"Nicaragua: Family Adventure August 2005" Nicaragua by BorderHopper

The only thing I knew about the Central American nation of Nicaragua prior to our August 2005 travels there was that it was a country rife with natural disasters, its government was still struggling with its revolutionary past, and my size 36 underwear was Hencho en Nicaragua. Volcanoes are still erupting, as was the case with Volcan Concepcion on Isla de Ometepe in early August of 2005, but true disaster hasn’t struck Nicaragua since Hurricane Mitch made landfall in 1998. The country was mired in war throughout the late 1970’s and into the 80’s when the Sandinistas battled the Regan/US backed Contras which killed thousands of Nicas and eventually led to a US implemented embargo on Nicaragua. Natural disaster, revolution, & bad politics combined forces to push Nicaragua and its resilient people to the back of the pack in Central America. Nicaragua is said to be the 2nd poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere behind Haiti. When I was in Granada a Nicaraguan man named Roberto showed me the remnants of Nicaragua’s railroad system. All that remained was a 50 foot section of track and one dilapidated engine car. The tracks were sold off to Japan and the trains were sold off to El Salvador because the government could no longer maintain their national rail system. The main highway out of Granada which leads to the capital of Managua used to be lined with large, productive factories but businesses closed shop during the Sandinista years and reopened in more stable nations such as Honduras. It appears that the factories haven’t come back to this part of Granada.*

Volcan Concepcion spewing ash and steam. 8/2005

But according to the tag on my underwear, Hencho en Nicaragua means that Nicaragua is open for business once again. On the road I saw numerous signs of foreign investment….Japanese, Taiwanese, and American factories lined the Pan-American Highway CA-2 from Rivas to Masaya. It also seems that Nicas have figured out that tourism might be one key to their success. This is a country that greatly exceeded our expectations. We loved Nicaragua, we loved the people we encountered, and Nicaragua is clearly a land with abundant natural beauty. Spend 3 days on Isla de Ometepe in Lago de Nicaragua and you’ll know what I’m talking about.*

My son McKinley & I near the cathedral in Granada

Somehow Nicaragua became our family vacation destination 2005. Peru didn’t work out and tickets from our home in Los Angeles, California to San Jose, Costa Rica were cheap. But Costa Rica wasn’t really our cup of tea so we looked into ways for getting to Nicaragua by bus. My wife Wacharaporn, our 2 year old son McKinley, and myself booked 3 one way tickets on Tica Bus from San Jose, Costa Rica to Rivas, Nicaragua. Nicaragua is open to just about any nationality and we were able to receive a visa & enter the country for a few US dollars at the Penas Blancas border crossing. The first majestic view we had of Nicaragua after crossing the border form Costa Rica was the vast waters of Cocibolca (also known as Lago de Nicaragua), and the twin volcanoes of Ometepe Island off in the distance. Seeing these volcanoes from the window of our bus filled me with excitement and anticipation of our adventures to come.

Traveling with our 2 year old son McKinley wasn’t as difficult as some might think.
We've been traveling w/ our son since he was 2 months old, so taking him to Nicaragua wasn’t so unusual for us. He loved his time spent on Ometepe Island on Lago de Nicaragua. He found other children to play with on the beach, went swimming all afternoon, and just enjoyed running up and down nearly deserted stretches of volcanic sand beaches. We took him on a short trek thru the Charco Verde reserve and he loved the Howler monkeys! The important thing is that our son and us both enjoyed our time there and found things that we could all enjoy as a family. I should also mention that we had no problems with food poisoning or any ailments related to food or water in Nicaragua.....but our son did come home with a stomach flu (confirmed by our doctor here in the States) which hit him on the airplane ride home.

Our travels through Nicaragua, over the course of two weeks, took us to Penas Blancas, Rivas, San Juan del Sur, San Jorge, Moyagalpa, Ometepe Island, Charco Verde Reserve, Nandaime, San Juan de Oriente, Masaya, and to the beautiful colonial city of Granada on the north western shore of Lago de Nicaragua.*

• Pros:Raw, Real, and Untamed Natural Beauty
• Cons:Prices Aren't As Cheap As You'd Expect
• In a nutshell:Nicaragua will forever remain dearto our hearts!