As I had a few extra days on the Isle de Ometteppe I took one day to climb Volcan Maderas. This was a pretty intense climb through dense cloudforests with some steep climbing from branch to branch near the top. I decided to hike it alone without a guide and got in some trouble with the local authorities but luckily managed to stay out of jail for now. The next day I cycled the 78 km circumferance of the island and biked through some very remote areas in which everyone stopped and stared as I pedalled by. Everyone greeted me with a large smile and lots wanted to talk so I used my spanish which kinda goes like this, ola (hi), no hable espanol (i dont speak spanish). In the next town, Granada, I picked up some spanish lesson books to try and figure out a few more words. After a couple days in Granada, a colonial city from the 1500´s which is one of the oldest cities in the American continent, I pedalled up to Leon, another colonial city. From here I met Francois, a fellow Canadian and we are now here in Chinandenga waiting to climb Volcan San Cristobal tommorow, the tallest volcano in the country. Nicaragua is a pretty cool country and parts of there citys along the main highways are very similar to citys in Canada with modern malls, movie theaters and mcdonalds. Out in the country is another story though and close to 50% of the population lives below the internationl poverty line. The highways down here showcase the gap between modern and colonial nicaragua perfectly as large semis commonly blow by the native nicaraguan on his horse powered wagon. Adios!
