Nicaragua – Jiquillo 

After the Tarantula incident I swore off any accommodation with the word ‘eco’ in the name. Yet I found myself in a bamboo hut on the sand  complete with open air shower and compost toilet – think cat litter tray. Welcome to Rancho Esperanza, hidden in the tiny fishing village of Jiquillo on Nicaragua’s Pacific coast and a day of hot, sweaty chicken bus travel to get here. Below is my lovely hut :

Rancho Esperanza is a tranquil set of eco friendly cabins on the sand, recommended to me by a few people I met at La Mariposa. The aim was relax, read, write or do nothing. It actually turned into ‘let’s climb a volcano in 90 degree heat!’ – more of that later. Here’s a photo of my outdoor shower and no flush toilet!

The journey is all part of the adventure in central America – it’s  worth a diversion here to explain the beauty of the Microbus … 

1. They drive like lunatics and generally don’t stop on the way. After a few Chicken Buses you start to see this as a good thing.
2. They leave when full – no need to worry about timetables!
3. They cost less between 20p to £1 depending how far.
4. They always fit more people in – I now see this a good thing although standing at a right angle isn’t comfortable. 
5. You can’t miss your bus because the driver touts for business by shouting the destination name over and over and faster and faster – as if people might change their mind on where they are heading.

A confusing aspect of bus travel here is the number of different bus stations in a town, plus they are  usually in the middle of local markets. 

On the way to Jiquillo I got off the microbus in the town of Chinandega at ‘El mercado’ (the market) and took a bicycle taxi to ‘El mercadito’ (the little market). Zero other tourists so I just stood for 45 minutes with my bags in the sun hoping the bus would turn up. Of course it did and the friendly bus driver and local kids made sure to tell me to keep an eye on my stuff. I sat next an old lady and we chatted about how hot it was – discussing the weather is universal!

Which brings me on to the joys of the Chicken Bus…

1. They look amazing! American school buses – pimped up, spray painted and customised to the route.
2. Plenty of religion slogans to read, usually along the lines of ‘God has blessed this bus’. Good to know.
3. There is an assistant who comes around to take payment, puts your bags or shopping on the roof and HELPS YOU ON AND OFF THE BUS. London bus drivers take note!
4. They play salsa or bachata music, very loud.
5. People will get on to offer you food and drinks at every stop – and there are a lot of stops because it stops for anyone, pretty much anywhere.
6. You’ll even have a seat if you get on early.
7. Don’t worry about pressing a bell to get off – the assistent will shout or whistle as he knows where you’re going! (Providing you’ve asked him nicely in Spanish)

Dozens of women got on board this already packed bus to offer us every kind of food and beverage possible – it was complete chaos.

I was helped off the bus at Rancho Esperanza and told I’d arrived by several other helpful passengers. There had been another backpacker on the bus all along – Christina from Switzerland.

The Rancho is an amazing place – Nate the owner is an American about my age who has deep links with the community, with some great projects going on. Jiquillo has been hammered by a Tsunami and is under constant threat from the sea. At high tide the water was lapping the only road through the village. I took a walk around with a local lady – people are living in huts with the sand under their feet here. She told me there is a big problem with the ‘machismo’ attitude and depressingly high levels of domestic violence which they are working to improve. Below is the sschool behind barbed wire (funded by Japanese) and main street:

I loved my hut and all the lizards and frogs that I shared it with, until a tropical storm hit and I laid waiting for the hut to go up in flames or the next tsunami to strike.

We all had a go at climbing a coconut tree – the girls unfortunately failed spectacularly, not even getting both feet off the ground one inch. It looked so easy when our guide simply clasped the trunk in his arms and walked up to pick 11 coconuts.

Meals and served communal style in the main hut and there is NO WIFI!! Amazing – after dinner everyone played games (Monopoly is still no fun when you lose). Easy to make friends as it attracts like minded people (who don’t mind the compost toilet).

The beach here is stunning as it’s so remote, especially sunset. I opted for a morning horse ride which was beautiful as it was completely deserted. Although I wasn’t expecting my guide to be 15 years old, or to be chased by a pack of dogs – galloping from the start then!

My ‘do nothing and relax’ idea changed dramatically into climbing a volcano when everyone else was doing it – over 3 hours uphill in 95 degree heat to reach the crater lake summit of Volcan Consiguiña. 

Totally worth it of course – the volcano is on the most south western part of Nicaragua overlooking the gulf of El Salvador and Honduras. Here is Anja and I at the top!

Unfortunately I sent my expensive walking boots home with Dad as I wasn’t planning on much hiking. So I slipped and slid my way down the volcano as my legs turned to jelly. One of the local guides walked behind me and each time I fell he pulled me up by my backpack before I hit the ground. Or he just held my hand. At one point the poor guy said at this rate we’re both going over the edge. 

Next stop is a tour of the Northern Highlands, the Sandinista stronghold towns of Matagalpa and Estelí – next catchup blog coming soon!