Smoking Volcanoes, Arts & Crafts and Great Coffee!
A trip filled with History, Volcanoes, Arts & Crafts and People of a beautiful Nation still trying to find themselves.
14.01.2009 - 21.01.2009
28 °C
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Nicaragua 2009
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So I can add a Central America section to my list of places I’ve been!!
Since I started this blog, the only new country I visited so far has been Nicaragua in January 2009. [See the updated list below]. Yes, travel has occurred otherwise, but nowhere new to account for.
NOW, I've been to:
CARIBBEAN: Trinidad and Tobago*, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Dominican Republic and Commonwealth of Dominica
SOUTH AMERICA: Guyana
CENTRAL AMERICA: Nicaragua
NORTH AMERICA: United States (FL^, GA, SC, NC, VA, DC, MA, NY, WI, NJ, MN, IL, TX), Canada (Toronto, Montreal)
EUROPE: England, Scotland, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands
MIDDLE EAST: Israel
* Born, raised and live there now
^ Lived there for University
I will still admit that compared to some of the adventurers out there, I haven’t really been anywhere, but I’m still working on that! – slowly but surely... And yes, I haven’t been regular with this blog at all, but I warned about that from the start. Even so, I would still like to try and record my adventures.
The main reason for my visit to Nicaragua last year was for a conference which was to take place on a weekend in January. I, of course, having this chance to visit a new country, jumped at the opportunity to “extend-my-trip” so as to be able to get a true taste of the place. I travelled with my mom and dad and despite them gaining years every year, I can say with full honesty, that it is from them and their families (mainly their parents) that I get my taste for adventure and my “itch” to travel.
We organised our trip to go from Wednesday to Wednesday, catering for the conference on the weekend. We travelled from Trinidad, passing through Miami – only because of the travel miles. The other option was to go through Panama, which although it would have been exciting, I think I would have longed to extend my flight additionally, so as to include another “new country/adventure” for me. But, because of my restrictions at work, only one (1) week of time off was possible this time around.
After travelling all day, being stuck in the airport because of “airport situations”, we arrived in Managua (the Capital city of Nicaragua) at night. A friend from there (a local) who lived for three (3) years in Trinidad, greeted us. On preparing for the trip, I had picked up a copy of the Lonely Planet’s Nicaragua/El Salvador. One of the first things that they warned us about was the poverty in the country. That age of the person didn’t matter – infact it was the children mostly, that would hustle, beg and plead, just to get by. We witnessed this throughout the trip but even so, with the poverty of the country around the main areas, the people were beautiful, kind, pleasant and the country is vast with wonders and excitement.
We were based in Managua, the capital city, staying at the Hotel Camino Real, the site of the conference. Most of the places we visited were on the West of the country. Maybe next time, we’ll focus on the East 
.
Because of our limited time there, we wanted to be able to see as much as possible. I personally like the idea of going somewhere and exploring on your own, but because of the limited time, and the language barrier (yes, I still have to work on the Espanol!) we collectively decided to organise a “day-trip” to select cities of the country.
We organised a tour group through the hotel for the first day – Explore Nicaragua Tours, which was basically a personalized day tour, with a tour guide (Javier), a driver (Oscar) and a Hilux! What was exciting about the tour was the history and geographical tid-bites that Javier shared with us, answering our questions, sharing stories and making it an exciting learning experience.
Masaya
We decided on visiting Masaya and Granada, and places inbetween. Our first stop was the City of Masaya, where the Volcán Masaya National Park is located. This site consisted of three (3) main craters - San Fernando, Santiago and San Pedro, of which Santiago is the only remaining active volcano. The park consists of a small information centre, with demonstrations focused mainly for the school field trips, an amazing view of the Masaya Lagoon and a trip up to the 3 main craters. We travelled up to the craters, passing the mounds of volcanic rock, from the 1772 eruption which ended up in the Masaya Lagoon at the base of the National Park.
Masaya Lagoon
The Santiago crater was smoking actively, and such a magnificent site. We waited patiently as the smoke cleared to be able to look straight into the crater to see the sulphuric pit of lava.
Looking down inside the Santiago crater
Pathway up and lookout over San Pedro crater
Across from where we stood, was a walking path up to an overlook of the San Pedro crater. Personally I think our view of the active volcano was more interesting.
We visited the City of Masaya, viewing the Hammock–making process, one of the main trades in the city. It’s a family business, from the weaving of the straw, the creation and design, the decorations and the sale.
We visited “Pueblos Blancos”, known for its beautiful crafts and flowers. Here in San Juan de Oriente we had the opportunity to see this family at work, making clay pottery.
Pottery samples
Our next stop was Laguna de Apoyo (Apoyo Lagoon) which is an extinct crater lake, on the outskirts of the city of Granada. We had lunch at a restaurant by the crater, but other sporting and leisure activities are organised and occur throughout the year.
Overlooking Laguna de Apoyo
Laguna de Apoyo
Granada
The next stop was the historical city of Granada where we met up with a local tour guide from that city (Gioconda) in her beautiful national costume attire, and beautiful singing voice. We took a boat ride on Lago de Nicaragua, which is the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the Latin America and the 10th largest in the world. The lake contains 365 islets (small islands) formed from volcanic rock, where some these islets are inhabited by locals or foreigners, or are the locations of restaurants, hotels and other sporting activities. This Lake is known for its wide variety of wildlife and vegetation. It used to be inhabited by the now almost extinct freshwater sharks (the Bullshark [or Nicaragua shark] and Sawfish).
View of Colonial City of Granada from the lake
One of the highlights of our boat ride was being visited by the inhabitant monkeys [Spider Monkeys]. A veterinarian put them on one of the islet with the hopes of preserving them. They are used to visitors coming through the Lake and excitedly swing from branch to branch until the boat is close enough for them to jump abroad.
When we got back to the mainland, the sun had already gone down and evening activities were in full swing.
The colonial city of Granada, oldest still standing Spanish-built city was once a beauty and pride of Nicaragua. This was until the foreigner William Walker who had taken over the city, upon being “run” from the country, organised the burning of the city. Some of the buildings that still stand today from the 16th Century, still demonstrating marks of their history.
Iglesis de Guadalupe
We visited the famous Hotel Granada, known for its history and made famous by many a movie. 
In places like Granada, and other cities in Nicaragua, they are known for their distinct architecture of the doors, entranceways and windows, illustrating the vast history of the city. They are also known for their beautiful and vast churches and cathedrals, for example the Cathedral de Granada, in the city centre.
Cathedral de Granada
We ended our long, but enjoyable day with local snacks from the city centre, and returned to the hotel with anticipation for the to-come adventures of our trip.
Managua
We decided to stay close to the hotel, as the conference participants were already arriving, and drive through the capital city of Managua. Nicaragua, besides its volcanoes, arts & crafts, coffee, beef and politics, is also known for its earthquakes. Before the early 1970s, the city of Managua was like any other city, with its high-rise buildings and business places throughout the capital city. However, in 1972, there was a massive, devastating earthquake that destroyed almost 90% of the city, leaving a handful of buildings standing that were over 3 floors high. Up until just recently, it was very rare to find a new building or house that was 2/3 or more storeys high.
Antigua Catedral de Managua
The Old Cathedral (Antigua Catedral de Managua) in the city of Managua, was severely damaged in the 1972 earthquake, but in recent times we were told that restoration has begun on this building.
We visited the Parque de la Paz (the Peace Park) where as the history goes, President Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (who in 1990, became the President of Nicaragua, the first women elected President in all the Latin American countries, unseating the very shocked Daniel Ortega), collected the guns, rifles and even a tank and encased them in concrete. The country had been going through a series of civil wars and this was her way of attempting to bring peace to the country and symbolizes the wish of Nicaraguans that "never again" will their country be plagued by such violence.
AK-47s in concrete - Parque de la Paz
Tanker in concrete - Parque de la Paz
National Palace of Culture or (Palacio Nacional de la Cultural)
We passed by the National Palace of Culture or (Palacio Nacional de la Cultural) which was built in 1935 during the SOMOZA dictarorship time period, but now houses some of the country’s most historic artefacts. It is also one of the few buildings that survived the devastating 1972 earthquake
We ended our day, visiting with friends and meeting the participants of the conference.
Leon
We decided to organise with our friends and visit City of León - Nicaragua's first capital city, located on the West Coast of the country. The drive to there was beautiful, stopping and tasting the local cuisine, and viewing from afar, the very famous Volcán Momotombo, and the sister volcano Momotombito (i.e. Little Momotombo). Although still active, it is one of Nicaragua’s least recorded erupted volcanoes and is famous for its perfectly conical shape.
Momotombo and Momotombito
We decided to visit a local beach, that even the road leading there was very long and under construction, therefore very bad, was probably one of the main highlights of my trip... why? Because I got to touch the Pacific Ocean for the first time!!
Yes, I know it’s the same Ocean all around, but to me it was a big thing – like stating I was on the other side of the world. 
Pacific Ocean
This beach was still recovering from a devastating Tsunami that occurred a couple years back. With miles of blistering hot sands and beautiful waters, multitudes of different shaped shells scattered along the sands, with huts along the beach where locals made a living serving cold drinks and snacks, where the young tourists were trying to catch a good wave, it really was simple, yet brought great joy to me.
We entered the City of León with its courtyards and Cathedral, the most famous being the La Basílica Catedral de la Asunción (Catedral de León) built in 1747. It is believed to be the largest cathedral in Central America and houses the resting place of the famous Nicaraguan poet, Rubén Darío.
La Basílica Catedral de la Asunción (Catedral de León)
Inside the Cathedral were beautiful statues, high arches and gold trimmed furnishings. We walked the streets, interacting with the locals, and admiring the historical architecture of the streets, the churches and the buildings around us.
Streets of León
We had coffee at a cafe El Sesteo, located in the Hotel San Juan de León and then started the journey home.
Managua cont’d
On our last day, once again we decided to stay ‘close to home’ and continue seeing the city of Managua as none of our packing was done – we really weren’t ready to go home. We visited the Managua Mercado, the local market, viewing the arts and crafts, and enjoying the beautiful spirits of the local people.
Our friends decided that we had only seen a one-sided view of Managua, the downtown, the poverty stricken city, and decided to also take us to a local mall, in all its glory. You could see the influence of the Americans here, not only on the types of stores and the prices, but also the restaurants associated with the mall.
We ended our evening, and our trip with dinner at a local restaurant, under a thatched roof, with the local music playing all around us.
Although short, it was a fun-filled week with the excitement of the conference [which btw was great ], the meeting and interacting with friends, and the visiting of the main cities [and the Pacific Ocean!] along the West coast... Now back to reality and the reminiscing of the many photos taken... and the beginnings of planning my next trip.
Posted by tweetaz 19.05.2010 20:03 Archived in Nicaragua Comments (0)
25 °C
[plus, it was a distraction from studying, and I really couldn't avoid it any longer]
