Weekend Recap

With just 18 days left in Nicaragua, I have to do a lot of travel cramming! The next few weeks are already booked with ideas of where to go and what to do. I just hope there is time for it all.

This weekend, I decided to go to Diriomo to visit the Laguna de Apoyo. I was just in the city for a short while before heading off to the jungle hike to the laguna. But of course I had to see the old church first!

 Afterwards, I hopped into a Caponera and took off. These caponeras or mototaxis are everywhere! They are cheaper than a normal taxi, but probably not as safe seeing as they lack doors. They tend to stay off main roads, but in little towns and neighborhoods they are great.

 

 At the top of the hike we got a beautiful view of the laguna. It was gorgeous!

Caponera

View of the Laguna

 Here we are ready to begin the long descent down. It probably took about forty minutes to walk and it was always very steep downhill the entire time. I was glad when we arrived at the bottom because my muscles could finally relax. I did not know walking downhill could be so terrible.

The path was amazing. There were numerous butterflies of everydifferent color constantly flying around. Sadly, none of them stood still long enough for a picture, but they were great. There was also several birds chirping and occassionally Manfred could tell me which sound was from which bird. How awesome is that?!

Then we got to the best part of the hike. MONKEYS!! We saw six really cute monkys lounging around in the trees overhead. It was wild seeing monkeys in their natural habitat. 

We finally arrived at the laguna, got to rest, swim, and eat, and of course have a blast!

So maybe you remember me complaining about the walk down to the laguna. Well, you can only imagine the walk back out. Within the first ten minutes, I had stopped three time to catch my breath and drink water. Now I am not the most in-shape person, but  I am not that out of shape either, so believe me it was difficult. LUCKILY, luckily, luckily and I mean luckily, there was a truck with a couple of people that had left just before us. About fifteen minutes into the hike out, I could hear the truck struggling to get up a steep incline. As we came into view, sure enough the truck was still there, its tires smoking trying to move on and then rolling back exhausted. I decided we should stop and try to help these people, and after trying to put rocks and such in the way to create traction, the driver said "what we really need is more weight". In the end, Manfred and I got in the bed of the truck and were just enough weight that the truck took off up the incline and the rest of the path. Who knows how long we could have been hiking? I was really grateful for that blessing and everyone got home safely. 

 

- Emilee Bigs