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Nicaragua is a country I could not help but love: it is a fascinating place, full of history, culture, natural wonders and good food. It is also very cheap! We left Monteverde, Costa Rica at 6am in order to start our epic move to Nicaragua. Well, maybe "epic" is too strong a word, but it was certainly a bit of a trial, involving 4 different chicken buses, a taxi, a boat and a long border crossing to finally reach our first destination, the town of Moyogalpa on Isla de Ometepe. We arrived just in time to check into a good cheap hotel (Hospedaje Central) and watch a spectacular sunset over Lake Nicaragua, the largest freshwater lake in the world. Our first view of Isla de Ometepe from the mainland was particularly stunning as the island consists of two volcanoes connected by a small strip of land and there is a definite movie-like sensation when they emerge from the water!

Our one full day on Isla de Ometepe was spent exploring the island by motorbike. I must admit that I was hesitant to hire the motorbike as I had only ever driven a moped before and the thought of changing gears terrified me! It was certainly difficult, with handling the gears as well as balance and pedestrians in the middle of the road but we somehow survived. Going by motorbike certainly proved to be a great way to get around the island as distances are not too big and we were able to visit lots of different places. Some of the highlights included trekking through the Charco Verde reserve; lunch and ancient statues in the town of Altagracia; strolling along Playa Santo Domingo and a late afternoon visit to Punta Jesus Maria, with its abundance of wildlife as well as locals catching their dinner in the lake.

From Isla de Ometepe we crossed back to the mainland and followed the shores of Lake Nicaragua northwards to reach the colonial city of Granada. This place is the highlight for many people of their Nicaraguan experience and it is easy to see why. Wonderful architecture is complimented by hot weather, laid-back locals and an excellent choice of places to eat and drink. We visited various sites, including the Museum at San Francisco Church which contained some interesting articles, including old photographs of Granada as well as 1,000 year-old basalt sculptures. The museum also introduced me to the wonders of rocking chairs, which I will look into buying when I return home!

From Granada we were able to make an easy daytrip westwards to Volcan Masaya National Park. A local bus dropped us off at the entrance to the park from where it was a 1km walk up to the Visitor's Centre. This contained a very thorough exhibition on volancoes and volcanic landscapes and helped to explain some of the things we would see in the park. We then managed to get a lift from a Park Ranger a further 4km along the road to reach the crater edge. The Santiago Crater is still active and there were huge amounts of smoke billowing out. We hiked around the rim and up to a wooden cross from where we could catch glimpses of the volcano's interior when the fumes cleared. We also hiked over to look into an extinct crater, which was full of vegetation and gave great views over the surrounding landscape.

After eating lunch at a picnic table near the Visitor Centre we walked back to the main road and hailed a bus to take us 4km closer to the city of Masaya. From here we hiked up a hill to reach the fortress of Coyotepe. This place is full of history, having been used by the nationalists to fire mortars against the Sandinistas in Masaya town during the 1979 revolution. The fortress still has a spooky feeling - when we went to look at some of the underground cells we were scared out by bats flying around! There are also more great views from the turrets.

After spending time just wandering around Granada and stopping for a regular juice or coffee break we decided we needed to keep going and so packed our bags and got a minibus on to the capital city Managua and immediately jumped on another bus to take us further north to the city of León. We spent a few days in and around León, enjoying more colonial architecture as well as the slightly more 'gritty' atmosphere on offer here compared with Granada. Whilst in the city we visited a number of places including the massive Cathedral, pleasant main square, Ortiz Foundation museum with a huge art collection and finally a display of photographs of (mostly) youngsters who had fought and died for the Sandinistas during the revolution against the Somoza regime. The latter was of course a moving display, but also just made me angry to think of the waste of young lives. This country is begging for some forward movement and yet its politics is just so divisive. The Sandinistas are currently in power, but there is plenty of opposition and the past seems very difficult to forget.

From León we took a much-needed daytrip to the beach at Las Peñitas, on the Pacific coast just 20kms away. The day turned out to be perfect, with clear blue skies, a light breeze, a quiet beach and big waves to jump about in. If we hadn't already booked into our León hotel for that night I can imagine we would easily have ended up spending a few nights at the Oasis Hotel on the beachfront. Instead we just filled up on ice-cold diet cokes from their bar!

After the heat of León we decided to escape to the highlands, where the altitude would allow some respite from the sun. When we arrived, after a long journey in a chicken bus, at the town of Matagalpa in the highlands we realised that it is also hot up here and we were not going to get too much relief! Still, we ended up spending a nice few days exploring the town and the surrounding region. One day unfortunately turned into a bit of a farce, when the hike we had intended following - using a map we had purchased from a local cafe - turned out to cross through a private finca. What with spending ages finding the right path and then finding out that the path was no longer useable, it turned into a rather frustrating experience. Although we did get to chat to lots of friendly locals when we got lost and needed directions!

However, that was all forgotten the next day when we visited the nearby Selva Negra which is both a hotel complex and a large area of untouched tropical forest with trails weaving through it. We had a great day hiking around the trails, spotting wildlife (I managed to see a toucan) and basking in the sunshine. The small entry fee for the reserve (just over $1 each) included a map as well as coffee and cake. The perfect day out!

Our final stop in Nicaragua was at the town of Esteli. This is also in the highlands and played an important role in the Sandinista revolution at the end of the 1970s. There are various reminders of the role played by the city, including numerous murals on the walls, statues and another museum of "martyrs and heroes". We also found a great hostel here (Casa Luna) as well as some of the best organic food in the country (Las Casitas).

Our time in Nicaragua passed by far too quickly for my liking. I can easily imagine returning here one day as I feel that we only managed to scratch the surface of what is on offer. And we discovered much too late that we very much like the local rum (Flor de Caña), which definitely needs more tastings!

But we are on a tight schedule, so next stop, Honduras...

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