Island of Ometepe

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Nicaragua economy has been severely effected over the last 5 years.

In April of 2018 there were violent protests and riots. It followed a move by the government of Daniel Ortega to reform social security. Following the deaths of protesters, demonstrations intensified and grew into a large anti-Ortega movement seeking his removal from office.

Prior to this, their economy was growing at ~4.5% per year. The riots and violence brought the tourism industry to an almost complete halt. Foreign investment declined 90% in the second half of 2018. The World Bank estimated that the Nicaraguan economy shrunk by 6% in just 6 months. As they were attempting to climb out of this hole COVID hit. They are just now trying to repair their economy and tourism business. Currently tourism is only 14% of what it was before 2018. The tour operators, hotels, and restaurants that survived are struggling. So I am doing my part and spending my weekends outside of the capital exploring.

This past weekend I spent time on the Island of Ometepe, the largest fresh water island, that is made up of two volcanos in the Lake Nicaragua. This is the only fresh water lake that is known to have sharks. They are primarily bull sharks and I am told are quite dangerous. They regularly attack livestock that wade in the water and occasionally a human.

While it was very hot, I found shaded hikes through the volcanos as well an early morning kayak to search for birds and caiman alligators. There were many black sand beaches to visit at sunrise and sunset. On the edge of Lake Nicaragua is Granada, Nicaragua's oldest town, founded in 1524, and the original capital. I loved the quiet streets and colonial architecture. On my way back to Managua I stopped at the Masaya Volcano for sunset. If you visit after dark it is one of the few places you can see the red glow of the active lava in the volcano.

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Comments

[Julia Foster]

Lovely!
Enjoying the pictures! Our cruise stopped at Granada a few years back and we snuba’d for the first time. Thanks for sharing!!