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Exploring Santa Ana – Mayan ruins, thermal waterfalls, and volcanoes!

Santa Ana is a small city in El Salvador, a nice place to base ourselves for easy exploration of a few key tourist sites in the country. We booked three nights at a small hostel here and ended up extending by a night as we liked it so much and there was lots to do.

For a change from the last couple of posts, the journey there will not take up the majority of this blog post! There were regular buses to Santa Ana throughout the day, all running from a nice and well-organised bus terminal (Terminal de Occidente) in San Salvador, the nicest bus terminal we’ve been to since Panama. We got a fast hour-long bus from San Salvador, with air conditioning and a proper luggage storage space, and made it in good time to check-in and go out exploring the town before dark.

The on-site hostel manager Eddy was really friendly and showed us around. We got chatting to another guest called Will, a retired police officer from near Wolverhampton. We’d heard Eddy and some other guests discussing a big cycling thing in the centre and we decided to head in and see what it was about. It turned out to be the Tour El Salvador, a multi-stage international cycling race which was finishing that evening in the centre of Santa Ana. As we walked in we got to see some of the women cycling past us to the finish line. There was a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere in town, with people sitting on the street to watch the race and all smiling and greeting us. We assumed this was because of the big event and festivities around it, but over the next few days we realised people in Santa Ana are just really friendly and wanted to say hello.

A Bougie Weekend in San Salvador

The journey from Nicaragua to El Salvador was a little complicated. Have a look at a map of the region and you’ll see that El Salvador doesn’t actually border with Nicaragua at all. The logical route overland would be via Honduras. However, last year the UK introduced a visa for Hondurans, and they responded in kind. Several months before we left I reached out to the Honduran embassy in London about getting a visa, but was told they needed to know exactly when and where we would be visiting. This is pretty impossible to predict more than a few days in advance, let alone a few months! So we almost gave up on the idea of going overland the whole way up Central America. I did some research though and found mention in a blog about a boat that ran a few times a week from Nicaragua to El Salvador without going through Honduras. Chris was initially pretty sceptical about my less than official findings! We’d thought maybe we could fly straight to Guatemala instead. However, from the start of the trip we met people travelling south who had been on the infamous ‘Mario’s boat’ and told us that El Salvador was a must do as it is safe right now and the people are lovely. It definitely lived up to the recommendations.

Discovering Beauty Off the Beaten Track in Jiquilillo, Nicaragua

It’s late at night and dark except for the light of the moon. I’m floating in a kayak in a estuary near a small village in Nicaragua that is well off the tourist trail. I have no phone, and I can neither hear nor see either Alex or our guide.

I realise that I’m totally alone, with no means of rescuing myself, in an unfamiliar country in an unfamiliar kayak.

I don’t panic however because I’m at peace in this beautiful place. The stars are shining, there is an occasional firefly and every time I dip my paddle in the water the disturbance causes a bioluminescence that briefly illuminates the water around me.

I also know that because of the darkness Alex and the guide can’t be too far ahead and if I just paddle onwards for a minute or so, hopefully I’ll be able to catch a sound of their paddles.

I’m the most relaxed that I’ve been on this trip and, although it took a while, I have now firmly fallen in love with Nicaragua

How did it come to this?

Exploring León, Nicaragua: Art and History in the City

Looking less squished than we felt on our second bus ride

We stopped in León, Nicaragua, for two nights. Our journey there was by local buses to cross the country from Granada. Buses in Nicaragua don’t run to a strict timetable, but instead they leave when they are full, but we timed it well with both buses and were not waiting long at all. It was a hot and sweaty journey though, with open windows only letting in a blast of hot air. The second bus was a pretty cramped ride with one of our big bags balanced across our laps, and our small backpacks jammed between our legs. The ride was fairly smooth and fast though, as we managed to get two very new minibuses. After around three hours we were safely in León. We’d decided in advance that we could easily walk the 15 minutes to our hostel, even with bags. This turned out to be a sweaty trek across a busy market under the hot sun. Chris does much better in the heat then me so he did all our navigating as I blindly followed him.

We arrived at our hostel and checked in, we’d decided to go for this particular hostel as it was family run, plus it had a room with air conditioning, ensuite, a balcony, and even bedside tables with lamps. Luxury! Our hosts were a nice family who greeted us warmly and, I suspect on seeing how I was faring with the heat and humidity, went and turned on the air conditioning in our room whilst we checked in and were shown around.

Architecture and Art in Granada

After a few days of fun on Ometepe island we were keen to get to Granada, famed for it’s old Colonial centre. We’d booked three nights in one of the largest and most well established hostels, and were looking forward to the facilities of a city after being in small towns or villages for a few weeks. First however, we had to get there.

I’d organised for the taxi driver who dropped us at our accommodation on Ometepe to pick us up and ferry us back to the port and, although this was not a cheap way to travel, the public buses from a remote village on a Nicaraguan island aren’t great. After the taxi it was a short wait at the port and then we were on the boat where we met a nice German couple who’d been travelling for three years! Their travel stories and recommendations made light work of the boat ride and soon we were at the port. We needed to get from the port of San Jorge to the roundabout in Rivas where we’d be able to catch a bus going North and, avoiding the taxis, we spotted a bus which I don’t think was actually in service but was going in the right direction. Unfortunately the fare we paid wasn’t much less than the taxi, but they did helpfully point out where to go once we reached the roundabout!

Ometepe Island Adventures: Volcanoes, Kayaking, and a Motorbike

Ometepe is a very large island in the enormous Lake Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America at 8,264 km²). It is dominated by two volcanoes, one active (called Concepcion) and one with a lake in the crater (called Maderas). To get here you have to get a ferry from the mainland that takes about an hour, the lake is huge!

We did well with our journey there, our host at Rancho Chilamate was going into town so she gave us a lift. There we found a yellow bus bound for Rivas. The bus dropped us at a petrol station and we met another backpacker going to Ometepe and agreed to share a ride. We were offered a taxi by a man charging $5 per person, whereas we’d all been told $5 per car. We took our bags away and met another driver, this time very nice and offering the price we expected. He helped us by explaining the correct taxes and ferry prices, and telling us where we needed to go. He asked if we needed transport on the Ometepe side, and then proceeded to call his friend and pass the phone to me to explain where we were going and to agree a price.

Once on the little car ferry, the water was surprisingly rough for a lake! Water was splashing up over the bow and through the door where we were sitting. We spent the journey chatting to Nina, the Belgian girl we’d met by the taxis. Chatting to people on public transport has been great, we’ve received lots of travel tips and it really helped pass the time on long journeys. The twin peaks of the volcanoes loomed closer and we were soon disembarking onto a sunny quay.

From Costa Rica to Nicaragua, a few days relaxing near San Juan del Sur

We had a lovely few days doing pretty much nothing when we arrived in Nicaragua. This is very unusual for us, but at this point we were about half way through our trip and needed a break from moving around.

Rancho Chilamate, a lovely place to relax

San Juan del Sur is on the backpacker trail, and is a bit of a party town on the Pacific coast. We decided we didn’t want more partying at this point, so we opted for a very nice Airbnb option at Rancho Chilamate, about 20 minutes drive on dirt roads by a small town called Escamequita. Rancho Chilamate is a horse ranch set in beautiful countryside. It was hot whilst we were there, low thirties most of the time, but with a strong breeze. We had a lovely room, with air conditioning and a nice ensuite with cold water shower (this is very common in Central America, and is perfectly OK in most places as it is so hot you really don’t want a warm shower). Our room opened onto a courtyard around a swimming pool, with a small yoga / gym area off to one side, it just perfect for a few days relaxing. The ranch is home to a few people helping out, and it was fun spending a some nights drinking and chatting with them and meeting their friends, neighbours, dogs, and cats.

Exploring the cloud forests in Monteverde

Monteverde was on our list of places to go from the beginning of the trip. It’s a small town in Costa Rica near to several national parks famed for their cloud forests (high altitude rainforest). Chris visited on his travels 21 years ago and was keen to return.

A boat is docked at a riverbank, with a wooden staircase leading down to the water; surrounding greenery is visible in the background. — Our boat transfer

We spent four nights in Monteverde Town, originally we’d planned three but we liked it so much we stayed an extra night! It was a good amount of time to see a lot and get a feel for the place.

To get there from La Fortuna we booked ourselves seats on the ‘jeep-boat-jeep’ transfer. This turns out to be ‘minibus-boat-minibus’ in reality as I suspect the roads have improved from when it was first offered! It was a really nice way to travel, going straight across Lake Arenal it cut down the journey time significantly compared to travelling by road. We ended up sat with Mark, who we’d had dinner with in La Fortuna, so that was nice to catch up again.

Hot springs, horses, and more hot springs in La Fortuna

After three nights in San Jose we struck out for La Fortuna, determined to avoid paying $110 for a shuttle by taking the public bus for $16. We’d taken public buses during most of our trip around South America and, 20 years ago all of my Costa Rica travel had been conducted by public bus. Things have changed a little however, more people own cars and public buses are now regarded as being a little more difficult in Costa Rica than neighbouring countries. Whilst in San Jose we’d walked to up the small bus terminal where our bus would depart, and found the right queue and a vague reassurance that the one direct bus left at 08:40 every day.

On our day of departure we grabbed breakfast in the hostel followed by a short taxi to the terminal where we joined the correct queue. We were worried by the length of the queue, but a few minutes later we’d paid the driver and were on the correct bus. The windows were already open which meant no aircon, but other than that it was pretty comfortable. The journey itself was uneventful, although Alex felt quite sick when we started ascending and then descending through tight switchbacks over a mountain.

La Fortuna is known for it’s proximity to Arenal volcano

We arrived in La Fortuna, grabbed our bags and walked to our hostel. La Choza Inn was to be our most luxurious hostel of our trip so far, at just over $50 a night it featured a private bathroom and air conditioning, something we haven’t had since Panama city. In reality for once it actually exceeded our expectations. The room was clean, the beds were good, we had a fridge and TV (which I can only presume worked). We were pleasantly surprised to find that our room was cleaned every day, and the included breakfast had table service with jam, hot sauce, and water on the table.

Do we know the way to San Jose?

We had a slow two days in Costa Rica’s capital between finishing our Spanish school and starting our ‘proper’ travelling together. We used the time to catch up on sleep and some admin.

The hostel (Costa Rica Backpackers) was nice, with a big communal area, and a fairly cheap restaurant and bar in house. It was the first place we booked for ourselves since starting this sabbatical, as the Spanish course took all the hard work out of travelling. The bedroom was an OK size, but the biggest plus was there was an actual bedside light, only one, but the first time we’ve had such a luxury since the first week in Panama!

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