Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

I'm back to mainland after a couple of days spent on the beautiful Isla de Ometepe, definitely a great place and an interesting experience to live. First, the way to the island from Granada by ferry was really really crazy, it takes about four hours of travel to get there and everything was fine until sunset even if waters were pretty rough. After sunset things went wrong and wrong. It all began with a child puking, she was the one who opened the show: after few minutes for a curious chain reaction everybody started to puke almost everywhere, on the floor, into thrashbins, into bathrooms, directly in lake... After one hour in a such way I blessed the arrival to the island because I was going to be sick as well. Anyway, the morning after, I rented a truly shitty bike and I cycled all around the southern volcano of the island. In Tikal, my head was roaring with stupid Axl Rose's voice and his "welcome to the jungle" song, now was time for Madonna and "la isla bonita". Yeah, because that island was really a sort of paradise on earth, with small gravel roads, no cars at all, colorful small villages isolated from anything, banana's trees, chicken and pigs roaming free... Well, cycling there for - I guess - about 50 km in one day has been challenging (mainly for my ass), as the roads were in an extremely bad condition (as the bicycle itself), but I will never forget the quiet and the peaceful there. I will also remember all those people living isolated from the so-called civilization, into those houses with no floor, no shoes, no electricity, but friendly and (maybe) happier than we are in our rich countries, while welcoming you with big smiles and the children offering you free fruits like it's used to do with a long time friend.
Different perspectives: that's the real value given by any travel.

Granada, Nicaragua

Christmas far from home is weird for definition, but I must admit I wouldn't have find a better place than Granada for it. I've a nice tidy private room with bathroom in the main road for few bucks per day, definitely comfortable and, finally, a little bit of privacy after all these months travelling in youth hostels with no privacy at all. So comfortable that I decided for some rest after the last days' frenziness and Antigua's parties: Christmas' eve I have been sleeping at 8 pm! The weather here is sunny and warm, like in European summertime, and I really enjoyed strolling down the local market eating tons of cheap fruit and drinking the local beer "Tona" or "Victoria", coming in 1 litre bottles for 1,5 dollars each. I also discovered the pleasures of local shacks which are truly different to all the other shacks where I ate during this travel: different to Mexican shacks, different to Guatemaltecan shacks, Chinese or Mongolian ones... Caribbean shacks are weird and charming! I mean, if you think it's charming eating with old caribbean music coming from a jurassic juke box bigger than 3 fridges and full of useless blinking lights while drunken locals select music on it just to show the only foreigner how cool is their music, or like having the tableclothe full of cigarette burns, or like the roof made by straw and the meat roasted directly out on the streets... Well, in few hours I'm gonna sail to Isla de Omotepe, a small island lying in the middle of Lake of Nicaragua with joint volcanoes and small villages along the coast. More news soon to come.

Merry Christmas from Granada, Nicaragua

Backpacking through some countries is an act of faith: faith in people, faith in themselves, faith in the future. Everything could happen, as safety is a word almost non-existant. I crossed El Salvador and Honduras with a night just-for-locals bus, which means squeezed like an animal on the hardest and most unconfortable seat ever. Next to me there was a guy from Nicaragua keeping me informed on his drinking status at every border: "First bottle of rum gone, second one ready to go!". The bus had two long stops for pinched tires. The capital of Nicaragua, Managua, is completely different to Guatemala, as the houses are low and dusty and messy and it really looks like a middle east city with horses used for transportation and an incredible poverty rate. As soon as I arrived in Granada, the colonial gem of Nicaragua, I understood I shifted to the caribbean area when a prostitute moved to me, officialy to offer a 2 hours massage for 5 dollars, in reality asking continously to keep my bags to help me... maybe trying to rip me off? Curse of the first day? Don't know, I only know that the city is colorful, warm, happy and I'm far thousand miles from home or any other place to remind me that today is Christmas.
Stories are gifts to share: stories are the only gifts I can give you for this year.
Merry Christmas to anyone.