Beautiful Nicaragua!

We arrived to Managua and walk down the halls to customs and immigration. After waiting in line I pass into the next room where I see a glass walk with hoards of people holding signs outside. I find the sing that is waiting for me and head to my hotel, Camino Real. After a late evening dinner I head to bed, eager to get some sleep before my early morning wake up.

Breakfast starts at 6:30 in the morning, where we are given a presentation regarding Nicaragua as a tourism destination. Then we head out on the buses for the Masaya Volcano. We pass by many homes and businesses in Managua. You can definitely see the difference in wealth levels compared to other Central American nations. Trash litters the gutters on the streets as there does not exist much consciousness for keeping the city clean. We drive for about ½ hour to the entrance to the Masaya Volcano. Here one can hike or even bike on many of the trails in the area, but we opt for the quick fifteen minute van ride up to the crater at the top. Here one can look over the steep side of the crater and see the steaming sulfur below. The smell is horrible – and breathing it in causes a great irritation in your throat. I start to climb up the 200 stairs to the cross on the high ridge lookout, make it half way up and take some photos of the gorgeous landscape out over Lake Nicaragua – and then decide to head back to the air-conditioned (and filtered) air in our bus. I have never been so close to an active volcano crater, and yet 10 minutes was enough for my lungs! Next we go back down the volcano and head to the Catarina Lookout. As we drive there, we pass through an area where many ceramics, hammocks, and plants are being sold all along the side of the main road (I later learn that this area I the White towns of Masaya). We reach the lookout, and from here we can see the Apoyo Lagoon – a lake crater formed below. We shop around a bit, all the while having young kids asking for coins or trying to sell flowers to us made with grass reeds. The views are amazing from the top! I visit the public bathroom, pay 2 cordobas for some toilet paper and privacy. The toilets don’t flush, so after I leave I see a woman coming towards me with a bucket of water. I watch as she pours it into the toilet bowl to manually make it flush. A truly raw experience! After this we board the bus again and head on to Granada. Here we arrive to Hotel Dario for a nice lunch around the outdoor interior courtyard. After lunch, we go on a walking tour around the city of Granada, first taking in the Cathedral of Granada, originally built in 1583, which has been destroyed and restored numerous times during Granada’s multiple “sacks”. The most recent version has been standing since 1915. Next we cross the plaza, passing by the horse drawn carriages awaiting interested riders, and then go on to see the Convento de San Francisco. This is the oldest church in all of Central America, still showing the original façade dating back to 1585. It has recently been restored in 1989, and houses a small, but well done, museum with primitive art, a scaled room size model of the city of Granada, and Zapatera statuary. These black basalt statutes were discover on the Chorotega Indian ritual island Zapatera in the late 1880s. They date back to 800-1200 AD. After the convent, we continue on to go for a boat ride through the Isletas de Granada. Over 300 small volcanic rock islands were created when Volcano Mombacho erupted. We toured past small stone protected islands with beautiful homes, restaurants, and some hotels. Many of the isletas are actually for sale – you can buy them, and your own land then is on Lake Nicaragua! We saw some birds as went along, then we came to “monkey Island” where 2 spider monkeys and some capuchin monkeys come out to greet us. As we are watching them and trying to take pictures, one spider monkey leaps from the tree branch and into a boat and began to walk along the outside past everyone sitting inside. Everyone in the boat was quickly advised to guard their things as the monkey continued to walk around and across laps looking for food or something else interesting. Finally they are able to get him back on the island and we come back to Puerto Asese and get off the boats. From here we went and checked into our hotels, then met up at La gran Francia for dinner. The hotel Gran Francia was William walker’s former home. He is the American “commander for hire” who came in and helped the Nicaraguans fight, and then ended up proclaiming himself as President of Granada and then later burned it to the ground out of spite. This city has a very interesting history of pirates and war! As we drive through the countryside, I see horses left wandering on the sides of the road – let loose to graze on the pieces of land lining the road that nobody owns. They use wood sticks to build their fences too – but these branches re-sprout once they are stuck into the ground, as the soil here is extremely fertile. So the fences appear as though they are rows of trees in a line with wire around them.

We leave Granada this morning. I had an old lady with a walker come up to me asking for money. Instead of giving her money I asked about her story and she shared with me. An interaction then that could have been nuisance turned into a blessing for both of us. As we sat on the bus waiting to depart, I saw a woman sweeping up garbage in the central plaza. They are at least trying to keep the streets clean. She was using what looked to be a homemade broom – dried straw of all different lengths that were tied together and then tied to a stick for a handle. A bank sponsored garbage cans to line the sidewalks, so she will now have somewhere to throw the trash. On the way to the Mombacho Reserve, I see multiple horses, cattle, and one pig grazing along the way. We arrive to the entrance and get off our bus and load onto an open air military vehicle converted into a safari style truck. I wonder why the vehicle switch is necessary, but as we climb up the stone cobble road, the way becomes very steep and slippery from the moisture, and rain and leaves that have beat down on this road. We climb and climb and climb, seeing birds, flowers and butterflies as we go. One red winged butterfly comes and flies right next to me in the bus for about 10 seconds (which shows how slow we are driving) as if to say “Welcome to my forest”. We arrive at the top after about 25 minutes. Here there is a biological research center with some small exhibits inside about the cloudforest and wildlife you might see within the park’s borders. We then walk along the trail leading to the main crater. At the lookout all you can see is a huge hole – what looks like a large sinkhole – of trees inside. The view from the top was clouded by most, which gave it an awe-inspiring Jurassic Park feel. We continued walking seeing different plants as well as the orchid that only grows on this volcano and Volcan Madera on Isla de Ometepe. From here we pass through the tunnel, a large calving in the soil creating a trail to a lookout on the other side. After we return down passing the adventure canopy zipline tour near the base (we did not have time to do it, but I was told it is a great mix of cables and hanging bridges through the cloudforest. We board the bus and head to Rivas for lunch. In Rivas we stop at a very nice seafood restaurant for a plato of fish, rice, vegetables, and fries (and yes, they even had ketchup for me). After lunch we head on to the ferry to Ometepe. It takes us about 1 hour to arrive from San Jorge to Moyogalpa, the port town on the islands. It seemed silly to take so long to arrive, as it looks like the island is right there, but it is a trick as the island is very large and one begins to notice that as you get closer! Once we get on the island we have a local guide join us. We take a brief drive around the small town of Moyogalpa before heading in to Museo El Ceibo. This is a privately owned museum, by a man who farms tobacco and over the years has discovered artifact after artifact of pre-columbian pottery, weapons, tools, and petroglyphs on his property. He has them on display in an old horno (roasting house used for drying tobacco) for visitors to come and see. He also has on site a museum of the Nicaraguan currency – telling the history of the country through the stories and people on its bills. The museum lacks the background history explanations, which is why it is a good idea to go with a trained guide. Also on site, we get to see his own “cave” full of bats. After this we continue on to Charco Verde, a lovely little hotel on the south side of the Volcan Concepcion. Here we are able to walk along the beach of the lake (not white sand, but still nice and with “Ocean” sounding waves. Also some dancers come and perform some traditional dances all dressed up in their blouses and skirts. They are very similar to the ones worn in Costa Rica as well – which makes sense sine geographically we are very close to them. After another meal of mashed potatoes, vegetables, chicken and fish, and relaxing conversation, we continue on to our hotel on Playa Santo Domingo, which overlooks the lake to the Northeast.

In the morning we all head to nearby hotel Villa Paraiso for breakfast. It was very nicely located, overlooking the lake. As I sat down for gallo pinto, eggs, fruit and café con leche, we quickly find that we were vying for our food with the birds (cockatiel looking birds) and a few dogs – all of which seem to be emboldened in their quest for food from likely being fed by other guests before us. We then continue on to see the nearby petroglyphs, accessible after a brief walk past farmlands to the locations where they were originally found. We also see pigs and horses grazing along the two sides of our pathway. I see too my first saddle made from wood blocks and large palm leaves. After this we continue through to Altagracia – the other “large” town on the island. We stop to seethe Catholic Church here and the large stone sculptures in the front courtyard before continuing on to San Jorge for the ferry. As we are driving I reflect on what is Nicaragua. I discussed this with a gentleman from Spain and our local guide, Robinson, who spoke much better English than I was anticipating. Why would anyone want to come visit Nicaragua? The hotels while a good attempt at comfort, have yet to meet the same standards of quality of service as say the ones in Costa Rica. International travelers have come to expect a certain level of comfort and pampering when traveling – even those who claim to love adventure and new experiences don’t often want to sacrifice common amenities to have it. Yet I think, where else in the world do you find a road on a rainforest and volcanic island shared by fancy tourist buses, large tractors, SUVs, public buses, horse and rider, and cattle being herded by a small boy with a stick? The life that takes place here is so raw and uncensored. You can come experience a people downtrodden by war and years of oppression and poverty, and yet find something so beautiful in their struggle to survive as a people with their own identity and culture. You may see the garbage thrown all over, or the small shanty homes as sings of no pride or not caring about their country – and then see an old woman sweeping out the dirt floor of her small casita and think “what amazing pride of ownership, that she would sweep even the dirt itself”. You will hear a young man who has learned to speak English return to guide people on his island sharing the treasures that he so greatly appreciate with any who would like to see it. As tourists still are not that common, you receive blank stares from many locals and at first think you are receiving angry glances. But then with one genuine smile from me – their faces light up with a smile in return. While hostility towards tourists is not really evident, I can understand why these people would be leery of gringos. The Americans played such a large part in their very recent history of civil war, that their artwork and even their money often depicts battle scenes in which a US flag is raised for the army killing the locals. And yet, while many still remember the civil struggles, there is an eagerness to interact if we just demonstrate a smile, eye contact, and a willingness to find out their name. So simple – what it takes to heal a relationship or perspective of a people previously unknown to us. A truly hidden gem, I would recommend to any and all willing to forfeit their rights to clean sidewalks or cable TV to come experience this little country filled with natural wonders from the white faced monkey to the Maximiliar Orchid to the small dirty girl sitting on a rock and smiling at you. So much beauty previously unseen – has yet to be noticed and recognized for what it is –a truly special country, hidden, yet waiting to be discovered.

This day I am in a conference all day.. slightly boring for you to read about!

Early this morning we head off from my hotel in Managua to the old colonial city of Leon. The drive takes about an hour and a half, and first we stop to visit the remnants of uncovered ruins of Old Leon. Originally built to be by the lake waters, the city was intentionally abandoned and moved 85 years after its founding to avoid potential eruption destruction by Momotombo Volcano nearby. Now, you can explore the old cathedral site, Governor’s house, and then the resting place of Cordoba and Davila, enemies buried side by side. One can see as you walk lumps in the vegetation hinting at the presence of other ruins yet uncovered, as well as see glimpses of the 500 year old bricks peaking out through the grass. We next continue on to a lookout of a volcano called el Tigre. We climbed up a steep hill for about 10 minutes, where from there we proceeded down to a beautiful fresh water lagoon at the base of the volcano. The views are spectacular, and as it is Sunday, we are met by many locals swimming and playing in the blue lake. After a brief visit (and a quick swim for one of the gentlemen in our group) we continue on to Leon City where we have lunch at a local restaurant located kitty corner to Catedral La Asuncion. This is the one cathedral that opens its rooftop to the public - allowing one to take in the views of the chain of 12 volcanoes consecutively on a clear day. Here too are the tombs of Ruben Dario, famed literary giant of Nicaragua, as well as other great men for the nation of Nicaragua. Also you can see on display here the Black Christ - taken over from the original cathedral in the move from Old Leon. We go to inspect a few hotels in the area too - and then go to see the art museum. Though not all original works, it has an impressive display of European and local art, as well as the building housing it being an old presidential palace of sorts and still has some of the original woods boasted in its architecture. We do not have enough time this day to do much more. We wander the colonial streets for a bit, and I purchased sliced up mango from a local vendor for 5 cordobas, or about 25 cents. We return to Managua this evening.

The next morning we wake a gain and head back towards the South, with San Juan del Sur the final destination. En route though, we decide to stop in San Juan del Oriente (or Los Pueblos Blancos near Masaya). Here we walk amidst some of the local homes and neighborhoods to see how the hammocks and ceramics are made. It is amazing with the hammocks as the whole little neighborhood is involved in the process. One person spins the thread, another then weaves the body of the hammock, another creates the wood pieces to hold them up, and still another makes the decorative fringe on the side, and then one storefront is used to sell to the general public (like me, here I paid $15 for a seat hammock) or possibly exported as orders come. Next we walk to a potter's home - where in back I am able to see the process from start to finish. The gal throws the pot (with material found and mized out of their local soil that they collect). Using a mechanical wheel, she uses one foot to spin the wheel while she throws it at a sort of stand up desk she uses. Next, it is etched, painted, shined, then baked, and the process takes 22 days for 1 piece from start to finish! Next we go on to San Juan del Sur. Here we have lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Our waiter is 14 years old and very courteous for his surprisingly young age. We walk around the little beach town for a while. Here you'll find little shops, surf stores, and discos, not to mention beautiful bay views. We then go to inspect some hotels, as well as visit Marsellas Beach, which is untouched and seemingly undeveloped. In a cove of its own, it is just welcoming anyone for a private stroll through the sand as well as a nice swim. Next we visit another hotel high on a cliff with breathtaking views overlooking Marsellas beach and the Pacific ocean. In this area, just one beach North one will find Maderas beach, with surfing and boogie boarding opportunities. To the South, one will find a wildlife refuge with turtles coming on shore to next in late summer through Fall. Sometimes on e can find the beach with thousands on it! This evening, again we head for the 2 hour drive back to Managua.

Back on the plane to return to Montana!