San Jorge

9 June

We left Managua after 9 because Norm said the traffic would get lighter as we headed toward San Jorge.  Along the way, it got really windy and our slide-out awning got caught in a cross-gust when an 18-wheeler passed us going in the opposite direction.  This required an immediate stop.  Of course, Norm was way ahead of us.  Fortunately, Roger didn’t need any assistance but me.  We ended up duct-taping the ends of all our awnings (we have two) and proceeded to catch up with Norm.  Sandra had stopped closer to us, but we didn’t need any help, just good ol’ duct tape.  After the scare, Norm told us that the area we were crossing has a tendency for high gusts.  Thanks, Norm!

We arrived in San Jorge and Norm said we were camping on the beach of Lake Nicaragua.  The entrance to the beach looked “iffy” to us, but Norm said we shouldn’t have any problems making it across.  Sandra put her Earth Roamer in 4-wheel drive and scooted across.  We got stuck.  No surprise to us, and Roger was mad at himself for even trying.  The good news was Sandra got to use her wench.  Ben hooked it up and gently helped us get going.  Norm told Roger he hadn’t driven fast enough across the softer sand.  Roger was not amused by this comment. 

Once we got parked, I had done some ferry/boat research on how to get to the island of Ometepe.  It is a UNESCO biosphere island, which is comprised of two volcanoes with a lava isthmus connecting the two.  Trip Advisor had some information on how to get to the island.  We took a barco across the lake.  The 1230 boat transit was the worst and most scary time I’ve been on a boat.  The boat was a vintage boat, probably held together with typical Central American engineering.  When we got hit by a strong wave, the sides of the boat separated and water came in.  Roger and I were both thinking we hope the bilge pump is working.  As soon as we got to rocking, people (too numerous to count) started heaving.  We’ve never seen so many seasick people on one boat. Fortunately the boat was equipped with a puke cleaning system, as the water that was coming in washed the nasty stuff aft.   The trip took 80 minutes.

Once we got on dry land, we discovered the guide place that had good ratings (actually the only one listed on Trip Advisor) was not to be found.  One person told me it was no longer in business.  So plan B was executed.  We popped into a restaurant and asked about tours.  The owner had lived in NYC and San Francisco, so he was extremely helpful to us.  He found a guy who could drive us around the island and get us to the 800 BC petroglyphs and back in time to catch the 1730 ferry back (the last transit to the mainland of the day.)

The drive on the island was nice for Roger and Sandra.  We were all not surprised that Norm had said we could ferry our rigs over for the night to better explore the island.  Based on the roads alone, there’s no way either Roger or Sandra would drive their rig on the island.  The roads were very narrow and extremely tight for two way traffic. 

This picture was taken as we drove across the airport's runway.  The runway is roped off to traffic when planes are going to land.

We got back from our tour in time to see the finish of the Netherlands/Argentina futbol game.  We’ve come to the conclusion that shoot-outs to determine the winner after playing for over 2 hours is just a waste in terms of winner-take-all to advance to the finals of the Cupa del Mundo.

Banana blooms

This is how they wash their clothes in the lake.

The ferry ride back to the mainland was 100 percent better than the barco.  With this said, there’s no way either Roger or Sandra would have attempted to drive our rigs onto the ferry.  I don’t think we could have made the ramp in our unit, and it would have required backing off upon arrival at land.  Needless to say, we didn’t take Norm’s advice and take our rigs to Ometepe.

Last night there was a lot of constant wind at the beach.  We could not leave the windows open, because fine volcanic sand was blowing in.  You could write your name in the sand.  So we suffered through a stuffy night and I came to the conclusion first thing tomorrow we’d be looking for a better place to camp.