Thewesternprovinceblog

Hola todos. Me siento muy feliz. Con mucha paz y tranquilidad porque hoy tuve un día muy muy super guay 😊😎 déjame decirteis sobre todo!

Right back to business. I awake and have another lovely desayuno incluido in the new gaff. No pic but was a lovely bit of scrambled egg and a real nice fruit bowl. While eating I chat to some of the other guests. This group of 3 Dutch girls travelling round different places though they been flying everywhere as one of them had a baby with them. Fair play though, start them off young! We chat about different travels and bring up the other days throwback on Instagram to India (pics will be in the gallery below) 😂🤣🤣 they were in disbelief. On the gross out and challenge factor though nothing on this trip so far has come even remotely close to that train ride back in 2013!

Now then for the main event of today boat tour time. I get my stuff together and wait for the 0900 pickup. 0850 Gerry comes out and says sorry they cancelled your tour and didn’t tell me. No dramas es lo que hay. He says you got a couple of options to save the day though and lays them out. I then go to the hostel round the corner and ask Mrs Lady there about apuntando un tour de barco si podría. “Espera” she phones someone has a yabber and says yes just wait there 10 mins. 5 mins later a driver comes in and I go with him into the back of a taxi. 

Inside are 3 others and I say “hablas inglés, español or?” “Los ambos” the girl in the front is chatting to drive and I quickly clock that these 3 are Españoles and ask. “Si” muy bueno and they speak the dialect I know and understand near perfectly one bloke and 2 very fit chicas. We’re chatting in the car and one of them lived in Aberdare for 4 years teaching Spanish in a school in Cardiff. Crazy world! The vibe here is good and I Have to say the day is looking up and so is mae butty Bach!! 🤣 ayayay joder behave Boí!! 

We soon reach our destination and are put on another boat similar to the ferry from La Unión and off we go. Just the 4 of us and our driver a guy who’s nickname was Ali. He shows us round these mini islands off the coast of Granada. There are tonnes of them. Only a handful of about 365. They have lots to see. Some have monkeys, some have people living on them fishing. Some have forts on them built to shoot pirates, others various other wildlife and some with abandoned wooden buildings that look like something dropped straight out of Far Cry 2!

We’re all chatting all en español and it’s great stuff. 

Eventually we pull up to this one island and we get off for a half hour stop. Ali recommended we try this citrus cocktail which I forget the name of. Was going to have a beer simple stupid but they all go for this and so, cuando estés en Roma? ¿No? I go for one too. I pay seperate to the Spanish trio and offer to buy Ali a beer or anything else he wants. He thanks me and goes for a coca (not the Colombian kind don’t worry!) and is grateful. Because of this he’s happy to wait a bit longer than the planned time. Little things go a long way folks! 

The chicas now want to go for a swim and are getting into their gear. They say the water is cold. I wade in to my knees. No it’s not. Soy Del Norte!! I confirm it is NOT West Wales shock treatment; es bueno! ¡Venga!! Next thing all if us are going for a swim for the better part of an hour. Believe it or not first time swimming on this trip after 2 months on the road!! Soooooo good it felt. But all good things come to an end. 

We are back on the boat and see a few more islands and are whisked back to port. I swap details with these 3 but they now live in the US and are only on a short vacation and heading to Masaya tomorrow the opposite direction to me. Qué pena!!

As for me I now faced a dilemma. I loved the vibe today and decided I want more of this and so now have a choice to make……..do I plow on to San Jose  as planned or do a detour to Isla Ometepe?¿?

Pues vamos a ver pronto!

Throwbacks to India below:

Indian trains be like: “If you can catch a rat, put it in the cage a member of staff will come and dispose of it professionally” and by professionally it’s going straight to the Pantry cabin and rat stew is going on the menu!

lock your luggage with chain!

That train ride ended in a place called Kovalam Beach, Kerala. That place was bloody weird too!

If you care to read the Indian train story