Nicaragua

So, here are a few notes about Nicaragua that I've just got around to posting. In short, it’s one of the most beautiful, interesting and saddening countries that I’ve been too.

The drive from the airport to the hotel was a feast for the eyes, but not always for all the right reasons. There are too many shanty houses, too many children without shoes and too many people selling all kinds of junk on the roadside just to get by.

I read that 68% of the people in Nicaragua live on less than $1 per day so I found it pretty difficult to drive past many of them every day on the way to our four star hotel. It’s hard to write this stuff without sounding like Bob Geldof, but I do feel like I want to do more to help.

The Sunday after we arrived a couple of us took a tour around Managua and Lake Nicaragua. First stop was the Masaya Volcano, which is dormant but still has a constant cloud of sulphur dioxide over it (very cool). I climbed the steps up to the nearby cross at the top of the crater and I could really feel the smoke on my lungs. Denis, our driver, told us that the cross was put up to commemorate the first Spanish priests who discovered the volcano and thought it was the entrance to hell. Apparently one of them decided to ‘save humanity’ by sacrificing himself to the volcano. That worked!

After the volcano, we drove to Granada, another colonial town on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. The locals told us that, during Spanish rule, it was the most important city in Central America. Isn’t that what they told us about La Antigua Guatemala? Well, I guess it says something about national pride.

We only had a short time in the city but it was enough to see the central square, buzzing with traders and food stalls and surrounded by colourful colonial buildings. The presidential palace and cathedral (below) were particular highlights.

Later, we took a small motor boat trip around Las Isletas de Granada, an archipelago of 365 volcanic islands a few miles from Granada; one for every day of the year. It was a perfectly tranquil hour spent slowly cruising between the islands. Many of them have holiday homes on them (some of which are for sale, for anyone with a spare half a million) and one of them has a small colony of monkeys living on it. As we cruised along, I tested the lake water with my hand and it was the perfect temperature for a swim. I ditched that idea as soon as the boat owner told us that Lake Nicaragua contains the world’s only freshwater sharks!

There was a lot more to see and do but, as it was a work trip, we didn’t have time. I could easily see how you could spend a very pleasant couple of weeks in Nicaragua though. The locals told us that it has more natural beauty than its richer neighbour, Costa Rica, and I could believe it. I guess I’ll just have to find a reason to go to Costa Rica to prove the theory!