural dirt road. As is the norm in this part of the world, there was no warning of the massive scale of this construction project, just the typical “hombres trabajando” sign at the start. By the time we realized just how long the section was, it was way too late to turn around and reroute. We’ve learned this lesson over and over again on the journey: don’t trust google maps and when in doubt, always ask the locals which way is best. One of the most interesting parts of traveling in Central America is the complete lack of signage and random placement of necessary locations. It forces you to slow down, pay attention, ask LOTS of questions and directions, and sometimes just follow your gut feeling and hope for the best.

Our good friends Clint and Juniper passed on a book to us before we left Jackson called “The People’s Guide to Mexico.” If you ever get the inkling to drive through Mexico, it’s a must-read. But really it doesn’t just apply to Mexico. It presents a philosophy that applies to travel anywhere. When in doubt, we often refer to Carl for sage advice. For example, in the section about purifying water in Mexico, he lays out the different options: iodine, filters, buying bottled water, etc. He finishes the section by saying that if you’re ever in a pinch and forced to drink water from a dubious source, just chant “Pure Pure Pure” before you gulp it down for good measure. We’ve adopted the Pure chant as our mantra and have used it in many questionable situations and found it to be quite useful well beyond the scope of water. We said our Pure Pure Pure chant as we drove down the long dirt road and everything turned out ok. Thanks Carl!

 

Even with the construction delays, we covered most of central Nicaragua in a day, driving through fertile cropland and passing many a field of greenest green sugar cane. We stopped on the shore of Laguna de Apoyo for lunch overlooking the little crater lake and watched lots of tourists getting pelted by a fast-moving gust front at the mirador below. We cruised by the shore of Lago de Nicaragua, a massive lake with volcanic islands and constant wind.

We were preparing to cross the only land border with Costa Rica at Peñas Blancas the following day, so we got as far south as we could and headed for the coast again. There are some nice camping options on the beaches North of San Juan del Sur—we rallied the van over the steep dirt approach road and pulled up to the gorgeous little Playa Madeira, our home for the night. There are three beachfront restaurants, one of them offering camping and yoga, and lots of surfers that take the shuttle up from the tourist hotspot of San Juan del Sur. We walked on the beach at sunset, played ball with Rok, and chilled out as the last of the day-trippers deserted. We ordered a veggie pizza and yucca fries and met Abe, the manager of the restaurant and campground, who happens to be from Sheridan, Wyoming. It’s a very small world.

The sunrise at Playa Madeira was impressive—the big billowy clouds reflected on the wet sand and waves. We drank our coffee and enjoyed our last morning in Nicaragua on the empty beach, soaking up the solitude before another hectic border crossing. And hectic it was. We had read some info that warned us of the busy crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but we were still a bit surprised by the long lines, hoards of tourists and migrant workers, surprisingly thorough vehicle search, and extra-random placement of customs, insurance, and photocopy offices.

We made our way through all the formalities eventually, and enjoyed the thought of no more border crossings for a while. We even pulled up to Caldera in time for a sunset soaring session at Nemacly’s, a popular flying site owned and operated by a friendly French Canadian pilot named Jean-Claude. We were immediately welcomed and broke out the Delta and Alpina. As we cruised over the jungly ridge, we were both blown away to look down and see monkeys jumping from tree to tree below us. We chased vultures around the sky as the sun set over the ocean. When we landed, we met Guissepe and Thomas, who led us back to Grampa Ninja’s. Fred (the Ninja himself) welcomed us to his flying B&B. Grampa Ninja’s offers accommodation and guide service to visiting pilots. We spent a few more days with the crew, flying at Caldera and Jacó, trying to absorb some of Fred and crew’s extensive knowledge of the country’s flying potential. They’ve been flying in Costa Rica for 10+ years and chase the wind to the best site every day. If you’re interested in exploring Costa Rica’s paragliding potential, we highly recommend Grampa’s for great accommodation and lots of friendly knowledge.

We’re settling down in Costa Rica for a bit, looking forward to emptying out the van, dropping the trailer, and exploring the for a little while!

El Salvador and Honduras

Leaving Panajachel we had a beautiful drive from the Altiplano back down to sea level, where we were welcomed to a night at Casa A-Fin-ity, a sport fishing and paragliding destination. Word of mouth and generous fellow air lovers led us there. The Casa features a full-service bar and kitchen, a handful of double and single rooms, a disco, a movie screen and projector, a sweet pool and hot tub surrounded by palapas and hamacas, and even 2 heli pads out front for easy access volcano flying. Davis and Benjamin have developed multiple flying sites in the area with the help of visiting pilots. They hooked us up with lots of info and good vibes. We’re looking forward to checking out their sites and doing some flying with their crew on our way back North.

After our night of luxury at the Casa, we pointed it for the border—to El Salvador! We had another multi-hour wait at immigration and customs--thanks to a malfunctioning printer this time (ain’t technology awesome!?). When we finally got through, we pushed over to the Balsomar coast and arrived at the black sand beach of El Palmarcito just after sunset. Visiting this stretch of coastline North of the port town of La Libertad took us a ways off of the Pan-American, but it was well worth the detour. The terrain is rugged and the highway winds along the coastline through tunnels and over bridges. There are breezy clifftop restaurants and miradores, pretty beaches, great surf, and flying too! We went exploring with the van and found one of the launches that the local pilots have developed. The sea breeze wasn’t cooperating with much wind, but Becca still had a nice sled ride down to a secluded beach. She got to chat with the nice owners about paragliding and skydiving and fend off security guys with big guns while I figured out how to convince the guards at the private gate to let the chalk van through to retrieve her.

The following day, we ventured into San Salvador and met up with Julio Vega, a local pilot who has pioneered several flying sites in El Salvador. We met at a "Mister Donut" near the US embassy in the city. While we didn't try any donuts, the breakfast was surprisingly good. He guided us to nearby Lake Ilopango, which sits inside a volcanic crater and offers good ridge soaring on the right day. We had a fun flight scratching with vultures and landed down in the pristine LZ—a country club on the lakeshore featuring some of the nicest grass we’ve seen in a long time. The local club is small but passionate— some paramotor pilots joined in the fun too!  If you’re looking for flying adventure in El Salvador, Julio and his guiding servie—Akwaterra—can show you the way. From Ilopango, we headed a bit further SE, hoping to get closer to the Honduran border for an early start the following day.

 We found a great campsite by another crater lake just outside the little pueblo of Alegria. The town sits on the shoulder of a dormant volcano and features narrow winding streets, stunning views, and happy people (naturally). We drove up and up and up through coffee plantations, marveling at the view of the plains below and another bald, smoking volcano a few miles away. We drove right up to the shores of sulphurous Laguna de Alegria, played Chuckit with a very happy Rok as the sun was setting, and walked the mile or so back down to town on the cobblestone road past farm gates and coffee trees for dinner on the square. Pizza, fresh-baked bread, and some Central American-Italian fusion caprese salad. Our walk back up to the lake was quiet and just cool enough to relieve us from the stifling heat of the Salvadorian afternoon. We gazed at the bright stars and returned to the van, where we were discovered we were again the only campers in sight.

Since we were already a bit behind our projected arrival date in Costa Rica, we had decided to push through the narrow bit of Honduras the next day and try to make it through the Southeastern border with Nicaragua before sunset. We had also heard horror stories of the border crossings and a slew of corrupt police checkpoints asking for bribes along the well-travelled route between El Salvador and Nicaragua. After a few Central American borders, we have learned that random delays are the norm (as are mountains of photocopies, stamps, and very official-looking paperwork from not-so-official-looking people). We conjured up a big dose of good old fashioned patience, crossed our fingers, and practiced our happy calm gringo faces.

So we woke up at the crack of dawn, made some coffee, and hit the road. Well, almost. When we went to the entrance of the park, we discovered we were stuck inside—the big metal gate was chained shut with a hefty padlock. We weren’t sure if they were trying to secure the park or trying to hold us hostage, but the guy that was supposedly guarding the entrance shack all night was nowhere to be found (or an incredibly heavy sleeper). As I used my bank robber skills and attempted to pick the lock, Becca used her detective skills and found another exit where the locked loop of chain had been hung on a nail on the side post of the gate, rather than wrapped around it. We were free! We just had to drive around the lake to get the van to the other exit. Fortunately it only set us back about half an hour, because we used every bit of daylight we had to get through the two borders and 134km of Honduras.

We arrived at el Amatillo and got through immigration just in time to be foiled at customs by the lack of internet once again. We waited a few hours for the internet to come back and eventually got all the photocopies and permits taken care of (including Rok’s official permission to pass through the country for 24 hours), and waited again for the bank employees to get back from lunch so we could pay our customs fees, it was 1 PM and HOT. In the meantime we had bought a stack of the most delicious fresh tortillas of the trip, avocado, cheese, and fresh lime juice (our staple road snack) to get us around the Golfo de Fonseca.

Our quick trip through Honduras was fairly uneventful. The road was decent, there was less traffic than other places, and the multiple cops we encountered at 5 different stops were nothing but polite and brief. We feel very fortunate that we haven’t been asked for a single bribe on our entire journey and that everyone has been welcoming and friendly along the way. Turns out it’s hard for policemen to keep a straight face when they see a set of Mexican cow horns on a front bumper. They generally can’t help but crack a smile as they bend down to check that our license plates match our import permits. The chalk art seems to break the ice a bit too. Rok still isn’t buying it—he usually tries to bite their hands off if they reach in to grab a driver’s license or passport.

Although some of the roadside towns seemed more impoverished than their neighbors, we got an overall positive vibe from Honduras. We may be back to explore some of the gorgeous-looking sites to the North and West after a little more research and planning in a few months.

The Honduran/Nicaraguan border of Guasale was an absolute dream—no lines, no fuss, no broken internet, no bank fees and wandering around looking for misplaced offices. The customs officials were downright friendly and we cruised through with happy faces and our sights set on the Northern beach town of Jiquilillo. We felt so good we even picked up some hitchhikers just past the border who unfortunately turned out to be rather stoic and existential Germans who were trying to get back to their commune and seemed bored of life and us. We ditched them after an hour and headed for the coast. The landscape changed immediately—from hot dry scrubby hills to vast green fields dotted with dramatic volcanoes and cowboys herding cattle—yay. We arrived at Rancho Esperanza in the dark and discovered cool palapas, big organic veggie dinners served family-style around long wooden tables, beachfront hammocks, and lots of hip people chilling out. There’s also a sprawling lawn perfect for camping. We liked it so much we had to stay 2 nights. Stay tuned for more photos from Rancho Esperanza!

The Gel of Panajachel

Our first big stopover of the trip has been amazing!

We arrived in Pana and were immediately welcomed by the never-ending hospitality of Christian and Stefanie of Real World Paragliding. We have been amazed from start to finish by their generous spirits and their sweet spot on Lake Atitlan. They gave us work, fed us daily, hooked us up with the local knowledge, and even let us park the chalk van in the garden and crash their house for our two week stay! It’s been nice to slow down and sleep in the same place for a little bit and get to know Christian and Stephanie and their son Liam. Rok was right at home at the house too and found his place among their loyal pooches—Zoey, Corazon and Mofo.

We took advantage of the good weather we were given and had some amazing solo and tandem flights—playing in the clouds over Lake Atitlan, soaking up the sun, and making some gas money…. It was good to get back to work again and to pull the acro gliders out of the bag too! We have had an awesome crew of international tandem pilots—Jenni and Graham from the UK, Tomy from Venezuela/ Peru, Christian and Tono from Guate and us! from the USA. On the good days, the sea breeze blows in across the lake from the South around 11 or 12 and lasts until sunset! We were even lucky enough to be there for a record setting day for Real World. We can't wait to get back for some more fun.

 A few jumbled memories from the last two weeks: Fun squished rides up to launch in the back of Mike’s shiny blue lowrider pickup (hola aguacates!), piñata bashing, yummy Asian, Italian, and típico meals in Pana. Limonadas, cappuccinos from Café Loco, a moist boat ride across the lake to San Pedro, frolicking in the Care Bear cloudy land above takeoff. Choconoya hiding in the corner of the office, long walks with Rok, fresh fruit con limón y chile, avocado sandwiches, shopping at the mercado, little red tuktuks stuffed full of paragliders zooming around cobblestone streets, tamales, salsa picante, happy music, falling avocadoes, cooking epic feasts with Stefanie and creating mountains of dishes for the boys to wash. Fireworks to the third dimension, camping on top of the world, hippies wandering, happy passenger smiles, Cards Against Humanity for English as a Second Language speakers. Epic chalk van art, crepes, chocolate, Nein!, fresh fruit smoothies, yoga in the garden, and beautiful sunsets enjoyed from the aterrizaje, el despegue, the back of the pickup, the shore of the lake and the sky.