Nicaragua

Nicaragua was amazing - I travelled around for 3 weeks with my friend Amanda, who I met in Xela, Guatemala the first weekend I arrived and she's probably the reason I left El Salvador, or I would have had a repeat of Xela I think. 

We started off in Léon, which is most popular for gringos as you can go Volcano boarding down Volcán Cerro Negro - it's a little pricey at $35, as you only go down once but how many times can you tell someone you went 'volcano boarding?' 

We climbed up to the roof of the main cathedral for I think US$4 and it no longer felt like Central America, but maybe Morocco, I'm not sure though- I've never been. 

We headed off to the top east of Nicaragua, to Esteli for Somoto a Canyon - where you can jump 5m, 10m or 15m into the canyon! A little terrifying, but so cool! Floating down the river and a few rapids was a super nice way to spend out. Finishing at a family house with included lunch on the "tour." 

You can do somoto canyon by yourself, and probably very easily as well. However there would have been no way I was jumping off rocks into the water without someone telling me "yeah it's safe." 

Granada is the Antigua of Nicaragua, but so much more! I don't like to really say ones better than the other as they both have their qualities but Granada is so multicoloured, the people are friendly and don't get me started on the food!! 

We tried cooking in Granada but gave up pretty quickly due to the amount of amazing restaurants around. Smoothies with lemon, coconut and pineapple were a lifesaver for the hot days and the Mediterranean food was some of the best I've had. 

   

Other small towns in Nicaragua we visited were up in the coffee region for the museum on the sandonistas - which was interesting in the way they were able to overthrow the corrup government and change the way Nicaragua was viewed, it was especially interesting reading on how the US got involved and also the female involvement in the revolution and how important they were. 

We also spent a week on the island of Omotepe, where we rented an ATV and drove around the island, swimming and eating lots of fish! 

We also got caught behind a large family of cows, man they don't mooove very fast.

X SJ