| Highlights of Nicaragua (September 2006) | ||||||||||||
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An intriguing country - with a passionate history of idealistic socialist government, yet more civil war and a dramatic chain of active volcanos.
Plus we would get to drink the great coffee! |
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Searching In Vain For A Good Cuppa
Though Nicaragua produces some of the world's best coffee, it is mostly exported to the west. The coffee here was terrible - typically nasty instant, mixed with yucky creamer. Sigh... |
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On The Left...
Leon is the old capital of Nicaragua and stronghold of the idealistic Sandinista movement (which battled exploitative landowners, multi-national corporations and, ultimately, Ronald Raygun's Contras in the '80s). From this mural, which has a Sandinista boot squishing Uncle Sam, they are not quite ready to forgive and forget! |
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...And On The Right
Opulent Granada is Ying to Leon's Yang, with a smooth colonial style. Here we munched on the local delicacy (fried pigs skin with yucca) while wild marching bands stormed up and down celebrating independence day. |
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Is This Wise? (pt.2)
We ascended the active volcano, Mt. Mombacho, where we camped in the cloud forest that grows on its side, by steaming fumaroles. At night we walked the rim of the volcano, meeting metamorphosizing salamanders and this little fellow. Tiny but with incredible buggy orange eyes the Gaudy Green Frog was straight off the Discovery Channel. |
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A Look Of Pure Joy, Or Pure Terror?!
We descended the volcano, literally screaming through the canopy of trees on a zipline. Advertised as a 'great way to see nature' this was a silly adrenaline rush (but none the worse for it!). |
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Isla de Ometepe
Lake Nicaragua is massive, nearly spanning from Atlantic to Pacific. In the center of its shark-infested waters are the incomparable twin volcanos of Isla de Ometepe, which protruded out of the lake to form one island. At this beautiful coffee plantation we finally got a fresh brewed cuppa! |
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Climbing Concepcion With Our Guerilla Guide
Another volcano hike, this time guided by Nanguna, a man with a million stories. He had fought with the Sandinistas and had an bullet lodged in his behind ("Just like your Wallace in Braveheart!"). He also believed he was some kind of kung fu grand master... |
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Those Naughty Prehistoric Nicaraguans
Ometepe is littered with remnants of a prehistoric civilization preserved in petroglyphs. This example shows a couple engaged in what our guide clarified was known to the ancients as "The Nasty". |
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Be Afraid...
Banishing Magnus to the passenger seat for being overtaken by a bicyclist, Cheryl takes charge of a motorbike for the first time. 'Take it really easy at first, let out the clutch slowly and...CHERYL!......CHERYL,.... Watch out for that goat ... CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYLLLLLLLLL!'. It wasn't just the local chicken that laid an egg as she ripped us along potholed roads at top speed, that's for sure. |
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The Banana Boat
With the boat piled high with thousands of bananas, we were left with camping out on deck on our journey across the lake towards Costa Rica with the rain lashing us through a lightning-filled night. Last stop in Nicaragua was El Castillo, which held the river from the Atlantic to Lake Nicaragua against pirates, seeking Spanish treasures, such as Captain 'Bluebeard' Morgan, and a young Horatio Nelson. |
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On To Costa Rica
The sun sets on our time in Nicaragua, a cash poor but culturally rich country as we head across a little known river towards Costa Rica. |
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- See more pictures from this section - Go to next section : Costa Rica - Go to previous section : El Salvador / Honduras |
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