Adventuring into a new country

We took two days to travel north into Nicaragua, staying the night in San Jose and Liberia. Political events of the last decades have had a huge impact on many outsiders

perceptions of Nicaragua, making the country largely undiscovered by many tourists. As we

crossed the border we noticed the differences betweeen Nicaragua and Costa Rica imediately. Nicaragua is one of central americas largest countries and also one of the poorest. A good example of this is the bus system. Instead of the plush, greyhound style buses found in Costa Rica we now ride in near broken down old yellow school buses. The tourist infrastructure is poor, making it difficult at times getting to where you want to go. There are not many people who speak engish, making it difficult to communicate. Politics is important in this post civil war country. The US involvlment in Nicaragua is interesting. The CIA illegally sold arms to Iran at inflated prices to support the Contra Rebellion. Graffitti on streets and trees supports the FSLN (the Sandanistas)and trucks with loud speakers blare with political jargon. Daniel Orgtega is alive and well and you can see his picture on many walls around town.

We arrived in San Juan Del Sur in mid afternoon. We believed this was the principal town of Lake Nicaragua. As we gazed upon the vast body of water we remarked, 'I can't believe how big this lake is. I can't even see the other side.' It turned out to be the Pacfic ocean, we had gotten on the wrong bus! We enjoyed our unexpected detour in the ocean side town and made it to Lake Nicaragua the next day. A place called Ometepe is formed by two large volcanoes and is in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua. We spent two days exploring the island. Ometepe is dotted by costal settlements where people live by fishing and growing crops on the fertile volcanic soil.

Our next stop in Nicaragua was the oldest Spanish city in the country, Granada. We decided to rent an apartment with a kitchen and bath for two nights. Over the last seven days we have stayed in seven different cities so it has been nice to slow down a little. We are getting ready to eat at the best Italian restaurant in Central America and we are starving!!