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Background: The Pacific Coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990, 1996, and again in 2001 saw the Sandinistas defeated. The country has slowly rebuilt its economy during the 1990s, but was hard hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Nicaragua

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By peteontherun
September 16th 2008

Perdon. No entiendo ingles

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

Volcan Beautiful

This past week I began a new challenge: Only speak Spanish. Aye! As impressive as it might sound, the reality is I don’t talk much. I can get by with the basics ok, but it’s hard to express opinions during discussions (as if I could really follow the conversation anyway). But I’ve started Spanish classes again and been studying everyday so I think I’ll make some bigger progress over the next few weeks, yo espero. Well, two weekends ago a couple of us volunteers went to the big island of Ometepe. This is a beautiful island formed by its two volcanoes. [View Full Entry]

By AandA
September 5th 2008

From Honduras to Nicaragua

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

The first GAP adventures hotel...
Our private hot tub!!!

Hello everyone!! We´re both still in one piece after 8 days of our group Volcano trail trip! It was difficult getting used to travelling in a group after having three weeks of going it alone, and we were a little anxious as to who we would be travelling with and whether we would all get along! However, everyone is really great - there are a lot of Brits, two Canadians, one Aussie and three crazy Irish boys partial to ´a little´ Nicaraguan rum... so a good mixture. We seem to have got the nickname of Team America which is slightly bizarre, [View Full Entry]

By LegsAcrossTheGlobe
August 29th 2008

(Approx Day 24) - Granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central » Cathedral

Hola! It´s been a while ... And travelling has been continually very good. The concept of work is just so foreign and scary right now! After being very proud of my excellent health while others have been dropping like flies, today has seen some very odd symptoms for me. The room has fortunately just stopped spinning and I can kinda type. Also good is that I haven´t seen any random blue dots for a while. But I wish that I was on any of the other computers in this Granadan internet cafe as everyone else´s is in focus whereas mine really [View Full Entry]

By travelbug1970
August 18th 2008

Carnivals & Horse Parades in Nicaragua

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

At night in Granada, Nicaragua

Here we are in the heart of Granada, Nicaragua..... and having a great time as always. What a great city this is, and when I say that we are in the heart I really mean it. Our hotel is on the main square.... facing the central park and Cathedral. We are staying for 4 nights at the lovely Hotel Plaza Colon.... and it has now taken me over an hour to upload these 14 pics... so I am done for the night and will keep this short. Everyone said that we would love this town, and I can see why. Granada [View Full Entry]

cooling down at the hotel pool - Granada

By peteontherun
August 13th 2008

Grabbing it by the Horns

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

Market at Masaya

Life here is as exciting as always. A lot has happen so I'll try my best to condense it to something digestible. This past weekend, we had plans to leave Granada to visit some place else in Nicaragua. I've been in the same place for over a month and it would be nice to get out and see a bit of the country. However, on Thursday and Friday a lot of us got rather sick. Nothing too serious. More like there was something in the food which our bodies rejected. Friday was a big recovery day so our hopes of escaping [View Full Entry]

By Ngaio
August 5th 2008

Float On

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

Tela Beach
First stop back at the Carribean Sea...a nice place to start!

Hola! I´ve gotten all the way to Nicaragua at this point, and again, have had a great week :) Unfortunately I still can´t get my pictures up...I´ll be in San Jose Costa Rica in a few days though, I have high hopes for the internet connection there... We left Copan about a week ago - caught a bus to San Pedro, and made a last minute connection to Tela. Tela is a small Honduran beach town, and it was my first beach in nearly 3 weeks in Central America! I was quite excited to get back to the beach. Although the [View Full Entry]

By peteontherun
August 1st 2008

Another day, another gallo pintos

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

Cathedral in Parque Central

Buenas todos mundos. Que tal? See, the Spanish is slowly coming through. I just finished up my third lesson and I think I'm progressing nicely. It's a combination of lessons, living with Spaniards, and being put in situations where I have to construct Spanish to get by. I wouldn't be surprised if I learned more Spanish than my students learn English during my English classes. Necessity is a great motivator in learning languages. I've been doing what I can to stay busy and to stay on top. This past week has been especially jam-packed with volunteering action. There is a volunteer [View Full Entry]

By peteontherun
July 21st 2008

Viva la Revolution!

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

Dinner for 27
Here's me attempting to make dinner. Went great!

Sorry for the late entry. My computer has been upset at me, but it seems to be working now. This past week has been very exciting for those of us in Nicaragua. Julio 19th is the anniversary of the revolution some 30 years ago. It was when the real fight between the Sandinistas and the Samozas broke out. The Sandinistas were Che Guavara and Fidel Castro inspired and had adopted the Marxist philosophy. In the end, they had won the battle. However, the government was no better if not worse than before. Presently, a former prominent figure in the movement, Daniel [View Full Entry]

By Keren
July 6th 2008

Granada & Masaya

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

The past week in Nicaragua has been so full that it has left little time for journalling. Today we left the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua at 5am to arrive in the old Spanish colonial city of Granada at 9am. After exploring the main cathedral and the art school both off the central park and independence square, we boarded a 'chicken bus' to Masaya. We took the bus too far, almost to the capital- Managua. We got off and hitched on a 'chicken van' back to Masaya and walked at least 2 kilometers to the Mercado Viejo, which is an [View Full Entry]

By juneandnik
December 10th 2007

Hot Stuff

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central » Cathedral

Lake Atitlan - Guatemala
Twiffic Twilight

So far, so good. Since leaving Mexico we have passed through Guatemala, Honduras and are now in Nicaragua. The down side of this has been the tedium and frustration of border crossings. Each border is manned either side by a series of officious uniformed personnel, situated in different offices clustered around the border. Multi-tasking hasn´t reached Central America yet. To start you go as directed to the first office where the document distributer gives you your documents. Then you are sent to another office to the man who stamps the documents. Then off to the man who copies the documents, b [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central