Sorry for the delay guys, we know it’s been a while since our last post... but we will be posting a lot from now on, because many things happened since then. So let’s go back to the beginning of December, when we left Utila in Honduras.
After our dive course in Utila, we got back to mainland Honduras, to La Ceiba, a tiny, uninteresting and (as we later discovered) dangerous town. We wanted to go south and visit Nicaragua, but in order to do that we had to cross the entire Honduras. Therefore, we spent the night in La Ceiba to leave early in the morning to reach Nicaragua.
And that night and the following will be remembered as one of the scariest of our lives...
At around 23h we were at the hostel and heard two gunshots. A few minutes later someone fired a machinegun. We were not that sure about what we heard, it could have been fireworks or whatever. But the following day the cab driver who took us to the bus station confirmed our fears and said that two people had been killed near our hostel, and that some gangs got in a shootout and fired machineguns. We knew then we had to leave Honduras ASAP.
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| Tedodgygalpa |
However, were decided to avoid trouble at all costs, so to make it short, we ended up sleeping at the ugly and expensive bus terminal’s hotel, just because it was guarded 24h/7 by people with shotguns... and still, there were shootouts at night again.
But let’s forget about that, because we did make it to Nicaragua! The next day we got the hell out of there and crossed the border.
So people, do not visit Honduras unless you really want to rough it up. Because if you add up extremely irresponsible gun control laws (people can carry 3 guns by law...), corruption and social inequality, Honduras is what you get. An inhospitable place with inhospitable people.
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| Esteli's cathedral. Such a peaceful place after Honduras... |
After the journey from hell, we finally arrived in Estelí, a small town in the higher Nicaraguan mountains close to the Honduran border. Nicaragua is way different to the rest of the countries we have visited. With an exciting social and political background, Nicaragua is, sadly without any doubt, the poorest country in all Cental America. Few paved roads, awful (!) water systems polluted by pesticides, and miserable families living under undignified conditions.
However, Estelí and its region are different and special in many ways. Here, many local communities started organic farming helped by international NGO´s or the UN. Eco-tourism is the main attraction of Estelí and its surrounding mountains. One can drink organic coffee, eat delicious self-made chocolate and all kind of organic vegetables. This has helped revitalising the region a lot.
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| Miraflores National park |
We were very curious about organic farming and decided to stay two days at an organic farm in the Miraflores National Park. We got there after 2 hours of bumpy dirt roads in an over packed chicken bus. Our guide took us to our lovely homestay. We did a four-hour hiking tour through the ranches and mountains and learned how coffee was made there. Our stay made us feel back to the nature. All the food was 100% organic, collected from their own farms. Nothing compared to the genetically manipulated shit we all eat.
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| The coolest treehouse ever |
But the highlight of our visit was the place we slept in. The farmers had built an impressive tree house in the middle of their organic coffee plantation and we got to sleep in it. Climbing up the tree was a real adventure, especially at night in the dark when we had to go all the way down to get to the toilet. All in all, it was a relaxing and cool trip. We even know how to grow organic coffee, even if neither of us like it :)
Our next stop was León, one of the highlights and main destinations in Nicaragua. León is a medium city close to the Pacific coast and surrounded by many volcanoes. The city is very special, mainly due to its revolutionary past.
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| León's cathedral |
León was one of the main towns in which the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) fought against the forces of the dictator Somoza, whose family ruled the country from 1936 with the support of the US. The FSLN, a left-wing group born from the Nicaraguan resistance against the United States occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s, overthrew Somoza in 1979 after many clashes. The insurrection was subdued at the cost of several thousand casualties.
Unfortunately, Nicaraguan lack of hygiene ruined a bit our stay in Leon, because we both got food poisoning and got sick. After two days in bed, Carlos recovered a bit faster and managed to go on a tour we had previously booked.
It was a hike of one of the most active volcanoes in Central America, the Cerro Negro... and a very special descent.
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| El Cerro Negro! |
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| Might not seem that high.. well it was |
The idea was to climb it in 1 hour, and descend it in 45 seconds... How? Volcano boarding! rated by the CNN as the second most intense activity you can do before you die. And yes, it was EFFing intense. I didn’t get to 80 or 90 km/h like the craziest ones, but I can assure you that cruising at 65km/h on nothing but a wooden board is extreme. Especially when there are no breaks, and you have to rely on your old Adidas to do the job... Quite an experience.
After our stay in Leon, we did something we will remember forever. We had been in contact with this Latin American NGO called “Un techo para mi pais” (http://www.untechoparamipais.org/), and had signed up for volunteering for them. What they do is pretty basic, but extremely helpful: they build what they call “emergency homes” for families living in extreme poverty (and believe us, it is something you come across in Nicaragua more than once...). “Un techo para mi país” tries to make sure that every family in Latin America gets a decent home. A first step to reduce social inequality.
So we headed to a small community near the town of Chinandega, in the north of the country, and spent 4 days building a house (from A to Z) for extremely poor families. Actually, we were 40 volunteers and built 11 houses for 11 families.
The happiness we saw in our families’ faces once we finished building the houses was definitely worth sleeping on the floor of a rural school, waking up at 5am, working for 12 hours under a striking sun and almost not showering for several days. Some families had never owned a real house, or had been in the street for decades. Others had decent jobs and structured families, but couldn’t afford more than a shack.
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| With the two kids of one of the families, and the house we built for them |
The poverty we saw there (and also experienced! because we ate what they cooked and lived with them) was unacceptable. No one should live in such conditions. Especially when the rich big farming company that owns all the land and employs almost everyone in that county pollutes constantly with pesticides their soil, water, and exploits their workers instead of trying to improve their living conditions. Nothing surprising...
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| Joana and her team as they handed out the property papers |
Anyway, at least NGOs like Un techo para mi pais clearly understand the social and economical issues in Latin American countries and keep on doing efforts to eliminate poverty and improve social cohesion. Applause.
As for us, we will surely work for them again in other countries, as soon as a new project opens.
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