Corn Islands, Nicaragua (Caribbean Sea)

Turquoise blue water, white sand beaches, cool ocean breezes, awsome snorkling and cheap fresh seafood, must be the Caribbean. We splurged a bit and spent a couple of days out on the Corn Islands. They are 2 tiny islands off the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.

Big Corn Island from the air. The Islands are inhabitated by people of British West Indies descent so most people on the islandds speak pigin english. Think Jamaica, mon.




The local family first billboard, Caribbean style

We found out by suprise that every Sunday was the local baseball tournament. these boys were fully kitted out in mostly matching uniforms and played with a lot of heart.

The Crowd, probably the best part. During the entire game either reggae or honky-tonk country played (even during pitches) no rock, hip-hop or other type of music. The gentleman who manned the music was kind enough to turn down the volume during pitches.

The beer was cold and the cheapest in town. Anyone who has been to a baseball game knows thats not the norm. A case of COLD beer was raffeled off during the game. We didn't win it.

The Scoreboard was run the old fashioned way by some local kid standing in the sun flipping wood slats as the innings went by. The blank spots are where they ran out of numbers.

Miraflor, Nicaragua

Miraflor was a really cool part of our trip. Its a series of communities in the north-central highlands of Nicaragua that work together to grow and sell their crops and preserve their way of life. They also conduct tours of their area and arrange homestays.

Miraflor from a viewpoint.
We were able to meet up with our pal Andi and her boyfriend, Gabriel in Miraflor.

Picking carrots for lunch and dinner on the farm we stayed at.

Still using traditional forms of farming. This guy drove his beasts of burden with voice commands as he hand plowed the field. The plow was hand-made of wood.

I almost got them to approach me.

This is called a "Yunta de Bueys" basically a team of oxen. These oxen were used to pull a cart of horse feed.

Hot chicks in Miraflor.

Travis checking out a saddle typical of Nicaragua.

We (Andi, Gabriel, Travis and I) spent 2 days hiking the highlands of Miraflor with our guide Arlen. We also stayed with his family on the farm.

This is the inside of a Mata Palo. Its a parasitic plant species. It is dropped into a tree by a bird and is one of the only plant species that grows downward. Slowly choking the tree until the tree dies and all that is left is the Mata Palo shell. This particular Mata Palo is 250 years old.

Trav trying to climb the Mata Palo. It was a bit too slippery.

On one of our hikes we stopped at this waterfall.

Here is Travis and our guide discussing the best jumping off point on the waterfall. Dont hit the rocks!!

The water was FREEZING! But we couldnt resist a dip and jumped in with all of our clothes on.

Sunset in Miraflor.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

San Juan del Sur is a cool, laid-back little surf/turist town on the Southern Pacific coast of Nica. It is the home of chilled-out surfers, burned-out ex-pats, and the Nicaraguan elite. Basically, you an find all kinds here, from canoes to yachts and huts to mansions, but the town has a cool vibe and it is really easy to relax. Lots of irie travellers here too, not sure if that is good or bad.

Not everyone is so eager to join the rat race.

Looking cool on the beach....

The view from above.Sunset from our hotel room.

The other side of the beach, the hidden surf spots are over here.

Sunset from the beach.

If you do find yourself down in San Juan del Sur, be sure to hit up Big Wave Daves for the best burgers and breakfasts you will find.

Ometepe Island

Ometepe = "Two Volcanoes", which is a fitting name for this island because it has in fact 2 volcanoes. The island is located in the southern part of Lake Nicaragua. This was definately a hightlight of our trip. We hopped in the back of a pickup truck from Granada to arrive at the ferry to get to the island. On the island we stayed at a coffee finca (plantation) which specializes in shade grown, organic coffee. This finca was also the jumping off point for hikes up the Volcan Maderas.

Coffee plant. The coffee at the finca was delicious as you can imagine.


The view from the hammocks

We explored around the island. Its very lush and tropical.

Transporting bulls.

Transporting bananas.

Howler monleys (mono congo) were abundant. You could hear them all of the time.

These were just down from the finca where we stayed.

The view of Volcan Concepcion from the trail up Volcan Maderas. It was a grueling 5 kilometers straight up the mountain. the have not heard of swithchbacks I guess. we were sore for two days. I dont think Travis will ever forgive me for making him go.

Petroglyphs, Mayan, really old.

Coral Snake we found on the trail. We also saw a white faced monkey (mono cara blanca) but it was too elusive for a photo.

Action shot of Travis. The entire trail was like this, very eroded, very steep, very slippery and very muddy.

The entre trip took 8 hours. 4 hours up and another 4 hours to get down. At the summett was a crater that housed a lake. It was foggy and cold and we couldn't see the lake through the fog. But we did see some other cool places on the trail.

Granada, Nicaragua

Well we are back from our trip to Nicaragua. What an amazing place. Our journey started out with 2 full days on busses crossing Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and finally into Nicaragua. The first place we stopped was Granada. Its this lovely little colonial town.

We were here for New Years. We took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city at night. At midnight every corner of the city exploded into fireworks. The laws are more relaxed there so morters were going off in the city center.

A lot of the buildings in Granada were destroyed by the Tennessee-born William Walker, who basically took over Nicaragua in the late 1800's. He was finally run out of the city and was executed by firing squad. Its an interesting story about a guy with balls as big as they come.

An old guy sitting in front of a mural.

There were tons of really cool murals in Granada. Most of them describing the many military struggles faced in the past.

Granada is located on one of the shores of Lake Nicaragua. We took a boat out one afternoon and checked out some islands. On these islands were these amazing birds that build hanging nests. they are called "Oro Pendulo", which literally means "gold pendulum". This is because of their hanging nests and their beautiful gold tails.