..lucky fools day..

Wow! ..exept for being blissed by love, I really experience everything down here! :)
I went to the "Black Hill", a volcano where you can run (or slide) down a sandy slope. Getting there I obviously used my bike and saved 23 dollars, having way more fun driving there, then changing my 50hp for 1 horse power and riding for 2km :) the guy had some BMW 650 experience and I galoped smiling past houses and families on the country side ;) after enjoying the nice view on the volcano I ran down in full speed (up: 25min, down:1.5min ;) and it happened that a short but strong rain started, so there were raindrops hitting the slope in a 90degree angle, what made a real good ambience for the thrilling way down :D
driving back to town was a bit more challenging by having different conditions after a bit of rain, but was still fun.. just sliding with the 200kg bike (and not dropping it once!! :D
spent time with friends in Leon and met some people from earlier on the trip. Was nice to say hello again! :) then I managed to get exiled from a hotel place.. long story.. stayed a night and needed more privacy, but still had friends and my bike there and the guy was, it´s OK you can be here but then behind my back advising people to kick me out and I just ignored this silly behaviour what brought it to the point where they didn´t like me too much anymore ;) but well.. it´s not too bad.. doesn´t mean to be exiled from a country ;)
after some other wild (and censored ;) adventures, I continued to Somoto, where I heard is a really nice canyon. On the way I stopped for a cheap and very tasty breakfast, having a deeply spiritual conversation with a 72 year old local man. It´s wunderful what set of mind some people have here!! :D
took then some dirt roads to Somoto (instead of going directly to Granada) and ended up taking a tour through the canyon with some local young guides. Normally I don´t like tours, but hearing about the development of their area, I really like to help them out with some money.. and you´d probably die doing it on your own ;) hehe :) I still felt kinda bad that they charged so few money.. I paid 10 bucks to go down this canyon.. swimming, climbing, jumping from a rock and another 10 to grapple three times from a 30-40m rock.. that was thrilling!! :D got better and better, but still not as in the movies ;) it´s a really beautiful peace of land, unfortunately not having pictures of it, because my battery died :P but there were 2 kids involved carrying the equipment forth and back and 2 other guides who came down with me the canyon, having a float with them to transport a dry box (with my dead cam ;P )
you have to go with feet first for not hitting rocks and at certain points you just lay on the back, see the steep walls, the blue sky above, clouds passing by and vultures making their circles. There are many wholes in the walls and bats fly close over the water, hunting insects. The area consists of two rivers flowing together and many beautiful hills, shining in fresh green, now as rain is falling over night (sometimes day ;) ..I heard, it started about 20 days ago and it´s waaaaay more beautiful than just having everything brownish dry. So from this aspect, being here in the rainy season isn´t all that bad.
I stayed then with a family, had simple but tasty food and learned about cultivating beans and rice and guess what, everything is just natural.. every egg, every single bean. Nothing has ever seen a can. It´s a very poor country, but people living mostly self sustaining and more natural than we city people do..
I went to bed early (what happened mostly in the last days.. also for having some inner issues to fix :-/ ) and the next morning we went riding, this time on top of the canyon, to three view points (miradores). The horse was just WONDERFUL!! well, at a certain point it tried to kick me, but missed or I was too quickly, so luckily it didn´t get me ;) but it was one of the most amazing horses I rode and if I wouldn´t have a bike, I think, I would have bought it!! :D haha! :D yes, we were running through these hills and stopped at some relativs place from the guide. They were working with a wooden plug and two oxes and I tried to manage that for a line, but it´s really hard work and the oxes have to be quite a bit animated.. otherwise they just stand around or run across the field ;)

so yes.. you out there.. if you like horses and want a special experience (maybe a future project of mine), come to Nicaragua, buy a really good horse for 300USD and a saddle for 100USD, put a fur of a sheep on top for being more comfi and then ride a month through Nicaragua on unpaved roads, through mountains, even into small towns and cities, because lots of people do here. everybody knows about horses and you get a vet in every small place, helping you out if it has to be. The country is very safe, people super friendly, food simple but good and for 2-4 weeks I could easily imagine to make an experience like that.. if I wouldn´t take off for diving on my next few holidays, then I would do the riding thing.. as I tried in Argentina ;) here it´s way more the place to do it! eventually you could even cross boarder to Costa Rica! :D yes.. this is another trip that I might do one day if I get bored over there.. just about my level of adventure ;)

then yesterday I had a super long day of riding.. first I managed to break both my mirrors off again (didn´t happen since Alaska) and some other stuff.. well, nothing that hasn´t fallen off already once on this trip, exept for the head light that is out of it´s socket.. will try to fix that here tomorrow in town. I don´t have a single scratch of it, thanks to my leather gloves (well, my palm hurts a bit from the impact, but really nothing to be worried about). It hurts a bit, because I know the adapter screw of the mirrors are 20 USD each and I probably have to see a dealership in Costa Rica, where it´s more expensive than in Colombia. Took then 50km to regain confidence in me and the bike and I´m happy the front fork isn´t bent, this would be a loooot of troubles!! so it was just one more experience and reminded me a bit to drive extra cautious, maybe applying some different technics on the road in the traffic.
then there was a police guy stopping me, telling me something about missing papers and fine and I was telling them that I paid for everything at the boarder and I don´t like to pay extra fine that is not necessary. Well, they let me go.. but you know, Panamericana.. the road where many bikers drive down and cops get some extra income. Hmmm.. let´s see how I handle it in the future. I´m not willed to pay, but might just ask for their boss in such a case.. because another tactic is not to speak spanish anymore or maybe just noting down their name and number and telling them to speak with their official :)
to get some more of Nicaragua and having a few kilometers more to ride, I made a little detour and wanted to reach Granada on a dirt road along the lake, but then when I crossed the first river, the local chief of police told me, that there are biiig mud holes and I will have a hard time to reach Granada.. too bad, thought it was all rocks and stones, not loose earth that becomes a swamp if it rains. The guy was really awesome.. helped me carrying my cargo over the river (unloaded the bike to cross), just to figure out on the other side, that I better turn around.. was then an extra 140km to take the other paved road, that I left despite of recommendations earlier. Well.. then in the end managed to arrive here in Granada. Probably going on a volcano today (because so nice weather) and doing repairs tomorrow.. might stay for another 2-3 nights here and then going to the island Ometepe and climb another volcano.. it´s fun!! :D
yes.. that´s probably most of it.. there are so many things that are not written down here, but still end up as being part of myself. All the people I met along the way, all the wonderful, inspiring conversations and blissful moments (when not freaked out by missing love :´( ..no worries, still a lot of pleasure in my life. It´s really nice if you have nothing to do but to be and to learn about the world. Everything is really cheap here, so I can go out and eat tasty or afford any other pleasure the world holds ;) you should check it out!!
Ok.. I´m off to see the area around.. hear soon from me! :)