Nicaragua

When in Leon, go to the ViaVia. They offer a bunch of reasonably priced tours. I did a historical tour of Leon and it was fascinating. It really opened up my experience.

If you go to Leon, I highly recommend going volcano boarding. It’s such an unusual experience…how could you miss out?!? Plus, how often to you get to wear a hot orange jumpsuit and goggles AND slide down a volcano on your ass? I only fell off about 5 times…it was great fun!

On Thursday nights, there is a sort of cultural fair in Masaya in the Mercado de Artesanias. Locals and foreigners alike go. The shops stay open late and there is traditional Nicaraguan song and dance. Worth your time!

Nicaragua was stop #3 on our Central American trek. We spent most of our time in the pretty, colonial town of Granada and on the volcanic island of Ometepe.

I spent 2 months in Nicaragua in the summer of 2007. The people are very warm and I made a lot of friends. It truly was one of the most memorable experiences I had so far. I can’t wait to go back!

I lived for 2 1/2 months in León, one of Nicaragua’s beautiful colonial cities. My spanish was transformed and my appreciation grew for the radical differences in culture between this tiny country and bustling New York.

So I left my hotel which had high gates around it, in the morning, planning to head to the Western Union where my parents had sent me some money to pick it up. A man met me outside and told me that it was dangerous and he would be my guide, I was not exactly confident with this but unwillingly agreed as he was pushing his help on me, he took to the western union which was closed and we waited outside. After 20 minutes they opened it and I recieved my $150, he asked me for some of it, said that he had children and a wife and they needed the money, I refused to give him dollars and I gave him some Nicaragua money and we went and got some food. After that we went to an Internet place, and he asked for more money and gave me a free Internet pass, he said he would give me the back or something rediculous anyway, he left the Internet place and never came back, left with $50.

The Capital of Nicaragua is dangerous, I suggest staying with people you trust and being careful.

Spent time in Managua back in mid-nineties. You could still see shrapnel on the buildings from the wars. Still it was a beautiful nation. We went to Bluefields on the east coast of Nicaragua and this was a quaint and fun place as well.

I was born in Managua and lived there for the first five years of my life. I would love to go back. I can’t wait to go back. I will go back soon.

I was a bit nervous as to what I would find in Nicaragua, the legacy of past conflicts. It is a country/people which really captured my heart and illicited a spectrum of emotions daily from despair to joy.

A country of stark contrasts – beauty, filth, friendly, brutality (past atrocities). The environmental degradation was quite shocking- rivers dried up and filled with rubbish, the pollution of Lake Managua etc the fallout from civil wars and associated poverty…BUT the I would go back in a shot.

Does not have the pretension of Costa Rica, people are relaxed and genuine ,,,,will laugh at your phrasebook spanish (with you) or be impatient with your gringa unfamiliarity with the cordoba.

Climb a volcanoe, visit an organic coffee farm, understand the revolutionary monuments of Managua, look for the freshwater shark, go for cycle with the local kids….

Go to Nicaragua!!