Nicaragua
After an exhausting 10 hour bus ride from El Salvador, we finally arrived in Estelí Nicaragua. The bus driver dropped us off in front of
a Shell gasoline station on the Pan American highway. Luckily, Victor knew where we were and we started to walk in the intense humid heat to his grandma’s house.
Estelí
Estelí is a small city just 2 hours north of the capital Managua. It’s not a tourist spot but you do surprisingly find a few foreigners looking for a genuine experience. Our first week there, we visited all of Victor’s relatives and ate yummy home-cooked food like gallo pinto, arroz con pollo, nacatamales, bajo, vigoron and platano frito. We visited the waterfall called Salto La Estanzuela which is just outside the city center. Estelí was relaxing and a good change to our on-the-go schedule.
Limon
Victor’s uncle, Andres, has a coffee farm just a
few hours from Estelí in a town called Limon. We visited the farm over the weekend and got a tour of the property. Andres has coffee bushes spread over a lot of land and also raises cattle, chickens and turkeys. Victor wanted to get a feel for ranch life and got to corral and vaccinate a bull.
We were also 
introduced to the botfly. It’s a huge ugly fly that bites (cattle especially but humans also) and deposits an egg. If left untreated, a larva will grow and eventually a botfly will fly out creating a never-ending problem.
San Juan Del Sur
Our friend Aaron from Los Angeles joined us on our trip around the country. With only one week for him to discover Nicaragua, we hit the road in our little yellow Alto to San Juan del Sur. On our way to San Juan we picked up a couple of French hitch-hikers. We got along so well with them that we decided to share a room together at a guest house. We stayed in San Juan one night and then headed to Granada.
Rivas 
On our way to Granada we came across a horse parade. They were celebrating a saint and hit the streets with the celebration. It would have been fun to follow the crowd to the main plaza to join in the festivities but we had a schedule and continued on our way to Granada.
Granada
Granada is a
popular tourist spot because it’s the most colonial place in the country as well as the liveliest. The city also has small islands called Isleta’s where fisherman and rich people alike own their piece of isolation.
We found a nice place to stay called El Dorado Hospedaje owned by Antonio. He runs a non-profit organization (www.tioantonio.org) next door. He told us incredible stories about the struggles and triumphs the children he helps have experienced. His dedication to help the people of Granada truly moved us.
Believe it or n
ot, Nicaragua’s national sport is baseball. American’s occupied the country in the early 1900’s and brought the sport with them and it has stayed ever since. Granada won the baseball championship while we were there. The people were celebrating everywhere and proudly parading their trophy around town and even brought it into the main church. The party continued through the night with live music in the main plaza.
Santa Catarina 
We made a short stop in the small town of Santa Catarina where they have a mirador (lookout point). It had a nice view and horses
for hire.
We enjoyed a short ride on horseback through the town.
Volcan Mombacho
We decided to go on a ziplining canopy tour in Volcan Mombacho. The intention was for the three of us to experience this together but Aaron decided to skip it. He has a fear of heights and the zanax didn’t help so he sat it out and enjoyed a cold beer on solid ground instead.
So Victor and I went ahead without him. I had lots of fun. I was scared at the beginning but after a couple zip lines I relaxed and enjoyed the experience.
Leon
We arrived in Leon and attempted to do some sightseeing but the heat was too intense.
We decided to head over to the near by beach town of Las Peñitas where we spent the entire day. The following day we didn’t do any sightseeing either since it was still too hot. We headed to Estelí so that Aaron could experience Nicaraguan life in the small city.
Estelí
Aaron spent two nights with us in Estelí. Victor’s aunt Leslya and her assistant Valvina fed Aaron all sorts of home-cooked Nicaraguan food. The food was completely foreign to him but he was a good sport about eating it.
We had just enough time left to visit the Miraflor natural reserve just outside the city limits where we enjoyed organic coffee with toast and guava marmalade.
-Angela
