Vacation slideshow

1. Margo & Kyle visit Nicaragua July 5-10, 2009

2. The hotel Patio del Malinche

3. Hotel Patio del Malinche is a small, 16-room hotel in the heart of Granada. It’s a former colonial house, with two large courtyards surrounded by covered walkways. The owners are from Spain, and their English guidance helped us navigate from day to day. Every day, we were served yummy breakfast (included in price!) that included lots and lots of fruit—sometimes including pitaya, or dragonfruit, which we strenuously search for in Florida.

4. Street view of our hotel Patio del Malinche

5. Bar by the pool Patio del Malinche

6. We would have brought one of these chairs home if they had fit in our suitcases. (Um, if they were free.) Patio del Malinche

7. Margo definitely fell asleep in this hammock one day. Patio del Malinche

8. Our room: #12 Patio del Malinche

9. Views of the Volcano Mombacho

10. Mombacho Volcano Granada Granada lives in the Shadow of Mombacho Volcano, which you constantly see over your shoulder no matter where you are in the city.

11. One day, when we peeked out at the volcano from our hotel, it looked like this . . .

12. But the next day it looked like this . . .

13. And sometimes it would be totally cloudy.

14. It looked over old monasteries . . .

15. and over Lake Nicaragua, the 10th largest lake in the world (and the only place where sharks acclimate to fresh water).

16. Day One Travel and Exploration of Granada

17. The plane that flew us from Miami to Managua Travel

18. Rooftops of Granada Granada

19. We tended to call this “tourist street,” because of all the burger and pizza and smoothie joints. Still fun, though. Granada

20. Guadalupe Church Granada

21. Day Two Masaya Volcano, Masaya Market, Pueblos Blancas

22. I was erupting with joy to visit Masaya Volano (which, unlike Mombacho, is active). (Did you get the joke? Erupting?) Masaya Volcano

23. Unsurprisingly, we met friends! On our first night, two Americans from Chicago (Jonathan and Leia) overheard us and invited us to split cab fare with them on the next day’s adventures. We agreed. Masaya Volcano

24. Margo, always a clever one, can find Nicaragua on the globe. Can you? Masaya Volcano

25. This is the point where, we’re told, the indigenous people threw “children and virgins” into the smoking crater. The Spanish priests freaked out and “exorcised” it. Yay 3-D crosses! Masaya Volcano

26. Hard to explain how crazy it is to look way down into a smoky volcano crater. We heard that if you come at night you can see a red glow. Masaya Volcano

27. For an extra $1.50 US, you can get a tour into one of the awesome, unpaved, unlit, caves below the volcano. Margo took to the role of spelunker quite naturally. Masaya Volcano

28. “I was made for adventure! . . . Wait, we’re not actually going to have to walk anywhere, are we?” Masaya Volcano

29. One of the caves we didn’t walk into. But from where Kyle is standing, he can literally see China. Masaya Volcano

30. Empowered! Dramatic! Photogenic! Masaya Volcano

31. Down into the cave, led by our friendly tour guide, who wrote our names on his hand to remember them. He asked us to explain the meaning of the word launch, and we did. Masaya Volcano

32. Bats, everywhere! This is one of the few good pictures that came out of our random snapping. They were great fun. Masaya Volcano

33. We turned around once we hit this big rock pile. Masaya Volcano

34. After spelunking, we wore ourselves out climbing another slope of Masaya. This is looking way down into one of the inactive craters. Masaya Volcano

35. We did it! Masaya Volcano

36. Masaya Volcano

37. Contemplative . . . thoughtful . . . moody . . . Masaya Volcano

38. It’s hard to tell, but we walked way, way up this road. You can’t even see the little hut where we started. Masaya Volcano

39. Masaya Volcano

40. After returning from climbing a really steep slope to the summit, we saw this at the bottom. Oops. Masaya Volcano

41. San Juan del Oriente—the store where we bought a fun percussion instrument. Pueblos Blancas

42. Looking down into a lake from high up. (It’s hard to show distance. That’s because we didn’t bring a 3-D camera.) Laguna de Apoyo

43. Margo: “That’s the biggest papaya I’ve ever seen! We have to take a picture of that!” Laguna de Apoyo

44. After 45 minutes of winding driving, we made it to a small restaurant/multi-cottage hotel at the bottom of the laguna. Laguna de Apoyo

45. A couple slides ago, we were way at the top of those hills looking down. Laguna de Apoyo

46. Laguna de Apoyo

47. Day Three Mombacho Volcano

48. After braving one volcano on Day 2, the intrepid pair felt they could handle another. Kyle, especially, looked tough. Mombacho Volcano

49. After taking the “chicken bus” (for locals) to the base of the volcano (even though that bus wasn’t really scheduled to go there!) we hopped an old army transport for a 30-minute trip to the top. Mombacho Volcano

50. Looking down from the top to the 365 isletasthat Mombacho spit out into Lake Nicaragua in a huge eruption long ago. Granada is just out of view to the left of this view. Mombacho Volcano

51. Unlike the dry grass at Masaya Volcano, Mombacho is covered in a “cloud forest” because of the clouds that it’s usually covered in. Mombacho Volcano

52. Nicaragua has 70+ protected wildlife areas, and they do an awesome job of upkeep. Highly recommended. Mombacho Volcano

53. [Insert appropriate Lord of the Rings quote here.] Mombacho Volcano

54. One view of the crater, from the opposite side. Mombacho Volcano

55. Another crater view. Mombacho Volcano

56. These flowers were everywhere! Mombacho Volcano

57. Mombacho Volcano

58. Mombacho Volcano

59. Mombacho Volcano

60. A compost pile that would put ours to shame. Mombacho Volcano

61. On the way up and down on the big transport vehicle, we passed tons of coffee plants, like these. Mombacho Volcano

62. Day Four Out and About in Granada

63. The outside of the huge (ex)monastery, just a couple blocks from our hotel. Granada

64. Inside the monastery were tons of pieces of artwork and beautiful courtyards. The buildings have served many purposes over the years, including a school, museum, and a place for fancy rich-people parties. Granada

65. A scale map of Granada! Neat! Granada

66. Pre-Columbian statues taken from Zapatera Island, in Lake Nicaragua. Granada

67. Granada

68. Another of Granada’s six colonial churches. Granada

69. The main square is dominated by this one. Granada

70. Granada

71. Granada

72. Beautiful tilework was everywhere. We’re pretty close to wanting to try our hand at something like this ourselves. Granada

73. If you have a giant Jesus statue, why not fancy him up with some Christmas lights? Granada

74. For $1 US, you could climb the bell tower of one of the churches. Very worth it. Granada

75. We were getting hot, but still smiling! Granada

76. (This is about 45 minutes before we decided it was too hot and just gave up.) Granada

77. Granada

78. Day Five Las Isletas, Farewell to Granada, Managua

79. We walked down to the shore of the lake, passing two miles of giant mango trees dropping their fruit into rotten piles all along the way (which were neatly sweeped up). Lake Nicaragua

80. Luckily, this dog was there to help move the pig along. Otherwise, who knows what chaos might have erupted? By Lake Nicaragua

81. After a long walk down by the water, alongside a mile of empty parks and bars, we did some pretty easy bartering to get a tour of the 365 isletas in the lake. Las Isletas

82. To Kyle’s great disappointment, we saw no sharks. Las Isletas

83. Our 12-year-old, Spanish-only-speaking guide would tell us which ridiculous mansions were owned by Americans and which by rich Nicaraguans, and sometimes how much they cost (a lot). Las Isletas

84. One tiny island had monkeys on it! Our guide said (er, signed) that they eat whatever the tourists give them. I thought they looked mighty tame . . . . Las Isletas

85. “Daddy, I want an island this year for my birthday!” “But darling, you got an island last year!” “Now I’d like another.” “Oh, smoochy-poo, you know I can deny you nothing. An island it is!” Las Isletas

86. One last look at the main central square (the parque) in Granada. Granada

87. Granada

88. For our last night, we stayed in Managua, the capital, right across the street from the airport, because of our early flight. The Best Western was a series of connected cottages. Fanciness! Managua

89. We had e-mailed with some awesome missionaries for Christ in the City International, who introduced us to a cool Managua chicken restaurant. They said that in anticipation of the anniversary of the Sandinista revolution, Christmas trees were popping up everywhere. Managua

90. And that’s it! You really ought to visit Nicaragua. We’d like you to take a minute right now and think about when you’d like to go. Lots of love, Kyle and Margo