Nicaragua

We have spent the second week of May touring Nicaragua's towns, cities,volcanos and beaches. Monday we headed off to Managua in our 15 passenger toyota van in route to the capitol city of Managua. The Northern end of the country is mostly rural farmland and small towns and villages. Farming of sugar cane, peanuts and sesame cover most of the vast spaces. The untold story lies beneath the ground. The water table in most of the Norther region is contaminated from decades of cotton farming and unmonitored use of pesticides. There is also areas were the volcanic soil adds to the soil contamination. We were told that there is a general knowledge of the bad water, but most villages and or families in the rural area have no choice but to drink from the shallow wells.
We met Harry our guide for the Managua and Granada as we entered the Capitol City. The Capitol was destroyed by an earthquake in 1972 and most of the reconstruction since then has been low rise. Managua sits at the apex of 12 earthquake faults making is future on shaky ground.
The capitol city overlooks Lake Managua a beautiful setting but the lake is biologically dead. Years of industrial pollution and waste water being dumped into the lake has left a mark. We toured the museum and the main sites of the City before lunch. After lunch we headed south to the town of Masaya to visit the handcraft market and then up to the top of Volcan Masaya. The crater at the top was nothing less than awesome, a mini Grand Canyon with steam and the a strong sulfur stench bellowing from the earth's core. The Spaniards believed this was a gate to Hell and over the years sacrifices were cast into the crater.
Next stop was the awe inspiring view over the Lagoon Apoyo and down on the town of Granada from Catarina.

The Volcano and the view from this cute little town made the whole trip thus far.

Granada was a cool little town but I think we all expected another Antigua, as we were told of the history of Nicaragua's oldest Colonial City. Our hotel was cool we stayed at La Gran Francia tired from the drive volcanos and site seeing we ate dinner walked a few blocks and everyone crashed.

Day 2 was an early wake up and off to the Zip-Line Tours atop Volcan Mombacho. Great guides on the zip line everyone had a blast and Ben still holds the record for the loudest and longest scream.
After the zip we toured another crater atop Mombacho that is in a cloud forest.

We then took a short drive 3 hours dirt road to the coast and landed at the Punta Teonoste Eco Lodge. Great little place on a private beach a few hours from Rivas. The Lodge was built by a European gentleman and consisted of 16 casitas and a main open air lodge for meeting and dinning. The highlight was the food prepared by a lovely french chef who has domiciled in Nicaragua for 25 years. Remember it is and Eco lodge so the outdoor shower, mosquito netting and living up close with bugs and all that crawls was cool, but not for all in our group. Lets just say Whitney was happy when we got in the van and waved goodbye.
Two days on the coast Dawn and I took a drive to Rancho Santana to scope the Nicaragua beach front real estate market. This master plan is 10 years in the making and has 30-40 home build out of the 3000 planned. With the current absorption they should be out of there by 2110. Cool place beautiful views but the infrastructure was rough for the most part. Dirt roads 10-15 slope on rolling coastal hills, lets just say it would be interesting to go back and look during the October rains.

Next stop Managua the capitol city and the highlight of the trip for the kids, the Princess Hilton Hotel. English speaking cable channels, cartoons!!!, movie theater and a mall. One night was extended to two, as I spent all my time in the room with a kidney stone.
The story of Nicaragua is that of a country torn for years by war and revolution. The people today are tired of that past and are excited to move forward with life tourism and development. The challenge being the years of war and damage that the country experienced from industrial, agricultural expansion during the time when the government was not in control or had no foresight. Aquifers are contaminated, lakes are biologically dead and the people are very poor and uneducated. The sad part is someone made a ton of money and the Nicaraguan people are left cleaning up the mess with no money and little education.
One night from our hotel room we watch a 6 year old girl beg for money from cars in the middle of a 6 lane intersection.
She was there until 11pm maybe went to school a few hours the next day and then returned to her intersection while mom watched from the bench at Pollo Campero.
The people of Nicaragua were great and the country on the surface was beautiful, we will watch as future generations clean up the past and we wish them the best in their journey and will always keep then in our hearts and minds.