Nicaragua

We entered Nicaragua via a quiet border north of the huge lake - Lago Nicaragua. We had our temperature taken (checking for viruses Dengue, Zika etc), the bike 'fumigated' (lower part of the wheels sprayed) and several fees paid. After a power cut and about 2.5 hours, we were free to go. This handy map shows where we are.

One feature of our time in Central America has been thunderstorms and torrential rain. We have been soaked one way or another most of the time - rain, sweat or swimming! However, in Nicaragua we are at the end of the rainy season and it is now mostly dry.

At a stop over at San Miguelito we had a free concert from their local brass band outside our bedroom window! We have again entered a very poor but friendly country.

Photos of the colonial town of Granada on the opposite side of the lake, it has some lovely buildings with a rough round the edges feel.

The volcano at Masaya is active, smoking and with bubbling and spitting lava visible in the crater, especially at night. We rode there at dusk for a great and surreal experience from the crater rim.

A stop at San Juan del Sur on the Pacific, with some big surf breaks, cool beers and lovely sunsets.

We watched a world title boxing match on a big screen between the legendary Nicaraguian Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez and the Mexican Carlos Cuadras. It was a great fight and Chocolatito just won on points - lucky for us as there probably would have been riots here had he lost!

Territorio de Zaguates - Land of Strays!

We found out about the Land of Strays before we came on our trip. It is a stray dog sanctuary set in the hills of central Costa Rica. Amazingly, there are around 700 dogs there, all were strays. They are taken in, neutered and some get adopted. The ones that don't, stay there for the rest of their lives.
At the weekends, anyone can go to join in the dog walking for about 3 hours. We had to go! So with a sack of dog food to donate, we set off on Saturday morning!

After arriving, numerous dogs immediately set up camp next to and under the bike!

The owner of the sanctuary started the walk off; there were about 5 staff members plus some volunteers assisting.

This dog would be the one we would take home! She was very sweet.

The dogs all seemed happy, enjoyed being around the staff and visitors. And they loved the walk!

He reminded us of someone :)

This is one of the volunteers, who helps every weekend.

There are beds and dens everywhere in different forms, including old pushchairs, pipes, tyres, raised platforms, old benches and the odd few luxury kennels.

This is a link to their facebook page if you are intrigued!

https://m.facebook.com/territoriodezaguates/

A Caribbean Cycle Ride in Costa Rica

We crossed the quiet border in the north of Panama and found ourselves in the small Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo.

On the second day there we hired a couple of basic bicycles. We got together our towels, swimming gear, sun lotion, water bottle and some snacks and off we went for a day out.

Heading out of town, we passed lots of bars and restaurants all blaring out reggae and Bob Marley. Not too much traffic and on a flat road so apart from the heat, an easy ride, perfect for admiring the large Blue Morph butterflies.

We made it to Punta Uva, about 10k, and to a beautiful beach where we fell into the sea!

A while later we carried on to the end of the road, another 8k, to Manzanillo where we had lunch in a "soda" which is a locals cafe.
We had a couple of "batidos naturales" - fresh fruit drinks - papaya for Phil and mango for Dee. Lunch was a Caribbean fish local fare: fish in a spicyish sauce with onion and red pepper, rice, kidney beans, fried plantain and salad. Lovely!

We returned to Punta Uva for the rest of the afternoon and then back to Puerto Viejo just before it got dark, about 6pm. The ride back was busy with locals on their bikes and also some interesting wildlife. After hearing the Howler Monkeys in the trees we spotted a troupe of them close by.

A short time after there was a raucous nearby and two Great Green Macaws landed on a tree. These are endangered, with only about 1000 left in the wild so we were lucky to see them! A stunning bird to see in it's natural environment.

Panamanian Dogs

These are a few of the dogs we met in Panama. Pinky, the little dog standing in the sea, lived at a hostel we stayed in but often took herself to the beach for the day! We spotted her there tearing round in circles and trying to catch fish!
Unfortunately, we did see a lot of strays in poor condition in rural Panama :(