Nicaragua

For years during our visits to Costa Rica and Panama we had been hearing about Nicaragua and how it was a backpack traveler's paradise.  "The way Costa Rica used to be" is what we kept hearing.  So after sending our student group packing and spending a few days with our friends Paulo and Norma at Sevegre Lodge, we ditched most of the photo gear and headed into the unknown (at least for us).

Paulo and Norma dropped us off at the TransNica bus terminal, and after a long nine hour ride we were left on a street corner in downtown Granada.  After an overpriced taxi ride into the town center, we found a nice clean place to stay just a couple of blocks from the central plaza.  We found Granada to be packed with gringos and expats, and as we expected, there was a hopping tourist night life.  Downtown is not the place to go if you want to really feel the local culture, but for a few nights it was quite fun.

We spent a very memorable night at the Irish pub, coming in second in the pub-quiz and winning a bottle of rum in the process!  (We would have won if it hadn't been for those damn judges not knowing that humans and chimps share more than 50% of their DNA).

After what turned out to be some bad bike karma, we next headed by boat to the island of Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  As with any good developing nation boat trip, a certain amount of bailing was involved.

Perhaps you have heard that Lake Nicaragua is the only freshwater lake in the world with sharks.  There are Bull Sharks, to be exact, of which we saw ZERO!  They were almost fished to extinction in the 60s and 70s and now are very rarely seen, which I guess is good in some ways, because they have been known to attack people.

We spent four nights in a fairly isolated region of the island, made a very muddy/rainy climb up the extinct Madras Volcano one day and added to our bad bike karma another.  Did you know that if you ride down a hill (on the road) and the back rim is shredded in the process you still have to pay for your rental fee as well as the repair?  Not to mention the 45min walk in the hot sun to return the damn thing:-)  After that and the flat we had in Granada, we decided our bike karma for the trip was "No Bueno", and that we shouldn't push our luck again. 

The last place we visited was the popular beach town of San Juan del Sur (and yes, that is a chicken on the bus with us).  San Juan del Sur is also a famous gringo hangout, but for good reason:  lots of good food, world class surf breaks, and incredible beaches.

We did what people are supposed to do in a beach town . . . hang out, drink rum, and relax.  That combined with a little Montezuma's Revenge, led to my reading several books and getting lots of sleep.  We did our last gift shopping of the trip and ended up buying ourselves an amazing locally made ukelele of Cocabola Rosewood and Mahogany.

So after twelve days in three great spots that each offered something different, we ended with the obligatory long hot bus ride back to San Jose, Costa Rica.  Next, Jen is going traveling with our friend Amy while I lead a photo workshop that starts tomorrow morning.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  While we love Costa Rica for the wildlife, photography, and our great friends, Nicaragua seems to be calling our names for the adventure part.  Next time we plan to visit the very remote Caribbean coast that takes days by bus just to reach.

For those photographers out there who want to know, since this was not a photo trip, in order to travel more easily I left most of my photo gear in Costa Rica.  I only took my Nikon D800, 16-35, and 70-200, packed in my Lowepro Photosport 200 AW.  While I missed a few shots the setup worked great.