We recently got back from a 4-day visit to Nicaragua. Having been back in the United States now for almost 4 years, we continue to try and visit new locations on this side of globe. This also means I have to go back into the archives and share more about our trip earlier this year to Canada. 🙂
But how did we land on Nicaragua? United is our airline of choice thanks to my leftover status from Swiss Airlines and Miles & More, and they have a flight map that allows you to view destinations by price. Nicaragua proved to be reasonable in both price and flight time. Additional research also highlighted that it is one of the safest countries in Central America, so it put our minds at ease related to our daughter.
The icing on the cake was finding a Hyatt Place located in the main city of Managua. Before I knew it, everything was booked and we were on our way!
We had a quick connection in Houston on our way down, making the trip about 6 hours in total. Landing in Managua, the airport was small but clean; customs did take an extremely long time, though. Visas are purchased on arrival for $10 each.
Arriving in Managua was our first time touching down in a country in Central America. As we drove from the airport to our hotel, we were quickly reminded that Nicaragua is a 3rd world country. It is even cited as the 2nd poorest in the Western Hemisphere. It had been a long time since I had been to a place like this, and it brought back memories of my travels to India, Africa and Nepal.
As we checked into our hotel, we were pleased to find a large shopping mall with tons of restaurants right across the parking lot. It was an interesting juxtaposition to what we had just driven through. After settling in, it was about time for dinner so we headed to the mall. Tony was craving steak, so we dined at a steak restaurant known for skirt steak and chimichurri sauce. It was so delicious, even our daughter enjoyed it! Wandering around the mall after dinner was a great, relaxing way to spend our first evening in Nicaragua.
The next day, we have reserved a tour to visit Granada and Masaya. It ended up being a private tour, and we had both our driver and tour guide all to ourselves. It was only about an hour drive to Granada from Managua, and we passed so much beautiful, lush greenery along the way. Nicaragua is actually known for having the second largest rainforest in the Americas. It was so breathtaking to see.
Stop #1 in Granada was a boat ride within the inlets of Lago Cocibolca. It was really lovely and we were on the hunt for local monkeys, birds, and fish. There were a lot of random homes built within the inlets and our boat captain gave us the background to all of the owners of these homes.
We ended up finding some monkeys, but they had just finished eating and were not interested in meeting us. I didn’t mind too much as I am still wary of wild monkeys after my time in Nepal.
Downtown Granada wasn’t far from the inlets, and I couldn’t wait to walk through this charming town. Before arriving, however, Tony and I had to recreate a lost wedding anniversary tradition. Since we were married in Paris, we try to travel and be somewhere new on our actual anniversary. One of my favorite wedding photos is the “hollywood kiss” in front of the Eiffel Tower, so it was fun to recreate it in a new place. Notice how my daughter has replaced my bouquet. 🙂
Whenever you search for Nicaragua, the yellow cathedral, Our Lady of the Assumption, is what most often appears. As we approached, my mouth dropped in awe. The color of not only this beautiful church, but the other buildings and structures nearby, immediately brought me joy.
Unfortunately, it was at this stage of the tour that we learned our guide didn’t know as much as we hoped. We asked him questions about the building and the city, but he couldn’t answer most of them. The main thing we learned is that Granada is 500 years old this year. So I did my own Googling, and according to Wikipedia, the city was renamed in 1524 and “was established by Spanish conquistador Hernández de Córdoba, who named it after the city of the same name in Spain.” This gorgeous cathedral was built in 1751.
We then wandered through the streets of Granada, where we found ourselves surrounded by many more colorful buildings and mosaics within the concrete street. Many of the buildings had a very colonial look to them, and reminded me of buildings in locations like Savannah or Valletta.
I could not get enough of the color and the peacefulness of the city. It brought me so much joy to slowly step through the town and look upon these lovely buildings and mosaics.
From here we made a brief stop at a chocolate museum to try some tasty treats. My daughter got to try crushing cacao using traditional, ancient tools (the smell was heavenly) and we tried chocolate tea. Apparently the dried shells of the cacao seed/nut can we boiled to create tea. Add a little honey and cinnamon and holy hell, was this tasty!
It was then off to Masaya from some traditional Nicaraguan food and to visit an old market. Our guides took us to a place that served baho. It was literally the only thing on the menu and no surprise, my daughter was upset they didn’t serve fries, LOL. Per Wikipedia, a baho or vaho is “a mix of meat, green plantains and yuca cooked in banana leaves. It is a traditional Nicaraguan dish originated from the mix of cultures between the indigenous, mestizos and Afro-Nicaraguans of the country.” In my opinion, trying the local cuisine is one of the best parts of traveling, and the baho did not dissapoint.
The meat was tender and flavorful and the yuca tasted like delicious mashed potatoes. The shredded cabbage on top made for a taste explosion! So simple but so satisfying and delicious! Even my daughter thoroughly enjoyed the meat after much (forced) coaxing.
We ended our tour with a stroll through the Mercado de Artesanias where we found a variety of handmade and extremely colorful goods. One of the main draws of Masaya is the active volcano. Given recent seismic activity, though, we were sadly unable to visit it.
The next day, we were off to the beach. Or more specifically, Gran Pacifica. This is considered a luxury beach resort that offers dining, golf, hotel lodging and more permanent housing. We were able to pay for day access which included two beautiful pools and access to the Pacific Ocean. It was incredibly relaxing and so beautiful. The sand was gray and the waves were strong, making this part of the country very popular with surfers.
For dinner that night, it was back to the mall that sat across the street from our hotel. My husband was craving some tacos, and a restaurant called Chiless was calling out to us. They offered an entire long tray inclusive of every type of taco they offered. It was magical!
Our final full day, we hired a driver to take us around Managua. We started with Parque Historico Loma de Tiscapa. There was a very artistic statue of Augusto C. Sandino, who was a revolutionary in the last 1920s. He was opposed to the USA using military intervention in his country.
Aside from the huge statue and a cool view from high up of the city, there wasn’t much else there.
It was then off to the boardwalk, Puerto Salvador Allende. It was slightly more lively than the Parque Historico, but given it was the middle of the week and an overcast day, was still quite empty. The colors here, though, perked me up. There were brightly painted benches all along the shoreline of Lake Xolotlán.
There were a lot of playgrounds and restaurants here, so we decided to head back for dinner. Aside from a yummy meal with some local stray dogs and cats (whom my daughter all named), we got to see a whole row of the trees of life lit up.
These tree statues, which lit up at night, were all throughout Managua – 134 to be exact. Designed in 2015 by the first lady, Rosario Murillo, the trees are said to be influenced by Gustav Klimt’s 1907 “Tree of Life” painting. They are dotted all over Managua and bring sporadic pops of color to the city. It was a lovely and colorful way to wind down our last night in Nicaragua.
We really enjoyed our visit but were ready to head back. Nicaragua has so much to offer, and I hope their tourism industry continues to grow. A few suggestions I would make should you consider visiting:
- Bring American cash – it goes far as is appreciated by the locals. Plus, most places do not take credit card.
- If you do not speak Spanish, make sure you have a translation app and data on your phone
- Recognize that their tourism industry is not as developed as other countries like India or even Cuba – there is a lot to offer so you will need to be comfortable with some of the unconventional
- Do your own research in advance – we relied on our tour guide more than we should have
It feels good to be blogging again and memorializing the amazing places I am blessed to visit. 🙂 More to come soon!
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