Nicaragua

This year for spring break, a gang of us Gringos – Kara, Lenny, Sharon, Rachel, Jake, and I – headed south to Nicaragua to explore one of our neighboring countries. I was especially looking forward to spring break this year because my birthday conveniently fell during the same week, and I love seeing new places! Our week was filled with difficult travels, beautiful hotels, incredible food, and plenty of outrageous activities.

Getting there. Our original plans were to drive in Jake’s car from La Unión to Tegucigalpa, bus it from Tegucigalpa to Managua (the capital of Nicaragua), and then get a rental car to help us navigate around our various destinations in Nicaragua. We were even proactive by planning well in advance by purchasing tickets and making reservations. Driving to Tegucigalpa was a breeze, but it came with some nervous feelings towards travelling to Nicaragua since we had heard about earthquakes hitting major cities there. We figured if we were really in danger, there would be some kind of travel advisory. However, everything started to fall apart the next day.

We arrived at the bus station and as I began to check in, the woman at the desk asked if I was a resident. Back story: recently Kara, Lenny, and I all had our residency cards renewed for the country of Honduras but that process included taking away our tourist visa papers, making new cards, and giving us a temporary piece of paper to prove residency while waiting for the cards to take physical form. When I showed her my temporary paper, she frowned. Uh-oh. She immediately dropped the bomb that I (and consequently Kara and Lenny as well) would not be able to cross the border with those papers. Honduras may recognize that paper form of residency, but no other country will. My mind froze and my heart stopped. While trying to mentally survive the first panic, the woman also discovered, and kindly pointed out, that my bus ticket was for the wrong date: it had been purchased for the following week. Basically, there was no way I was leaving the country that day, or by bus. Thankfully Kara and Lenny were sinking in the same boat with me because of their residency situation, and we had all purchased our bus tickets separately from the others. Jake made an emergency call to the school’s lawyer inquiring about our options. The news did not even faze her as she told them that no, we would not be able to cross the border by land with those papers. However, we could cross by air if we wanted. The three of us did not even have to think twice about it as we grabbed our suitcases and headed straight for the airport. We left Sharon, Rachel, and Jake to get to Nicaragua by bus and we would meet them there later by airplane. It was an expensive change to our itinerary, but completely worth it.

We were able to purchase one-way tickets to Managua for the following day, so we started our spring break with chaos followed by pure relaxation at the Intercontinental Hotel in Tegucigalpa. Our flight to Nicaragua had a brief layover in San Salvador, El Salvador. Usually I am not one to equate visiting an airport to visiting a whole country, but we did have to walk on the air strip to get to our plane so technically we did step foot on El Salvadorian ground… which means I am counting it and I have now been to every country in Central America! When we arrived in Managua we met more disaster. Even though we asked a representative from the same rental car company in Tegucigalpa about securing our reservation, when we arrived to Managua they had given away our car. The woman was of no help and left us without transportation. Thankfully another company had an available car – that wasn’t a minibus or a gas-guzzler – so we hopped in that and were finally on our way to experience Nicaragua! Not far from the airport, a police officer put our adventure to an abrupt halt; he gave Lenny a speeding ticket, but just pocketed the fine for himself. (If I had known the police were so corrupt and easily persuaded with money, I would have taken the bus trip and tried to bribe them to let me cross the border!) At that point our patience was running thin and we all desperately needed the beach to find peace with this vacation. Thankfully paradise awaited us. 

San Juan del Sur is a beautiful coastal town equipped with great tourist attractions. We decided to spend the first half of our week here, soaking up the sun and ocean. We stayed at the Orquidea Hotel which was nestled in the hills (a bit of a drive away from the actual town, and on dirt roads that were not forgiving to our rental car). The place was gorgeous with a pool overlooking the ocean; at certain times of the day you could relax in the pool and look out into the ocean to see whales passing by. They brought strong coffee to our room and breakfast was included every morning. The staff were all very pleasant and kind to us (they even came to our rescue to kill a scorpion). The grounds were adorned with full and brightly-colored flowers, hammocks, and the occasional monkey clan. To say that the hotel exceeded our expectations in both beauty and tranquility would be an understatement.

For my birthday we decided to embark on an ATV tour. Each pair got to cruise around on an ATV to explore the coastline. We first headed up to a sculpture of Jesus overlooking the entire city of San Juan del Sur. It was really windy up there but the panoramic view was breathtaking. Then we travelled down to the beach where we got to race down and spin around on the beach. We practiced donuts and embraced our need for speed through the sand. (Sharon had no fear pushing the limits while I, admittedly, gripped the seat very tightly and prayed.) To get from place to place we drove through the back roads with dust flying in our faces (thankfully we were well-equipped with surgical face masks) and covering our bodies. We visited another beach and stopped there to take a swim. While the water was refreshing, it was not exactly the best idea to get wet because then the dirt really stuck to our skin and clothes on the drive back. It was such a thrilling adventure! You could constantly here shrieks, screams, and laughter coming from behind our masks as we absolutely loved speeding along on our ATVs. 

On a different day we decided to fulfill the dream of becoming surfers. We went to a local beach (interesting fact about the beach: it was once the site for a season of Survivor, and kicked-off members stayed at our hotel) to sign up for lessons and let the balancing act begin. I was the only who had surfed before, but the others picked it up nicely. We perfected our form on dry land before taking our new-found skills to the water. Our arms quickly learned how to stroke and propel our bodies, and board, through the water to catch a wave; our feet learned how to swiftly jump up from a laying down position to taking up the infamous boarder stance; and our bodies learned how to maintain our balance while trying to look cool, calm, and collect while surfing. Doesn’t all that sound so nice? Sadly we did not look that graceful surfing, but we felt pretty confident and very fulfilled by the end of the day. At one point, we even considered giving up our lives of teaching and trading those to become professional surfers, but then our exhausted bodies brought us back to reality.

Like any of our vacations, we planned a lot of our days around mealtimes. We wanted to taste the best that San Juan had to offer. We devoured mouth-watering burgers, seafood, salads, sandwiches, tapas, and our absolute favorite, gelato. I would highly recommend this coastal town to anyone because of all the excellent adventures and food to keep you busy and satisfied. 

Granada is and old colonial town that has preserved a lot of the rich, Nicaraguan heritage. We stayed at a cozy rental home that was quite a steal for us. The house was outside of the main square and had a beautiful open interior. When you first walk in you are in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and courtyard – all at once! It was a great place to cook breakfast every morning and start the day off with a slow, peaceful morning. The people we rented the house from were so kind and went above and beyond to help us with our stay. They gave us directions around town, restaurant recommendations, activity ideas, were flexible with our group size, and their nephew helped us move in and leave, clean daily, and find a garage to keep our rental car.  We spent two days there but I would actually say that one is sufficient (and spend more time on the beach instead).

One of the main roads off the central park is dedicated entirely to restaurants. Our need for fabulous food was met in an overwhelming way. How could anyone choose just one restaurant?? We walked around with our mouths open and watering (which probably led to some drooling) trying to narrow our options down to just one. That may be the only reason to stay many days – to taste test all the restaurants to find the best cuisine. But seriously, the street is lined with one place to eat after another, chairs and tables, and plenty of hungry customers. As well, there are street performers to keep all those food-critics entertained; we had many people try to sell us things, watched a really tall man dance around with his giant-head counterpart, and saw a remarkable dance off. Dinner and a show? I’ll take that deal.

There was not a whole lot to do around the town. Sharon and I spent an afternoon walking around the central park and shopping in the market. We each picked out some intricate feather earrings made by a local. We visited an art gallery, a few of the colonial buildings, found more gelato, and enjoyed the view of the local, yet entirely un-swimmable, lake. When we felt that we had exhausted all the views of Granada, Kara, Sharon, and I found ourselves at a spa indulging in massages, manicures, and pedicures. Granada provided a perfect combination of sightseeing and some R & R during our week-long trip. 

León is home to one of CNN’s “Big Thrills: 50 ways to be a daredevil.” Volcano boarding is number two on that list and you can only check that off the list in one place in the whole world: León, Nicaragua. The very fine, black gravel is what makes it possible to board down the volcano without tearing up your body. You are given a rather questionable ‘sled’ to begin the trek up. In reality, you are given a piece of wood and then start to hike to the top. It is not a particularly tall volcano or difficult hike, but it was rather windy that day and at a few times I was afraid to being blown over and falling down the side. Once at the top you are given a darling, neon green jumpsuit equipped with goggles, a medical mask, and knee and elbow pads. Then you hop onto your board, grip the steering rope, and release the breaks (your feet) to begin the ride! I am slightly embarrassed to admit that everyone commented on how slow I was coming down, but that did not take away the thrill for me! As you race down (or crawl down, if you are me) the protective gear does nothing to stop all the black gravel from finding its way into all your body’s nook and crannies. In fact, Sharon pulled out a decent-sized rock that snuck down her shirt. It took days to get all the gravel out of my hair and the black residue on my face put Lenny into a fit of laughter every time he looked at me. CNN recommends it, I recommend it, which means it’s about time you head down to Nicaragua and go volcano boarding! 

The country of Nicaragua was absolutely beautiful and our trip was one blast after another. The key to traveling, in my opinion, is to keep a flexible and positive attitude. We ran into a few more problems than we would have like, and there were certainly moments when someone came very close to having their head ripped off, but by the end we had loved every minute. It was easy to laugh off all the unfortunate happenings (in hindsight of course), reminisce on all the times we felt like idiots, and brag about all the great things we did. I genuinely hope that you find yourself in Nicaragua one day speeding along the beach on an ATV, catching a wave on the surfboard, boarding down a volcano, or feasting on the streets on Granada. Go explore!