Mud Baths and Horny Red-Eyed Tree Frogs at La Fortuna

After a roundabout drive to tranquil Princesa de la Luna Ecolodge (due to mudslides that took out the road) we arrived with the Vasalik family ready to enjoy the wet, humid jungles near Arenal Volcano.

At the lodge, local naturalist, Wilmer, led us down the gardens, past mango and papaya trees, down, down the mud-drenched steps to a small waterfall, where we grabbed the smooth mud from the bottom of the pool, and slathered it on our bodies.   We rinsed off in the cold river and the natural, mineral-water filled swimming pool.   It sure was slippery fun!

Birds do it.  Bees do it.  Even red-eyed tree frogs do it...

Kenny and Peter, our Bellevue friends spent hours spotting blue jean dart frogs and a pair of amorous red-eyed tree frogs.  They played Magic, the card game, with our kids, and hiked about in the rain.

We ate almost every night at  Soda Osiris  near the town of El Bosque, 6k before La Fortuna.  Great casados of fried plantain, chicken, and the ubiquitous gallo pinto (rice and beans!)

Blatts in Nicaragua: Olive Ridley Turtle Lays Her Eggs

She had come up out of the sea just before sunset to lay her eggs: An enormous Olive Ridley turtle.

It was unusual in June, as the season doesn't usually start until August; and even rarer that she would lay her eggs in broad daylight. But the strong winds and full moon must have confused her.  So, heavy with her 35 or so ping pong ball sized eggs, she came out of the sea about an hour before sunset.

It was our third day in Nicaragua and we were at quiet Marsella Beach, near San Juan del Sur . . .  yes, the same place they filmed Survivor!  Steve had suggested that we walk down the isolated beach for a romantic stroll.  Suddenly, we saw another tourist running towards us . . . "There's a turtle on the beach!"  he shouted.  

Steve ran for the kids and his camera.  He returned minutes later with both. 

Once she had made her way high above the waterline, she chose a suitable spot and began to dig a nest for her offspring using her back legs and shovels, scooping the dirt out of the hole below her.  Then, hovering over the nest, she began to plop egg after egg into the sandy pit.  A group of tourists had gathered and we watched with awe and took plenty of photos as the eggs slipped out from behind her tail. In about 10 minutes she had released all her eggs into the pit below her.  Then she started filling in the nest with sand, using her agile back legs to scoop sand over her eggs.

Then she flipped flopped back and forth, packing the sand down, to hide her eggs under the coming and goings of tourists on the beach.  After resting up for a few minutes she slipped back into the sea and swam away.

We were stupefied by the display and felt honored to have watched it.  Shortly after she had returned to the sea, a man and a woman, locals, appeared on the beach.  They had come to dig up the eggs.

"Hey what are you doing?"  we incensed tourists wondered. They asked us to help them gather the eggs and take them a short walk down the beach to a refuge nearby to protect them until they hatched. We weren't sure whether or not we should believe them so we followed them to the turtle refuge where eggs were labeled with the dates of when they were laid and the hatching dates as well.

We dug up the eggs, but it wasn't easy.  Even having witnessed the whole spectacle, it took us about 10 minutes of frantic digging before we could locate the nest of eggs.  Then, we each had the opportunity to pick up the freshly nested eggs and place them in a bucket.  They were cool and wet and felt like a deflated ping pong ball.  

It was an incredible experience that I doubt any of us will ever forget.

Blatts in Nicaragua: We're Batty about Masaya

After an unsuccessful, two-hour foray to find Benji a suit for his Bar Mitzvah, we gave it up and headed to Masaya National Park to see the gaping, steaming, venting crater up close. We hired a guide for a couple of bucks a head, and drove up to get a view of the yawning maw. Poisonous, sulfuric fumes rolled out of the huge crater, making it impossible to see the boiling lava, but it was still pretty cool!

Alberto, our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, took us into the mouth of a lava tube tunnel at the base of the cone, one of several in the area. We donned our silly hard hats (to keep the bats out of our hair, I think) and our flashlights, and entered the bowels of the volcano.

Inside the tunnel's cave, we observed stalactites and stalagmites, and giant tree roots coming down from above.  When we reached the center of the cave tunnels,  Alberto suggested that we turn off our flashlights and just listen, assured that the bats would not attack us.  When we were plunged into darkness, the squeaks and flutter of the bats seemed amplified.  It was strangely spiritual and otherworldly.  When we turned the flashlights back on, the air was filled with bats in flight.  Totally awesome!

After the cave, Alberto led us to the ridge between the craters, where the wind roared and swirled around us, threatening to whisk us off the ledge,

I highly recommend Masaya to volcano hunters and cave-dwellers alike.

Blatts in Nicaragua: San Juan del Sur and Playa Marsella

I'd hate to tell you the name of our fantastic, oceanfront hotel that's really reasonable and has a great, friendly staff.  If I did, you'd probably really want to go there, and then the prices will go up, and it will be too crowded for us to get a room.  But I'm feeling generous today, and it really is amazing-- so here it is in whispered font:  Marsella Beach Front.      There, I've done it, and now it'll be super popular with all the millions of blog readers out there.

From our porch, we watercolor painted, and watched the sunset.  We played in the ocean in the warm, calm waters and splashed in the little pool and played billiards for hours.


At breakfast, we sat on the high balcony of the restaurant, watching the waves on one side, and the howler monkeys playing at eye level on the other.  Paradise found in Nicaragua!

San Juan del Sur itself didn't compare to the quiet bay at Marsella.  We did enjoy the shwarma and big-ass burrito at Cha Cha Cha, an ex-pat establishment.

But mostly, in San Juan del Sur, we enjoyed hanging out with Pedro and Marina, who we'd also seen on Ometepe.  The pair was from Argentina, and we enjoyed speaking Spanish and relaxing in the warm, evening air accompanied by the sound of the waves.

They'd been traveling for a year and a half in a psychedelic painted camper van, and their cheerful spirit of adventure was invigorating.  Argentinian Marina has a beautiful singing voice (as does our Marina), and we all sang while she played guitar to Wonderwall and some Beatles tunes.

Blatts in Nicaragua: Here in Granada

We had to stop the car at the local barber shop on the way into the colonial town of Granada because Benji's hair was out of control.  He's like Harry Potter, the minute we cut his hair off, it magically reappears just as long and unruly.

 

The next day we went to the quaint central square and negotiated a horse and carriage ride around the town, which was the highlight of our Granada experience.  We visited the town's many churches, and learned a lot about Granada's history, which is basically that there we several mercenary foreigners, including American William Walker, who each tried to control Granada but then fled and burned down the town.  Each time, the colonial town was rebuilt, making for lots to describe during our horse and carriage ride.  We saw colonial, neo-colonial, and neo-lithic architecture styles.

Our hotel,the Antigua Estacion was located right near the old train station, not surprisingly. It was spacious and cool, but a bit pricey.

History according to Ilana:  Then the evil dictator killed someone's son, named Sandana, creating the Sandanista movement, and now the government workers all have a rally as they are required to do on the third of July, which is today.  We know this doesn't make sense, but it's a translation of what we understood in Spanish. 

The next day we took a boat out to the little islands in Lake Nicaragua where we saw houses belonging to rich people perched on very small properties with motor boats carrying tourists zipping around them.   The nature part of the tour was a monkey chained to a tree, a heron wondering where all the garbage is coming from, and another tiny island with a captive troupe of monkeys.  They should learn to swim, cross to the mainland, and take on the Sandanistas for control of Granada.

We can recommend Restaurant Asados Chilitis. We ate there three nights in a row. Six bucks for a huge plate of roast chicken, salad and rice with plantains.  Also the gelato on the walking street should not be missed, especially the grapefruit flavor!

Oh! And we had a cute jacket made here by a seamstress that matches a dress Marina bought. We're planning ahead for her March bat mitzvah!

We met a nice family in Ometepe that we hooked up with for dinner in Granada.  If you are reading this, Dawn and Paul, we applaud your adventurism.  You rock.  We, on the other hand, would kill each other if we, like your family, were forced to spend 5 days, let alone 5 months, together on a small sail boat.  It would make for a great movie, though.  

Blatts in Nicaragua: Welcome to Ometepe Island

This butterfly was loving the windy spray of the falls.

At 7 in the morning we got an early start and headed out of San Jose. It was a quick and easy five hour drive to the border of Nicaragua. We had gotten all of our documents in order so that we could take our car, and we had no problem crossing the border. To help us through the border crossing, we hired some local dudes for about 10 bucks, and that seemed to smooth out the process. Overall, we were there about 90 minutes.   It took a bit longer on the return as the lines were longer, but we didn't need an intermediary.

Volcan Concepcion on Isla Ometepe

Immediately, a few minutes into our Nicaragua drive, we could see Lake Nicaragua out the car window. We bought our spot on the car ferry to Ometepe Island. Unfortunately the boat was the size of a rubber ducky and the spot for us left our we're the wheels hanging off the end of the boat. "Estas bien., It's fine!" the ferry captain assured us but we knew better and backed up the gangplank moments before departure.

The next ferry was more commodious and we arrived at home at Ometepe before nightfall. Two volcanoes are perched at either end of the mystical island. Concepcion, the conical volcano throws fire, and Madeira with a lake at the top, border the other end of the figure eight shaped island. A road circles the 10 Mile Island. 

 Day 1:  After staying the night at the lakefront hotel Finca de Venezia, quite a nice hotel, we spent the day at the island for only $30 a night. We spent all of our fist day at Ometepe's beautiful fresh water pools of Ojo del Agua.  The mineral springs were cool, long pools, and we relaxed the whole day luxuriating and talking and drinking some highly alcoholic beverage mixed with fresh coconut and grain alcohol. Now we were on vacation!

Day 2: After a drive around the island in our four by four , we headed up a very bumpy road.  Arriving at San Ramon, we were told to expect a moderate, 30 minute climb.  We hiked for more than an hour up the steep, muggy trail to the icy refreshing waterfall.  The waterfall there at San Ramon was like a cool, clean shower. It was well worth the tiring climb. 

On the way back to the hotel, we checked out these amazing petroglyphs representing animals and g-ds, left by the indigenous people more than 500 years ago.

Day 3: Ometepe's Choco Verde is a beautiful nature walk. There you will see lakeside trails,  lagoons with water birds and butterflies, and secluded beaches on the grey-green Lake Nicaragua. 

When you leave the island, reserve your spot on the ferry ahead of time but expect that they will give that spot away.  That's just the way it goes here. But heck, you're on vacation so chill out and have some lunch for a few hours.

Granny Becky and The Butterfly Kingdom

That's a real butterfly; not a hair clip!

Granny Becky came to visit last week and we really enjoyed hanging out with her. On one of her last days, we went to a special place just two minutes from our apartment!

We spent a delightful afternoon at Escazu's Butterfly Kingdom. We were given an interesting talk on the life cycle of the butterfly. Did you know that  caterpillar females have no eggs but are reborn as adult butterflies with eggs inside already. Very interesting! 

 After the discussion our guide led us to a building covered in next where we saw hundreds upon hundreds of butterflies. We saw plenty of butterflies from the Morpho butterfly to the common Monarch. The butterflies landed on Granny's head and on our backs and on our hands and we were excited to see the variety and diversity. A beautiful way to spend a day.

Granny stayed at Casa de las Tias Bed and Breakfast, a comfortable, beautiful place with a garden and orchard and an incredible breakfast. The hosts were very friendly as well.