Nicaragua

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After a week of diving in Hondurous it was time to move on south. On recommendation from some other travelers we decided to check out the Esteli region in the north, known for its agriculture and cowboys. We spent a night in the provincial capital of Estali before heading out to Miraflor reserve.

Miraflor reserve is a large farming collective of about 5000 people. They raise cattle, grow crops (including coffee) and live a simple lifestyle sharing and trading what they have. It is all off the grid and they rely on solar power and still enjoy outhouses as their form of plumbing. We did a three night stay with two different families and enjoyed it a lot. Highlights definitely included staying with the very friendly families and getting as close as we have to living on a farm! Everyday we seemed to see more farm animals, most notably in the baby form, not to mention some nice cloud forests, an orchid garden, a coffee education center and lots of beans and rice and eggs. For breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days, we enjoyed the same meal, creatively prepared differently but still eggs rice and beans. Andrew was happy to get the exciting variation of meat, rice and beans when we got back to Esteli. (Needless to say, there are a lot of rice and beans in Nicaragua.)

Moving further south, we hopped on a bus and made it down to Managua, the nations capital. Having to wait one day before our flight out to the Corn Islands took off, we decided to check it out.
Managua is not quite as exciting as we hoped. It was made the capital to try to end power struggles between two other (and nicer) cities, Leon and Granada. Located between the two it seemed the logical choice except that it is located right on top of a massive geological fault which has twice ripped the city (and all of the nice buildings) apart with earth quakes. Most off the older buildings are in major disrepair and it was not too pretty to look at. The highlight was finding ice cold liters of beer for 1$ US.

Early the next morning, we took off to the Corn Islands on a little Short SD360 aircraft. The flight was a nice treat after hours and hours in busses and after a quick stop in Bluefields, we arrived on Big Corn Island. A quick and bumpy panga ride later, we found ourselves on Little Corn Island which turned out to be one of our favorite places so far. The small island was lined with palm trees and provided us with a very relaxing place to spend a week. We spent most of our days just relaxing on the beach, snorkeling and gathering different fruit. Andrew was in his element, foraging mangos, limes (that looked deceivingly like oranges), starfruit, coconuts and the ever elusive lobster.

The return of our flight and a shorter bus ride later, we found ourselves back on the mainland in Granada, a pretty colonial town on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. We spent a few days here checking out the sights and mostly trying not to melt as it was very hot. We rented a little Chinese 100cc motorcycle and did a fun day trip out to a market called Masaya and a volcanic lake, Laguna de Apoyo. A very fun day except for when the chain fell off (jamming the back wheel so the back of the bike had to be lifted to be pushed) on the middle of a two kilometer hill (which we were trying to go up). Luckily we met a really nice local and only at the cost of about 1.5 liters of sweat, we managed to make it up to the top where we found some tools to get it back on.


From Granada we took a bus and a ferry out to Isle de Ometepe, where we spent a few days and climbed both volcanoes: Maderas and then Conception. Ometepe (means ´two hills´) is a very cool place where two big volcanoes rise out of the middle of the lake and we really enjoyed it. After a few great days on Ometepe, we headed back to the mainland and made our way the short distance down to Costa Rica.

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Photos

Managua
Andrew with his favorite, BBQ street corn, standing in front of the Nicaraguan flag.

Our Private Beach
We came and relaxed here almost every day on Little Corn Island and were always the only ones there.

Tree Climbing
Britt and our guide, climbing up the inside of a fig tree. They are parasitic trees that surround another tree and strangle it to death. The dead tree eventually rots away, leaving a perfect climbing hole up the middle.

Wayyy up
Andrew about 15m up the inside of a fig tree.

The "Humid Zone"
Following two little girls on a 'short cut' through the woods (and about 15 barb wire fences) to the second family's home that we were staying with in Miraflor.

Chillin'
Calf best friends.

Farmer 'Typico'
In the midst of sorting his coffee beans.

Cactus
These cactuses make Mexican tequila.

Cute Calf
I was obviously not raised on a farm as this is was exciting for me.

Wilbur
These guys were so darn cute.

Chick
One evening entertainment was trying to catch chicks. Andrew finally caught this little guy.

Nina
The youngest member of the second family we stayed with in Maraflor. It was her first experience seeing herself in a digital picture.