Our first two weeks in Nicaragua - la tierra de lagos y volcanes (the land of lakes and volcanoes)

We left El Salvador in a shuttle bound for Leon in Nicaragua at 9am, due to arrive by 5pm. Sadly for us, we had our worst border crossing yet at the border into Nicaragua and we didn’t end up arriving til 11pm! We had heard the Nicaragua border crossing officials were a bit more rigorous than other borders in Central America, but we hadn’t anticipated quite what we would experience. 

Firstly, we had to have our covid checks - our covid passports were checked, our temperatures taken, and a stamp of approval for the next step in the border crossing. Then we had to take all of our possessions from the van into a big room to be X-ray scanned, and the bus was searched for potential hidden contraband. Next, the border officials took all our passports and searched our social media accounts to check we didn’t have anti-governmental views, and that we aren’t journalists. 

We managed to pass through all of those steps with no issues and in about 2 hours. But unfortunately for us, we were hugely delayed at the final hurdle. A few days before we crossed the border the Nicaraguan government issued a new law that tourists couldn’t bring certain ‘professional’ cameras into the country, which we hadn’t heard about, and neither had other people (including our driver), until we got to the border. When our bags were scanned, one couple with a go pro were asked to surrender their go pro and the memory card (which had all their trip photos on). Understandably, they didn’t want to give it up, and what followed was 3 hours of them crying, arguing, attempted bribing, speaking to lots of different officials, and eventually defeat - the couple decided to retrace their steps back into Honduras to keep the camera. We had to sit and wait in the van the whole time, and I sat on the fact that we also had a go pro in our luggage which the officials hadn’t seen! We were left feeling frustrated, annoyed, and tired! 

We eventually arrived in Leon at 11pm, having not eaten all day and found all the shops and restaurants were closed so we had to go to bed hungry! Most annoyingly, two days later the government decided to retract the new law (presumably because it caused so much hassle!). All in all, not the best first impression of Nicaragua!

Leon:

After a good nights sleep, we spent our first day in Leon wandering around the city sight-seeing. I was feeling a bit under the weather with a cold, and with being tired from the long journey we didn’t feel up to doing too much. We spent some time wandering around the central square, which is big and full of vendors and people, and some decorations about the revolution for an upcoming celebration. Leon is a city with a lot of culture and history and we enjoyed spending time here and learning more about the history of Nicaragua. 

We went for a walk on the roof on the largest cathedral in Central America - the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of Leon, which was pretty cool! We had to walk up lots of small narrow steps to the top, where we had a safety briefing in Spanish, telling us to take our shoes off, tread lightly and carefully, and not to walk on or close to the domes because they might cave in! Despite feeling a bit apprehensive at first, we enjoyed the views and the novelty of walking around the cathedral roof.

We also visited an art museum in Leon, which is housed in a series of beautiful old colonial houses. We spent a few hours looking at the art and sculptures; it was a surprisingly diverse collection, and enjoying the quiet and cool of the colonial courtyards. 

Whist we were in Leon, we decided to go on the free walking tour. We have never done one before, but some friends we met in our hostel were going so we thought we would give it a go. We spent nearly 3 hours walking around Leon, and learning about the history of Nicaragua, including about the war in the 80’s, the revolution, and the more recent protests in 2018.

 

On our last morning in Leon, I finally felt well enough to do the activity we were most excited about doing here - volcano boarding! Leon is one of only two places in the world you can board down a volcano (the other is Chile), so we were happy not to miss it! We drove out to Volcan Cerro Negro, a relatively young active volcano (167 years old), which sits at 728m. First we had to walk up the volcano with our 7kg boards and safety gear. The hike was straightforward and not too difficult in itself, but was made difficult and slightly dangerous by huge gusts of wind, which would catch under the board and send you flying! At one point our guide (who was slight in build) got blown over the edge (but luckily managed to save himself). 

Once we made it to the top, we donned our safety gear - overalls, gloves, goggles and scarves. After a quick briefing on technique, we were off down the side of the volcano! I was a bit nervous once we were at the top, it looked very steep, but you can control your speed yourself and go as fast or slow as you wanted. It was actually really fun, and we both really enjoyed it. The only problem was that it was over too soon (a 45 minute hike for 45 seconds on the board)! We would both have quite happily gone up again for another (maybe even faster) go, but we weren’t able to!

Las Penitas:

After a few days in Leon, we decided to head to nearby Las Penitas to spend some time relaxing at the beach. Las Penitas is a local fishing village, with quiet, empty beaches, and not much in the way of tourism. We enjoyed a few days of relaxing, sunbathing, and watching the sunsets. We met up with some friends, Tommy and Susie - who we had met in Leon, for dinner and enjoyed some good food! 

The capital, Managua:

Next we travelled to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, to meet some friends of our friend Genny - Diana and Katy, and their child, Luna. They kindly offered for us to stay the night, and took us on a tour of the sights in Managua - the cathedral, palace and malecón. We went out for dinner together and Katy’s parents also joined us. The next day the family drove us to Volcan Masaya, where we looked into the crater of an active volcano to see the sulfuric fumes coming out of it - it was so strong we could only spend 10 minutes at the viewpoint! After the volcano, the family kindly drove us to Granada and we visited the chocolate museum together for some chocolate milkshakes and waffles! We really enjoyed meeting and spending time with Diana, Katy and Luna, they were very kind to look after us. 

Granada:

We booked to stay in Granada for a few nights, and stayed in a lovely hostel in an old colonial building, which even had a swimming pool! We spent our first day exploring the old town, with its colonial buildings, which reminded us a bit of Antigua. We climbed the church tower to enjoy the views (it’s a thing here in Nicargua!). 



We spent one day visiting the nearby Laguna de Apoyo - a lake formed in a crater of a volcano. We bought a day pass at a hostel/restaurant with great views and lots of comfy deckchairs, and spent a day relaxing and swimming in the warm water - it’s heated by the volcano! 



The next day was Ash’s birthday! As he doesn’t like to celebrate too much, we decided to spend the morning visiting the Islettas de Granada - a series of 365 islands off the shore of Granada. We had a boat to ourselves and enjoyed a peaceful few hours cruising around the islands. Some of them have been bought by foreigners and have huge mansions built on them (some even had helipads!), others were home to local people with lots of wooden shacks. 





As it was Ash’s birthday, we went out for an off-budget meal, whatever he wanted! He chose an Israeli restaurant in Granada and we enjoyed a lovely meal. 

Next stop: back to Spanish school in La Concha, Nicaragua