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Nicaragua 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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Don Marcos Guzman
Don Marcos Guzman
Valentin played music with a Don Marcos, a CostaRican immigrant, who sang a love song to Lisa and loved Frank Sinatra. He was a gracious land owner and great musician who invited us to come back and s... [more]
Although Pochomil sits on the Pacific ocean, has a beautiful long streach of beach, and a town set up for ripe tourism, it has become a ghost town. We were one of three tourists in the community and were constantly accosted by vendors selling the same necklaces. A man asked us to come and eat at his restaurant and we said we would consider it. Then he politely waited a couple of hours for us to return from walking the beach and making sand castles and mermaids, and again asked us politely to come and eat. We ate wonderful fresh fish [View Full Entry]

Valentin and Lisa - Lisa Dawes | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
180 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 2 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 3rd 2009 | 68 Views | [diary=441813]

Ascent to Hotel Altamar

Toro Toro
Toro Toro
I was scared
Hello peoples, Well, after the Laguna de Apoyo we walked and bussed our way to Masaya, a city recognized for its markets, handicrafts and artisens. It is also apparently a party town with nearly three months of weekend festivals from September to November. The weekend of our arrival was the celebration of the town´s patron saint, San Jeronimo. The celebration concluded on Sunday with Masaya´s version of a running of the bulls. The whole town was in a state of excitement and it seemed the patriotic duty of all the young guys in town to puff their chests, grab a stick [View Full Entry]

Valentin and Lisa - Lisa Dawes | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
140 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 3rd 2009 | 57 Views | [diary=441804]

Bull
Clinging to the church
Band on a break

For those of you who are out of the loop (which means everyone but family), I have been reevaluating my service and wondering if it´s worth it to stay for the 2nd year. But then I thought, well, does it really matter if I go back to the States right now? Not really. There aren´t any jobs. And no one said the Peace Corps was gonna be easy. And if I stay I will have one more year to speak the ´Spañol every day and save money without student loans hanging over my head and I´ll get to help with the [View Full Entry]

mbaade - molly baade | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1026 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 28th 2009 | 88 Views | [diary=440502]


Smiles
Smiles
A hard working friendly family smiles for the camera in Granada.
The 24th we spent traveling from the island to the mainland to end up in Granada. The city was the colonal capital of Nicaragua and was recently completely overhauled and given a fresh coat of paint. It looks like it did 100 years ago just with cars and more whities walking around. It is a beautiful city with many old churches and new coffee shops to enjoy. We stayed at the Bearded Monkey hostel last night but left today because of a British woman who sounded like she was a drunk 19th century street urchin who kept everyone up late. Today [View Full Entry]

Valentin and Lisa - Lisa Dawes | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
213 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 25th 2009 | 114 Views | [diary=439755]

Whole Fried Mojarra
Church
La Iglesia Catedral

Valcano
Valcano
Valentin and Volcan Conception in back ground, this one's active.
Yesterday we traveled by bus all day and got to The Hotel Hacienda Merida in Merida in time for dinner. We have a fan in this room!! This hostel is beautiful and the grounds are right on the lake. There hotel offers kayaks for rent, horses, guided tours all over the island, has hammocks all over the place, dogs for friends, and best of all it is quiet. The hostel employs 18 and much of its profits are returned to various community schools and organizations. Also, the manager Alvaro Molina, has planned the hostel to be a "green" example for others [View Full Entry]

Valentin and Lisa - Lisa Dawes | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
282 Words | Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 23rd 2009 | 95 Views | [diary=439224]

Fake Smiles
Descent

Because today is a list day: Things I love: -free medical care, thank you taxpayers and the peace corps -the hotdog lady who has set up shop outside the office, since we are in a rich part of town and there is NOTHING to be eaten on a volunteer budget, except her hotdogs. Things I don't love: -cavities -chest exrays and "things" in my lungs -being away from my home in the mopo and my fiance longer than i planned -managua heat -having to defend my decision to get married to lenin and convince people that i fell in love to [View Full Entry]

mbaade - molly baade | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
162 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 22nd 2009 | 77 Views | [diary=438825]


Hmmm apparently my last post... didn't post. This weekend ran away to the beach in Leon. Met up with my volunteers who had medical stuff on Thursday, and I have mine today... so a weekend at the beach was a good compromise. Now I'm back in Managua. Went to have a chest xray because of my bronchial coughing in the mornings when it's cold. Fun. Then to the dentist for a cleaning. Had a cavity. That sucks. But she filled it, no prob. I do have to say, though, that I am impressed where PC sends us. They are all super [View Full Entry]

mbaade - molly baade | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
177 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 0 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 21st 2009 | 40 Views | [diary=438595]


Stonework at Copan
Stonework at Copan
Very detailed, and slightly disturbing.
Excuse me while I dust off the old 'you couldn't make it up' cliche, but that really is the name of the (ex) President of Honduras, who was unfortunately (for him) removed by military coup a few months ago. However, it wouldn't have felt like an authentic trip through Central America if there wasn't some kind of large scale political turmoil underway, so hats off to Honduras for stepping up to the plate and giving us a good old fashioned military backed junta-state to ride through. Apart from being stopped at army checkpoints every now and again, and having to negotiate [View Full Entry]

Max and Christine - Max Bower | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
319 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 5 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 22nd 2009 | 135 Views | [diary=438596]

Hung over in Honduras
The Plaza, Granada, Nicaragua
It's not a holiday, it's an adventure

San Juan del Sur
San Juan del Sur
View of the beach and city
RUM Spent the day on the beach located near our hostel drinking rum and soaking up the sun. We're both a little burned and tipsy, but very happy. The rum here sure is good. I, Lisa, did my first cartwheel of my life, Sara my sister would be proud. Only problem is, I did it in a wave and it was an accident. In the water we were also constantly hit by "rays" on our legs and feet and would scream like little girls. A little boy must have heard us out there and told us it was not big deal [View Full Entry]

Valentin and Lisa - Lisa Dawes | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
192 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 1 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 21st 2009 | 122 Views | [diary=438522]


I am sorry for the delay in blog posts, but it was because I was having a great time and the internet services were expensive and slow. When I left you last I was heading to the city of Leon. We spent little time here, but really enjoyed the street markets and cheap movie theaters. FYI dont see the movie GI Joe. We were awake bright and early on our first day here by explosions over our hostel/city. We thought maybe someone was invading the city and we were kind of on edge, but it turns out we showed up for [View Full Entry]

Buffs303 - James Arnold | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
600 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 9 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: September 20th 2009 | 110 Views | [diary=438307]

daily view
roughing it
good times