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Granada Travel Blogs

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.

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By Beejay
January 11th 2008

Nicaragua

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada

I finally made it off Utila island but not without some troubles. A huge storm came in and i´m convinced the boat captians just go whenever they want willy nilly so the boat didn´t run for three days which doesn´t seem like a long time but when it´s pouring rain and there is nothing to do but stare at each other it can seem endless. The ride itself was fun for me but I don´t get seasick so I was all good but most of the boat was throwing up. Good times. Getting out of Honduras was an adventure in [View Full Entry]

By Virtual Shan
December 30th 2007

Volcanoes and Pizza aka Life in Granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Hostel Oasis

Granada's Cathedral

Yesterday actually marked my third straight day of travel. In a flurry of spending a lot of time on planes just to get to the same place, I flew from Raleigh to Atlanta to San Diego on Day 1. Day 2 was the train to LA and then a flight back to Atlanta. Wes and I met with my friend Grace for drinks, and were greeted by a surprise visit from Maaike and Paul, who had driven 3-4 hours out of their way to say hi. It was completely worth the 2 hours of sleep it resulted in. A few hours [View Full Entry]

By craigory
December 19th 2007

Vancouver to Nicaragua + Granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Hostel Oasis

Hostel Oasis

The trip to Nicaragua went by relatively uneventful. Cramped flights punctuated by long, boring layovers in airports in Portland, and Houston. On the longest flight, the one from Portland to Houston, my ticket indicated I had a window seat. Though, when I arrived at my row, a large black woman had stolen my seat. I glared at her, and upon sitting down in the middle seat she apologized and thanked me for understanding her situation. Which I took to meant ´being fat´. Though, since she did adknowledge the fact that she had usurped me from my rightful seat, I was less [View Full Entry]

By JoelleAndKevin
December 12th 2007

The Colonial Beauty of Granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada

Joelle kayaking on Lake Nicaragua!

Granada is a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua with Spanish colonial architecture and a vibrant energy. The highlight of Granada for us was a kayaking trip in Lake Nicaragua through many mangroves and to an old Spanish island fort. Apparently pirates use to cross Lake Nicaragua to attack Granada and other lakeside cities. The fort is still in great condition despite significant neglect with several of the rusting cannons still intact, there were a total of five cannons at the site. [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]

By djlolo
December 8th 2007

granada to lago de apoyo and back to granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Bearded Monkey

well we left the bearded monkey yesterday to go to the monkey hut in lago de apoyo. it a crater lake on a volcano. the place is gorgeous. right on the lake u can graba kayak or an inner tube or jump off the dock and swim to a floating dock and lay out in the sun. it was very relaxing there but there was hardly anyone there so after we swam we just kinda sat around and read and played a couple of games of war. mike is beating me 9 games to 8 so far. we didnt know if [View Full Entry]

By djlolo
December 7th 2007

san salvador to nicaragua granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Bearded Monkey

after spending a day in san salvador i was more than ready to leave. we stayed at the tica bus hotel cause it was the most convinient place cause we had to take a bus at 5am. we walked around and the smog in the center city is brutal. we walked around the the market and i was getting queezy by all the exhaust fumes everywhere. we went back to the hotel and decided to venture out for dinner. we found a pizza hut and ate then headed right back to the hotel to get an early night sleep so we [View Full Entry]

By Pendo does South America
November 29th 2007

I dug a hole, Dad

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada

Isla de Ometepe
Another day, another beautiful volanco and volcanic lake

Hi again everybody, Well, after having a lot of fun in Guatemala I decided it was time to move on to different and exciting things in the rest of Central America. So after two very unexciting days on buses I made it Nicaragua. I went straight to a place called Isla de Omtepe, a volcanic island in the middle of a huge lake! Ok, so I know I have written a lot about volcanoes and a lot about lakes - they are a recurring theme here in Central America - so I won´t bore you with too many details except to [View Full Entry]

By lcronkrite
November 22nd 2007

Granada

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada

Colourful buildings

Next stop, and still in Nicaragua, was Granada. This colonial town is a delight which a selection of goregous and colourful buildings surrounding a park in the main square. It also seems so quiet compared to other cities. That doesn´t mean there are not plenty of places for a piña colada! For a first evening we had the most bizarre expereince. A woman, in typical Nicaraguan dress, gave us a city tour. Forstly she seemed to show us parts of the city which wee not really of much interest and then, every now and then, she broke in to song! [View Full Entry]

By draak
November 2nd 2007

Talking Stag Head

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada

The Cathedral
As seen from the bell tower of La Merced

Taking a taxi from the port at San Jorge to the bus terminal at Rivas the driver tried to convince us to take his taxi all the way to Granada. It was too expensive at US$25 so we said no. But he didn't give up, he went as far as telling us that there was no bus for 2 hours going to Granada. Maybe he was right but we found one for Managua that was leaving straight away. The bus helpers nodded enthusiastically when we asked if it was going to Granada but we soon found out we would be dropped [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada