Map of Nicaragua.
Heather and Kory both serve as Peace Corps Volunteers and teach health education in their site. They have lived in the country for nearly two years now and both speak Spanish very well. It was great to have them to communicate for us when we needed them. A couple of days in the city where they live(La Dalia)showed us how people get along in the poorest country in the Americas. Most people have a very small house either made of cement, cinder block or wood. Some houses have more than one room, but most have simple wooded dividers or just blankets or sheets hung up to divide the room. only the nicer dwellings have cement or tile flooring, mostly they are hard packed dirt floors. Dogs, cats, chickens and pigs roam the neighborhoods and provide the soundtrack for the town with the occasional car, truck or motorcycle rumbling by. Dozens of kids played games and walked in the street. Soccer and baseball seeming to be their favorites.
A closer look at our travels.
Typical Bus Terminal Scene
As we toured the country in old school buses painted all sorts of bright colors, Brooke held small children on her lap, people crowded onto the bus until there wasn't a place to stand, then more people got on. Vendors yelled in the windows to sell their wares, small boys stood at the front of the bus and sang for money. Women and men got up and preached about God or Vitamins. The "Cobrador" or man in charge kept track of who had paid and who hadn't (not sure how) while hanging out the door trying to recruit more people to ride his bus.
Volcano for a skyline
Looking out the windows we had grand views of distant smoldering volcanoes and sweeping mountain scenes where at any moment we expected to spot the long neck of a brontosaurus peering out of the trees or watch a pterodactyl swoop by. But instead we would see a group of construction workers taking a break in a field to play a game of baseball.
Very cool Cathedral in the middle of Leon.
In the colonial city of Leon we walked around huge cathedrals built over 200 years ago. Sat in a restaurant with one other person and listened to a local Nicaraguan play and sing traditional folk music on his guitar. We slept in romantic private cabins with only a bed enclosed in a white mosquito net. The Nicaraguan Sun shone hot and bright on our us and our backpacks as we walked from Bus to Taxi, or from Hostal to Market. The humidity soared and made us feel damp and sticky every moment of the day. We swam in the pool or laid in the shade in a hammock. Played card games and ate sandwiches bought from a Mediterranean restaurant across the street.
Another sweet church in Leon
La Playa in Las Penitas
On the Pacific coast we checked into our private bungalows directly on the beach which faced the ocean. At high tide the water was a mere fifteen feet away from the swaying hammock that adorned the front porch of our cabin. Stepping out the gate, our feet were scorched by the soft hot sand and we took refuge in the 80 degree ocean. Perfect surf crashed and chased us up and down the beach and we collected seashells of every size and variety that you would only find otherwise in a novelty souvenir shop for tourists. Only a few local fishermen spotted the otherwise empty paradise we found ourselves in. We dined on pizza and fresh squeezed lemonade in the loft of a small restaurant. Sitting under the palm leaf roof we watched, through an open air window, a lightning storm that made it's way from far out at sea toward the coast. Back at the beach the storm finally brought rain and lighting right to where we sat. The lightning put on a show for us that lit the night time ocean like it was dawn. In our rooms we were lulled to sleep by the ocean laping at our doorstep and awoke the next morning to what may have been the most beautiful day that earth has ever seen. We swam, dove, body surfed, and crashed into the waves. We played Frisbee and climbed on the rocks that cropped out into the ocean where watched the sea beat itself against them.
Shells, shells and more shells.
We truly had such a magnificent time that it cannot be explained in these few paragraphs. Our travels once again opened our eyes to the rest of the World outside the United States. There are so many wonderful places to still see and people to meet. Thanks so much to Kory and Heather for giving us such a great opportunity to explore Nicaragua. Can't wait for our next adventure.
This is the Hostal where we stayed on the coast in Las Penitas. "The Oasis"
P.S. There were very few chances for us to take photographs while we were there. Because of the poverty level in Nicaragua, valuables such as cameras can bring about dangerous situations and thus were kept hidden throughout most of our trip. We did get a few pictures and I'll try and post more of them as soon as I can.
