Masaya, Nicaragua

Feliz Navidad to our family and friends! Today we continued our Nicaraguan adventure by traveling south to Masaya and Granada. Leaving Leon and the beautiful El Convento, we drove about two hours back towards and past Managua to the Masaya Volcano and National Park. Masaya is another active volcano in the same chain as the others that we’ve visited.

At Masaya you can drive right to the crater rim and look into the smoldering caldera. It really stinks like sulphur. In fact, we climbed to the lookout point and were unable to catch our breath due to the terrible sulphur fumes. It is an amazing sight but worth the trip.

From Masaya National Park we went to the town of Masaya to visit the famed Masaya market. This is the market where the local artisans sell their wares including hammocks, pottery, and weavings. After spending so much time in Mexico, we were not super impressed. We picked up a few things, but nothing too exciting.

Our next stop was the famous El Zaguan Restaurant in Granada. Granada will be our base for the next two nights and this restaurant is THE place to eat.

Lunch al fresco in the beautiful garden was worth the trip. El Zaguan is known for churrasco, grilled beef that’s seasoned just right. Needless to say, we enjoyed our lunch.

And the day was just getting started! Once we checked into our hotel, Plaza Colon, we met our new guide for the next two days. Eric from Mombotours will be guiding us while in Granada and he got us started in very cool fashion. We drove to the shores of Lake Nicaragua and boarded individual kayaks for a tour of Las Isletas, the collection of 365 islands that surround the shores around Granada. We explored the islands, many of which are inhabited.

On some, families live in shacks. On others there are schools, churches, and hotels. At one island we were able to overhear a mass being conducted. On another, we rocked out to latin music and imagined the party that was going on inside the shack. Christmas Eve is in full force! On the way back to the dock, it began pouring a warm rain, to the point that it didn’t matter whether we were on top of the kayak or in the water. Still, we enjoyed the whole thing.

Our dinner was traditional Nicaragua. We walked a few blocks to Calle de la Cazada, which is kind of like Las Ramblas in Barcelona. It’s a pedestrian street that’s filled with bars and restaurants with tables pouring onto the sidewalk. We dined at Comida Tipico, a traditional Nicaraguan restaurant. Steve had baho, a concotion of beef, plantain, cabbage, and rice wrapped in a banana leaf.

Marnie enjoyed a nacatamale, the Nicaraguan version of a tamale, again, wrapped in banana leaves. Choco flan for dessert toped off our Christmas Eve dinner.

In Nicaragua, Christmas is rung in with fireworks—lots of them. In fact, they’ve been going off all day, beginning at 6:00 a.m. They to culminate at midnight with a REALLY BIG display, and we were able to enjoy the festivities on our balcony overlooking Granada’s central park. Think 4^th of July multiplied by ten. Once the baby Jesus arrived, things settled down and we were able to sleep.

Speaking of the baby Jesus, Nicaragua is primarily a Catholic country. In every Nativity scene we’ve scene so far, the manger was empty. Now that Christmas is here, the baby will be included in the scene.

More adventures tomorrow, including zip lining and another volcano hike. Stay tuned!

And again, Feliz Navidad!

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Leon, Nicaragua

We met our second day in Leon without a plan but we picked up steam as the day progressed. We started with an early morning walk through the streets of Leon and enjoyed the bustle of the city. The combination of motor bikes, cars, taxis, and horse-drawn carts makes this place so special. Leon is beautiful, yet gritty at the same time.

After another traditional Nicaraguan breakfast at the hotel we set out to find adventure. Our first stop was a blind massage. Yes, blind. As a way to put disabled people to work, there is a massage facility that employs blind people.

We all got a great massage from Roberto and Sonia and the total cost for all three of us was under $25.

Next we wandered over to the Bigfoot Hostel, which was across from the massage place and ordered a beer. It didn’t take long to learn that Bigfoot is the center of volcano boarding and they had a trip leaving in an hour! We signed up on the spot. Our entire excursion cost $23 plus a $5 park entrance fee and included transportation to Cerro Negro volcano, a 45 minute hike, exploration of the volcano, boarding equipment, and a beer and cookie at the end.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with volcano boarding, it is one of the up-and-coming adventures on the planet. In Nicaragua it’s done on the active volcano Cerro Negro. Yes, the volcano is active and last erupted in 1999. You’ll see in our pictures that we were able to get right up next to the active vents and up to the lip of the crater. In fact, we scraped a little volcanic soil away and the ground under foot was so hot you could cook on it.

The reason you climb Cerro Negro is to slide down the western slope. On a specially designed board that gets a new formica strip on the bottom after each trip (because the heat burns it away each time it goes down the volcano), you slide down the 1000 foot slope as fast as you can/want. The speed record with Bigfoot Tours is 89 km/hr and a guy in our group tied the record. We are happy to report that the three of us didn’t come close to the record but we all made it to the bottom without a scratch (unlike others in our group). Cross that off the bucket list!

At the bottom of the volcano you are greeted with a cold beer and a big congratulations. After the group finished sliding down, the large orange truck returned us to Leon, only to be met with detours and immovable traffic. It seems that the Sandinista-led government supplied Christmas piñatas to every street in Leon. Almost every street in the city was blocked and there were children everywhere whacking away, hoping to get candy.

It was a mess in terms of traffic flow but a treat in terms of appreciating the Nicaraguan culture.

After a few complimentary mojitos back at the hostel, we enjoyed much needed showers and a wonderful dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Granada and the next big adventure. We’re not sure anything can top today’s experience, but we’re going to give it a try.

Please keep your comments coming. We love hearing from you!

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Leon, Nicaragua

Today started bright and early with a traditional Nicaraguan breakfast. We are all now fans of gallo pinto (a mixture of rice and beans), queso frita (fried cheese), chorizo, huevos, and tortillas.

The Contempo chefs impressed again with a beautifully prepared plate of traditional favorites.

Roberto and Sergio picked us up on time and we headed north to Leon Viejo (Old Leon). Leon Viejo is a UNESCO heritage site that once served, in the 1500s, as the capital of Nicaragua. The old city was the scene of many power struggles between Spaniards which resulted in bloody battles and beheadings. The town was eventually abandoned in the early 1600s and soon after was covered by the erupting volcano Momotombo. We learned about the history of this beautiful country and enjoyed sweeping views of Lake Managua.

From there we headed towards Leon City but not without a stop for a local specialty. Quesillos are a popular snack in Nicaragua and there are quesillo stands/restaurants throughout the country. A quesillo consists of a corn tortilla stuffed with a big slab of mozzarella cheese, a mixture of onion and chiles, covered with crema. It’s wrapped up and shoved into a plastic bag. You hold the bag tight at the top and shake it until the crème is covering the entire concoction. Then you eat it like a popsicle, right out of the bag. Yum!!!

The afternoon was spent exploring Leon with our guide Roberto. He showed us the Centro de Arte Fundacion Ortiz Gurdian. La familia Ortiz Gurdian owns the fabulous hotel we’ll be in for the next two nights, El Convento.

El Centro de Arte is their own private museum showcasing their extensive collection of European and Latin American art. Sam was in heaven and we were pretty impressed too. The art is displayed throughout an amazing colonial home that used to house the family. We’re not sure where they live now, but if it’s anything like the place where they display their art, it’s probably the biggest mansion in Central America. From there we wandered to the Parque Central and the third largest cathedral in the Americas, La Basilica de la Asuncion. It’s the burial place of lots of Nicaraguans, most notably Ruben Dario, the famous Nica poet. They are crazy about him here.

By the time we finished our tour we were spent. We headed back to El Convento where Roberto attempted to book our Volcano Boarding tour for tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, everything was booked. Just when we were about to give up, Roberto came up with a 7AM trip, but by then, we were tired and hungry and out of the mood. So, we passed. Tomorrow we’ll spend a leisurely day in Leon, exploring the market and neighborhoods on our own. Roberto and Sergio will be back to pick us up on Saturday to drive us to our next destination: Granada.

Tonight we wandered through the festive streets of Leon, dining at a great restaurant and enjoying a few local beers. From there we went back to the Parque Central and the Basilica for some holiday entertainment.

The square was packed with families enjoying folkloric dancing and music. There were vendors everywhere selling fruit, toys, and just about anything else you might want. We can’t confirm or deny the vicious rumors, that after a few beers, Steve is now sporting a Che Guevara tattoo on his ****. We finished our excursion with a little Nicaraguan ice cream, which Sam declared, “not as good as in the USA.” He didn’t realize it but he ordered Mint Tea ice cream…???

As we finish today’s post, we are watching ASU play Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The Devils are down at half-time but we (okay, just Marnie) have hope! Go Devils!

More tomorrow!

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