Nicaragua = Winter Break 2010-11

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My friend, Michaela, had some friends who were traveling to Nicaragua. She thought it sounded pretty great and invited me and a family friend of her's, Judy, to be her partners in crime!

We flew to Managua, spent a night at a very noisy Best Western by the airport and then got on a super early flight the next day to the Corn Islands. We took a bumpy boat ride from Corn Island to Little Corn Island where there were no cars, no streets, and the most pure peace and quiet and beauty I've ever experienced! There was literally nothing to do but relax! We walked around the entire island, explored, ate amazing food, and went snorkeling. Oh, and our hotel was a little hut on stilts right on the beach. No joke!

After a few nights, we retraced our steps and ended up on a flight from Corn Island to a town on the mainland called Bluefields. I had read something in small print in the guidebook about going there to catch a boat taxi to a property called Greenfields. Apparently so few people do this that the Greenfields people need you to call ahead, but I didn't know this. So we convinced the boat taxi driver to drop us where nobody goes and to come back for us in a few hours. Michaela and I wandered around in the mangroves and called out "hello" until a man emerged from his house. I forget his exact story, but he was a 70 year old Swiss man who moved to Nicaragua to take care of nature. He doesn't have much company so it was no problem just to sit around with him for hours and talk about the world! Anyways, I recommend going the distance to Greenfields, just call a few days in advance so they are ready for you and have another person there to take you on a tour of the nature in the area.

Our next adventure included a flight back to Managua, a bus to Rivas, a taxi to San Jorge, and then a ferry out onto Lake Nicaragua to Ometepe! We stayed at a hotel called Finca Magdalena. We did a HUGE 10 hour hike up the Maderas Volcano.

Then we went to Granada and stayed at a family's home turned hotel called Mar Dulce. It was lovely and we had a pool! On Christmas day we went on a boat tour to Las Isletas. We stopped on an island literally big enough for a table and a grill/kitchen area where they prepared fish straight out of the lake for us.

The next few days after Christmas we did a tour up Volcano Mombacho which is in a cloud/rain forest, adventured on a zipline, and hiked around the crater of Masaya Volcano which was very sulfurous smelling, and we went to a pottery school where a teacher aims to preserve traditions and school children in local crafts that will help them make a living. Our final stop was Lake Apoyo to relax and take in the sights!

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Photos

Ometepe
Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. The bigger volcano on the left is still active. See how the plant life has burned away? We hiked the smaller volcano on the right that is extinct.