A week in Nicaragua

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We spent just a week in Nicaragua - the largest country in Central America - but saw and did a lot! What made it especially fun was travelling with our friends Joe and Cathy. Joe has been to Nicaragua twice before -once in the 1980s and then again 2 years ago - so we were lucky to have a tour guide too! We flew on February 21st from Cancun to Panama City -then changed planes and flew to Managua arriving about 7:30 p.m. Joe and Cathy were there to meet us with the rental car (they arrived the day before us from Calgary) -and off we headed for our hotel - Maria La Gorda - loose translation - “Maria The Fat”. 😊 The Lonely Plant Guide says that few travellers spend much time in Managua - and alas we did not either so I cannot tell you much about it. The challenge is that it has few street signs! Over 1 million people live here, about 1/5 of all Nicaraguans. The locals use landmarks as reference points. What we had was Joe’s GPS -brilliant of him to bring it -and even with that we twisted and turned and took a circuitous route in the dark but we did find our hotel. Like many places in Nicaragua it had an armed guard outside and he strongly discouraged us from walking anywhere in the dark -so we relaxed and toasted ourselves in the hotel lobby.

The next day we headed off - GPS in hand! - towards Leon; there were school kids everywhere in their school uniforms -white shorts and navy pants/skirts -I think we arrived at the lunch break…and we continued to the coast and Poneloya -and the magnificent surf of the Pacific Ocean! We drove a bit further on dirt roads and then the beach to Las Penitas and Casa Patricia where Joe had stayed 2 years ago. Lovely spot and we stayed for 2 nights and could have easily stayed longer! Patricia was an excellent host. 7 rooms and fabulous views! We played in the surf; Cathy and I bought shell necklaces from a girl on the beach; and we went on a totally amazing early morning boat tour of the Reserva Natural Isla Juan Venado (John Deere) through a mangrove lined estuary. Our guide Tonio was fantastic at explaining the flora and fauna and we saw snowy egrets, black necked stilts, alligators, blue herons, parakeets, mangrove swallows -and more!

We toured Leon and saw a couple of amazing art galleries -from old to modern art -and fascinating pre-Columbian artifacts. The Sandinista presence is felt in art, signs and statues. Next stop was Jiquilillo, on the coast north of Chinandega. Beautiful. Pristine beaches and pounding surf. Stayed our first night at Tina’s “Rancho Tranquillo” - her hospitality and welcome was outstanding! She is developing her property and we had basic but comfortable rooms complete with mosquito nets. $4. per person per night! Very reasonable! She taught us a lot about this lovely community and its people. Next night we stayed just down the beach at Monty’s Surf Camp. Monty is from Kamloops and just opened his place last Christmas. Very nice and excellent food!

On February 26th we headed to the Granada area for 3 nights - stayed in Laguna De Apoyo - it is a crater lake - first night at Crater’s Edge -welcomed by the owner Ann, a very comfortable place- rooms and dorms available….and I heard my first howler monkeys in the night!! Then Cathy and I saw cappuchin monkeys dancing in the trees on our kayak paddle the next day! Also had 2 nights at La Orchidea -a very gorgeous 2 bedroom guest house also on the lake. Very beautiful area -and we toured Granada - …lovely colonial buildings…

So much more to say. On our travels we did see extreme poverty -Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere - and much damage from the 1998 Hurricane Mitch. We met wonderful friendly people and hope to go back for more and longer exploring another time!

These pictures will give you a few glimpses of our explorations…..

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Photos

Feb 2008 032 NICARAGUA Managua Cathy and Robin
Our welcome toast at our hotel -Maria La Gorda!