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Published: December 24th 2004
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Under the Flor de Nochebuena
This is a photo of us standing under one of the many beautiful poinsettia plants we have seen. This is actually a small speciman. Mom, this is for you! Merry Christmas! Our guard Andres took this photo for you. Hello All:
¡Feliz Navidad!
We moved from Granada onto Laguna de Apoyo on Tuesday and darn the luck, we had reserved a standard room at the Norome Resort but when we got there the room we reserved was not available, so they upgraded us to a beautiful villa for the same price as a standard. So we got the $200 place for $65. The Narome Resort is a world class resort located on the water. The Laguna is one of the only bodies of water withing Nica that is not contaminated. It is a crater lake fed by natural springs. The water is mineral rich and very therapeutic. It is a national treasure, hay muy bonita (it is very beautiful) The Nicaragua people are proud of this place. We were told the government tests the water each week to make sure no one is polluting it.
The Norome resort is still under construction and when completed will be a world class resort. The resort is about 160 acres, most of it is set aside as a nature preseve. There are wonderful interpretive trails built on the property through the jungle surrounding it. This is considered a dry forest,
Catarina Nursery
A sample of the beautiful flowers at one of the many nurseries in Catarina. a completely different ecosystem than the cloud forest we walked through on Volcan Mobachu. We have not traveled 20 miles from Managua and have seen five entirely different ecosystems. This is an amazingly beautiful country.
We walked through the dry forest and at the top of the property boundary met a guard from the resort who walked with us to the town of Catarina a short distance away. The guard, Andres, saw my interest in the flowers and plants. He was very knowledgable of the flora so told us all the names and explained the medicinal and food value of the many different varieties. I wish we understood more spanish as he did not speak any english, yet somehow, with some really funny sign language, we were able to understand much of it and he was able to understand my many questions.
Catarina was a lovely town full of nurseries that grow the ornamental plants that you see all over the country. The nurseries were incredibly beautiful. I could spend days looking through all of them. And the pottery for sale was museum quality. Many furniture makers as well, beautiful hand carved pieces, rattan and wicker. I am
Working On My Tan
Terry relaxing on the shores of Laguna de Apoyo with a delightful Pina Colada! Thinking of all of you back in cold Colorado. hoping we will return when we can spend the night there and see it all.
As it was we stayed too long as darkness fell on us as we hiked back down. It is not wise to hike through the jungle in the dark. The guard radioed the resort and they sent a guy up with a lantern and flashlight to help us down. It took us 2 1/2 hours to hike up because we were looking at everything on the way, only took 45 minutes to get down. 2 kilometers up and only 1 kilometer down, or so it seemed. Once down the restaurante y cantina was a welcome sight. Of course, being a world class resort the food is incredible.
And the people, they are so warm and friendly. They seem to be very happy people. We have noticed there is so much laughter. There are children everywhere and you never hear them crying, just laughing, a lot.
The next day we decided to just hang around the laguna and swim. We met a couple of other couples, one from CA and the other from PA. They were seeking a place to retire and were checking out the villas at the resort to purchase. Each villa, in all there will be 100, will be individually owned then managed by the resort. The resort is built in a very ecologically sensitive manner and is up for something called a heritage award which is some kind of a world designation for ecologically sound development and preservation. I will look more into that later. You can buy one of the villas for $159,000 right now. The salesman working with the couples tells them they will double in value once the project is complete. The developers have another project that the couples are going to go see on the ocean just north of Costa Rica. They invited us to tag along so we will head out of Norome tomorrow, Christmas morning to see what is there.
We had planned on spending Christmas Eve at a cheap hostel in Granada where a fun party was planned, pool tournament, gift exchange and other fun stuff, but, darned the luck, they are full so we will have to spend another night at the world class resort, swimming in the wonderful water. My skin is loving the spa like mineral quality of the laguna.
Well Merry Christmas to each and everyone of you. Thanks for the messages, we really enjoy them.
Molly, sorry you are not able to get my car started, however, I must say, that is one less worry on my mind. We love you and miss you.
Bless you all, and especially, God, please bless little Eamon.
With love, Kathy and Terry.
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Beautiful flowers
What a lovely picture you posted of the flowers in the nursery. I envy you the lovely things you are seeing. Enjoy your trip. It sounds wonderful. - Nancy