Miraflor, Nicaragua

Waiting for the bus at the end of the 4 day trek with Ali

After the hiking in La Tigra National Park in Honduras, decided to do more in Nicaragua before heading into the lower and hotter climates near the Pacific coast. Went for 4 days with a guide to walk form village to village in the Miraflor area, staying with local families. What an experience it was. So many different climates, from cloud forest through pine forests to the hgher regions. Saw loads of birds and the guide on day one was very knowledgeable about the different species. In the cloud forest there were yet again more orchids and bromillias in the trees, even one which made the trees look like they had long strands of hair.

This is Carlito with the pig

Staying with the families was certainly an experience in itself as their lifestyle is very basic, with a three or four room house - kitchen with wood burning stove, bedrooms and then an outside eating area. There is no electricity, so after watching an amazing sunset and eating dinner by candlelight, it was time for sleep. The families usually have an array of animals...chickens, cows, pigs (at one of the places, the pig walked into the area where the shower was when i was in there!), dogs, cats....and the last family had three pigeons which lived under the beds in the guest room. It was just as well bedtime was so early, as everything wakes up before dawn.

Me and Leni (one of the children of the family) watching the sunset

The walking usually started at 8 am reaching the next village for lunch. Then a later afternoon walk to see the sunset from an amazing viewpoint. The weather seemed to vary considerable; from blue, sunny skies to cool, windy and wet. However, the afternoons were always clear for the sunset. With no light at night, the stars were amazing.

Again, the thing that kept me facinated were the leaf cutter ants...found a colony and watched the whole process from tree back to the extensive network of tunnels in the colony.

The journey back to Estelli, the main town near Miraflor was another experience in itself. The bus was full and so this meant riding on the roof. The last time I did this was on my first visit to India. There you had to duck to avoid electricity wires but that wasn't a problem here. However, the low branches from the trees could have caused serious injurury without concentration. There were three chickens tied on to the roof, and one of them even managed to lay an egg during the journey.

Me and the guide, Ali, on top of the bus

So, now in Leon, near the Pacific coast where it is very hot in comparison to the mountains. Hardest decision next is whether to climb a volcano or go to the beach. Tough life.

La Tigra National Park

After exploring the nature around Lake Yojoa, decided to head to another national park and hike through the cloud forest in search of more tropical birds and the hope of seeing some monkeys. Stayed in the park lodge which was great for early morning starts and 8 hour hikes in the area. It was a bit of shock to my body having to carry my backpack for 4km uphill to reach the lodge in the first place, but well worth the effort - it made the following days hikes without the backpack a lot easier. I don't think I have ever stayed in such a peaceful place - it was actually silent at night for once.....no dogs barking, no buses, lorries or cars beeping their horns, no noisy American tourists.....infact, just silence. The stars were amazing at night as there was absolutely no light pollution and the air was so fresh that I didn't really appreciate it until returning to the city afterwards. Didn't see as many birds as hoped, but did spot a coloured trogan bird though but couldn't locate the monkeys. The cloud forest provides the perfect environment for such a diversity of plant life to grow in the rain forest. It will be even more spectacular in a few months when all the orchids are blooming.










The thing that fascinated me the most however, were the leaf cutter ants. There are literally millions of workers in a single colony who can strip a whole tree in a day. Watching them carrying up to 30 times their weight across the paths was amazing. They really are an incredible species (see http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/ants/leafcutter/index.html for more info on leaf cutter ants). Obviously, being a Biology teacher, I've always been interested in nature, but when you are surrounded by such a diverse environment it's like being in a nature documentary and you pay more attention. Also, without the distractions of TV, you can sit for hours watching everyday life in the rainforest for real.


Leaving Honduras tomorrow for Nicaragua. It seems like such a short time spent in this beautiful and friendly country, but I feel I have made the most of the time here. It is a very easy and incredibly cheap country to travel in, and much safer than Guatemala. There is definitely something for everyone here, from the Mayan ruins of Copan, the Caribbean beaches on the north coast to the large area of mountainous rainforest with an amazing range of fauna and flora. Many people have compared it to how Costa Rica used to be 20 years ago before the influx of tourism and retired Amercians. Another one to add to the list then....

Lake Yojoa

The weather forced a change of direction and I'm so glad it did. The area around Lake Yojoa is just stunningly beautiful. There are two national parks in the area and we ended up staying in a guest house run by an American guy who brewed his own real ale!!

There were so many natural wonders to be seen including crystal clear water holes that were a gorgeous blue colour, powerful waterfalls (which I agreed to go on an alternative guided tour and walk behind- turned out more to be a scramble, swim and wading against the flow of the water but exciting all the same) and the lake itself, which we rowed around in a very basic little boat for the day.

The week of bird watching, walking and sheltering from the rain was complemented with beer drinking and playing crib in the evenings. Unfortunately, the rain returned with avengence and so after staying a week at Bob's microbrewery (D and D Brewery for anyone wanting to visit the Lake), we headed off to the capital, Tegucigalpa. The weather is much better here and we are heading to another national park tomorrow called La Tigra where they have dormitories inside the park to stay in. The cloud forest sounds spectacular and there is a chance of spotting quetzals, mawcaws, parrots and toucans. The birds here are amazing - it reminds me of the first time I snorkelled in Malaysia and saw the spectacular colours under the water. This is similar, but the colours are all around in every tree, either from the birds or the orchids.

Me and Bob outside the container where he makes all his beer

Lake Yojoa

Hope everyone who went skiing had a great time - it's the one thing I'm really missing at the moment, but I can't have everything!! Email me some photo's.

Rain in the Caribbean

Well it had to happen sometime...first proper tropical rain of the trip. I thought that the rainy season was over but it appears that a cold front is hanging over the northern coast of Honduras at the moment and certainly made itself known last night and today. Managed to visit the national park yesterday before the rains set in which was very beautiful and tranquil. Unfortunately though, there happened to be a tour group of 29 Americans on the deserted beach at the same time!!! So not quite as peaceful as it could have been, but beautiful all the same (I need to take back what I said in my last blog about the lack tourists in Honduras from the US).

Today we headed out to a Garifuna village called La Ensenada, about 3 km east of Tela. It happened to be their annual fiesta, so joined in with the celebrations. Lots of music and dancing (and very drunk locals). I can't say I particularly enjoyed watching the guys on horses charging towards a live duck tied on a rope above, trying to pull it's head off!!! The locals loved it though, especially when the objective was achieved.

Decided to change plans tomorrow and head back inland to avoid the rain for a week, then come back up to the coast once the storm has passed. There is a lake about 3 hours away with good hiking possibilities in the national parks around it. Hopefully the rain won't follow!!

Hola from Honduras

Two Macaws at Copan....leave captions on the message board

Now in Honduras in Copan Ruinas, about 10 km over the Guatemalan border. It's a really beautiful little town where my Spanish is already coming in very useful. Yesterday we visited the last Mayan ruins for this trip at Copan. These are set in a magnificent park which was very tranquil - where were all the tourists? It seems that less Americans make it to Honduras so already there is a sense of quietness around the place, and hopefully that will be the case into Nicaragua aswell.

Copan contains many elaborate stone carvings which makes them very different from Tikal and Chichen Itza. Although not as high and impressive in their stature, they have a more artistic feel to them. The highlight was the hieroglyphic stairway which holds the the longest known remaining text from the Maya civilisation. There are many stelae throughout the park, mainly depicting the 13th ruler called 18-rabbit between the years 711 and 736 AD. Altar Q was quite unique and has now been completely deciphered and it depicts each of the 16 rulers of the Copan dynasty. It is thought that over population eventually caused the fall of Copan.

Today I visited a butterfly and orchid farm which was very pretty and contained 100 different types of butterflies and over 250 orchids. The blend of colours was truely amazing.

Heading north to the coast tomorrow to check out the white sandy beaches and crystal waters of the Carribean. Don't be surprised if you I don't update the weblog for a while - I'll probably be too busy snorkelling, reading or topping up the tan.