Monday, January 8, 2018

Ben Goes Off the Beaten Path in Nicaragua

Have I mentioned before how much we LOVE having visitors!?!! Sharing the amazing experiences we have with family and friends is just the best. One of our very best friends Ben came to visit us to ring in the new year. 2018 is off to a great start!

Mitchell and Audrey picked Ben up from the airport and took advantage of the evening to look around downtown Managua.



:::Friday December 29th:::
Ben did a little bit of research about Nicaragua before coming and requested that we walk around Granada on foot. You can see so much more of a city on foot than in a car. It was fun and we found some awesome places we've never seen before. Namely, a leather working shop with really pretty leather bags and other handmade leather items. We shop hopped for a while then explored the cathedral. A little before noon we divided up and I took the boys to the park for a while and Ben, Mitchell, and Audrey continued on a long walk all around the city.


My kids are fearless! I didn't know that Layne did this on swings but I pushed him pretty high and he immediately stood up! Alrighty then.




We all had a lot of fun! When we reunited everyone was hungry and a few orders of Mexican-style tacos al pastor really hit the spot! Mmmm. On a whim we chartered a motor boat to give us a tour of the north side of the isletas. We have previously done boat tours of the south side of the isletas. This was really different and really beautiful! The north side seems to have the more developed islands with really nice looking vacation and resort homes. We also stopped by Monkey Island and got to see 2 spider monkeys putting on a show. They were wrestling up in the branches! We were all convinced that one of them would fall in the water but they are pretty expert at hanging on to the branches and both managed to stay in the tree. We also stopped off at an old fortress that was built in 1784. There wasn't a ton to see there but the fort itself was interesting. It was made of old hand-made bricks. Now it is just used as a storage unit for the municipality when shuttling products to and from Granada to the Isletas. Pupusas for dinner finished off a really great first day!



Hello there little friend!




King of the Island!




:::Saturday December 30th:::
Beach days are always the best days! We took Ben to our favorite black sand beach, El Tránsito. We got there just after high tide and the waves were perfect! We all got to body surf and play in the water for a long time. We tried the restaurant there for the first time and it was good. Ben was the most daring and ordered the whole, fresh caught fish. It was impressive!



It was just one of those really great, fun and relaxing days. As we were leaving the beach Redick and Reid met a fisherman who was getting his boat and gear ready to go fishing all night! They leave just before sunset and fish all night, then return around 6am. He explained that this is mostly to protect them from the beating sun, not necessarily for better fishing. However, they bring along several car batteries to hook up to some lamps. Sometimes the smaller fish are attracted to the light and the bigger fish come to eat the small ones.

:::Sunday December 31st:::
We all went to church early Sunday morning then came home and had our favorite Sunday meal. Garlic breadsticks with meat marinara sauce. Who needs spaghetti anyway? Plenty of delicious carbs in the breadsticks! After lunch we packed and got on the road headed north to Matagalpa. We arrived at the Cascada Blanca Eco Lodge in time to play several rounds of a card game, Love Letter, before we turned in for the night.


:::Monday January 1st:::
Happy New Year! We woke up on the first day of 2018 to the sound of the flowing waterfall Cascada Blanca. After breakfast we explored the waterfall and the river area. The kids especially loved climbing on the boulders and looking for insects. Redick caught a tiny frog and was super pleased with himself!




While the boys were outside scouring the boulders for insects and amphibians, Audrey made new friends in the kitchen. These ladies were all gathered around Audrey listening to her talk their ears off and laughing.  






After a couple of hours at Cascada Blanca we drove farther up the road to the nature reserve Peñas Blancas. We were far off the beaten path of tourism in Nicaragua, but in maybe the most beautiful place ever! Peñas Blancas is way up in the mountains and covered in primary and secondary rainforest. There is a giant rock cliff formation, called the Massif, at the cusp of the mountain. Since we arrived kind of later in the afternoon we just checked into our cabin and explored the camp. There was a small waterfall about a 15 minute walk away from camp so we took that little warm-up hike before dinner. The lodging accommodations included the cabin, 3 meals each day and 1 guided hike each day. It was a great package!

Lush, beautiful mountainside. Off in the distance is the Massif.


Home Sweet Home for 3 days and 2 nights

Oh Reid. A while back he worked diligently and learned how to whistle. Lately he has been practicing crossing his eyes. Lol! 

We were so lucky!!! The evening we arrived at the reserve a sloth came to visit!!





:::Tuesday Jan 2nd:::
Mitchell and the kids hiked to the rainbow waterfall. It was about a 3 hour round trip hike over some pretty muddy and slippery terrain. The final ascent to the falls was a challenging climb too. We are raising some excellent little hikers!


It's hard to make out but the roots of this large Strangler Fig tree are exposed above ground. The whole group walked right through the tree!

One of the other guides sent his 3 sons along to help entertain our kids on the hike. They loved having new friends to play with!













Melanie and Ben hiked to the Cima, summit, of a giant rock formation called a Massif. It took us 6 hours and 40 minutes to hike to the top and back. The trail up started out rocky, muddy and there were tree roots we had to be careful of. Even though you had to really watch your step, it was a good thing there were roots and rocks for traction or the trail would have been so slippery! About halfway up the mountain there was a landing on the trail and a break in the dense rainforest. We could see for miles across the valley and mountains as far as we could see to the west.

In the foreground you can see the dark green foliage of coffee plants, the larger trees are part of the secondary rainforest and way up in the background is the Massif up there in the clouds 


Looking down we saw the rainbow waterfall from above. It was a magnificent view!


The rest of the trail was a bit more treacherous. There was a steep drop off to the right, and sometimes to the left also. At times we were climbing straight up wooden ladders on the face of the massif. As we gained elevation we entered the primary cloud forest. A cloud forest is like a rain forest. The main difference is that in the cloud forest the ground water evaporates, rises and condenses and the cloud is trapped against the side of a mountain. That cloud in turn provides rain back to the forest to begin the cycle over. The water cycle is self contained and there is always a cloud over the cloud forest. We learned that Nicaragua is home to 16% of the world's cloud forest. There are also cloud forests in Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Perú. Once we reached the summit the views over the valley were incredible! Not to mention the beauty of the cloud forest itself. The cloud was misty and dense up at the top and the plants were so lush and exotic. We walked a loop around the summit taking advantage of several view points and exploring the terrain.

This angle doesn't adequately capture just how steep this climb was at times! We were scaling ladders on the face of a giant, mountain sized cliff! Incredible.






Near the top of the mountain there is a permanent cloud, hence the term cloud forest. It was so dense that we didn't have much visibility up near the top.


You can see the sheer face of the Massif peeking through the misty cloud.
When it came time to hike back down the trail our guide, Jairo, gave us two options: the faster way down would take about 45 minutes. It was similar in steepness to the trail we ascended and very slippery. We would basically be squatting and sliding down the slippery mud. The second option would take about 2 hours, it was down the side of the mountain rather than the face on a more secure trail. Remembering the sheer drop offs on the way up, and knowing that we had plenty of food, water and sunlight left for the day we opted for the longer, safer trail. It did not disappoint in the beauty department however! Some of the time we were following a river and at a couple of points there was a confluence of smaller streams joining the river, forming small waterfalls. We also saw giant ferns, the same prehistoric variety that predate the dinosaurs!






We made it off the mountain!
When we finally reached the bottom of the mountain we walked through a small coffee plantation and back to our lodges! It was an incredible day!

Mitchell and the kids had returned from their waterfall hike several hours earlier and when Ben and I arrived back at the camp all was well. Layne was asleep, Mitchell said he hiked the entire way to and back from the waterfall! Audrey was talking to the camp director and Redick and Reid had made friends with another set of twin boys. The twins are the sons of the president of the conservation organization that hosted us. When I walked into camp Redick, who was holding a wooden sword, saw me and said "Awww! Can we still play?!" The 4 boys continued their sword fights and playing around camp until 7pm!

:::Wednesday January 3:::
We slept much warmer the second night at Peñas Blancas after we asked for extra blankets. The first night was so cold! Mitchell left first thing in the morning at 6:30am to hike to the summit of the massif since Ben and I raved about it so much! He and his guide made great time and radioed down with a walkie talkie while we were eating breakfast to let us know that they had made it to the look out point above the waterfall.






After breakfast the kids and Ben and I set out with a guide, Luis, to hike to the Rainbow waterfall. The kids didn't mind repeating the hike. In fact, they really enjoyed recognizing familiar landmarks and feeling like the experts. The waterfall hike was really muddy and we were glad we had borrowed rubber boots to keep our feet dry. There were quite a few bridges across streams along the way and lots of water to walk through.



I could make a complete photo album of Redick with the creatures he likes to capture. He is fearless!


Redick with a lizard he captured.
Redick with some sort of insect he captured. 









The final ascent to the waterfall was pretty steep and hard but when we arrived at the base of the giant waterfall it was breathtaking! Huge and powerful and so beautiful! We stayed and admired the waterfall until we were dripping from the spray.



Layne wanted a piggyback ride for a while so I carried him as we started down from the waterfall. Apparently he was super tired. Maybe 10 minutes down the trail I felt Layne go limp and realized he had fallen asleep. Let me tell ya, it's tough to hike with a sleeping kid on your back. Imagine balancing a 30 pound backpack on your back with no straps to hold it on! We made it back down to camp and no one slipped and Layne got to ride 1st class on my back the whole way down. After a delicious lunch back at camp we changed into dry clothes and set off on the long drive from Peñas Blancas to León. By wonderful luck we got to see some amazing views of the lineup of volcanoes outside of León before the sun went down. Incredible!




:::Thursday January 4th:::
One of Mitchell's and my first adventures here in Nicaragua was volcano boarding with Mitchell's co-worker. This was nearly 18 months ago! As we drove home that day from the thrilling experience we both agreed that we HAD to bring Ben here! We have waited for this for a long time. I sent Mitchell, Ben and Audrey hiking up the mountain and stayed down at the parking lot with the boys. While they hiked up the trail to the upper crater of the volcano, Redick, Reid, and Layne and I had a lot of fun! We played I Spy and we discovered a very cool trick! At Cerro Negro there is a zip line set up and we climbed to one of the platforms. We discovered that if you hit the cable it makes a really cool sound, like a laser gun from a space movie. You can hear the sound waves travel down the cable and back again. We experimented with hitting the cable with different objects and compared the sounds and how fast the sound returned. It was such a fun and interesting activity that the time waiting for the volcano boarders passed quickly. We got to watch them sled down the volcano and cheer them on from the bottom of the steep hill.

The Adventurers 

The smoke is a hot sulfur vent in the crater of Cerro Negro, one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua! Next to Audrey's arm you can see the white and yellow mineral deposits.

All geared up and ready to go!





The crazy stunt really got Ben's heart going and he felt the affects of the adrenaline for a while. We marveled at the fact that we were just hanging out, eating Subway sandwiches RIGHT NEXT TO A VOLCANO!


Sometimes it's still just so crazy that we actually live here. We're crazy. Thursday evening the kids and I left Mitchell and Ben in León and we headed back to Managua. Yay, hot shower at home!

:::Friday January 5th:::
The day started very early for Mitchell and Ben! They met with their hiking guide at 3:30am! Their guide made a filling breakfast and then they headed for Chinandega to climb the tallest volcano in Nicaragua, Volcan San Cristobal. Before leaving they signed a waiver that if the volcano erupted during their hike, they would not be given a refund. Haha! Fortunately, though San Cristobal is an active volcano, there were no eruptions and it was a successful hike. It was very challenging though! About 2/3 of the hike was at a 35-40% grade on loose gravel and sand. For every step they took they sank back at least a half step. The summit is 1745 meters (5725 feet) above sea level and the view is incredible! From the top you can see the whole line of volcanoes toward the south including: Telica, Cerro Negro, El Hoyo, Pilas and Momotombo. To the north you can see all the way to Honduras.


Pretty steep climb on loose skree up to the summit of San Cristobal! 

The view was worth the hot, difficult climb!






:::Saturday January 6th:::
After a solid night's rest Mitchell and Ben explored more of Leon on foot. They found a museum all about the revolution that started in the 70s. Some of the museum guides had even been fighters in the revolution. It was an interesting insight into the history of Nicaragua.



:::Sunday January 7th:::
After church we all needed naps! It was definitely a fun but exhausting week! Before leaving the land of volcanoes Ben needed to see some lava. Off to Volcan Masaya for a good view of molten churning lava. 



Thank you Ben for making the long trek down here to visit! We loved showing you around and sharing these experiences with you! What a blessing to have such a great friend. Until our next game night!

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