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Hello all
Since I last updated you all we have had an up and down week, with some serious highlights and a bit of a lowlight. After Gracias we shot down to Comayagua, however the city was horrible, and felt a little sketchy so we spent most of the day chilling in our air-conditioned room watching football on Sky, which to be fair was quite nice (we haven't done that often). The next day we shot out of Comayagua as quickly as possible and headed for the Nicaraguan border where we had to pay around 10$ to cross the border, which was slightly annoying.
Upon crossing the border into Nicaragua we got on yet another bus to Esteli (from where we were going to catch yet another bus to Matagalpa). Whilst jumping off the bus into a Nicaraguan storm (which are becoming common place as the rainy season is beginning) someone managed to steal Simon's wallet out of his pocket which was absolutely rubbish. The main problem was that one of his cards was in there but a short phonecall to his dad later he had managed to cancel the card.
After a rubbish occurrence we had to go and stand in the rain for 15 mins waiting for a taxi, which picked us up looking like drowned rats. How could today get any worse?? It definitely could. Getting on the bus at the Esteli bus station we realised that a very dirty old man and woman were sitting behind us and one of them had soiled themselves, causing the whole bus to go a journey with their hands over their mouths!! Horrible.
Finally we reached Matagalpa, which was alright, not the nicest city we had been to, and we checked into a small, and pretty grubby hotel!! Was not a good day but things were about to get better.
The next morning, waking up after a stonking sleep we planned to head into the hills between Matagalpa and Jinotega to a coffee plantation called Selva Negra. Reaching the plantation we thought it would be rude not to try their internationally renowned coffee, so after 4 cups and only having paid 80p (and feeling sufficiently wired) we went on a walk through some of the trails. The trails were easy, however the rain made them rather slippy, plus annoying insects made things more difficult. Simon had a fun time watching me skate around the ground, falling over and generally getting very annoyed with all sorts of insects!!
After a good walk around the coffee plantation we returned to the restaurant on the plantation for another 4 cups of coffee, again for 80p!! B..a..rgain!!!! Whilst leaving the plantation what should we see but around 15 howler monkeys just doing their thing in the trees. This made my week, and they were very close!! I got some stonking photos, and feeling incredibly happy we shot back down to Matagalpa.
The next day we caught an early morning bus to Leon, which upon arrival seemed much more like the colonial towns we miss from Mexico. On outlook the place has an Antigua feel to it which was awesome. We had a roam around the city, before going out in the evening with some friends we had met up with!!
The next morning feeling a little hungover, was spent milling around the hostel before our afternoon adventure volcano boarding down Cerro Negro volcano!! This was awesome, and made better by the fact that we got to wear awesome bright orange jump suits (we looked like a bunch of escaped convicts from Guantanamo Bay). I however didn't really get the volcano boarding technique down, and therefore spent most of my time sliding down the volcano on my back, which I must say was fun, but not the most comfortable thing I have done.
After a bad start Nicaragua is starting to live up to all the good stories we have heard from people!!
Simon and Howard
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