León
Volcano boarding outside León
Arriving at Surfing Turtle Lodge near Las Peñitas
Granada
Our balcony at Casa del Bosque in Ometepe
It's officially two years since The Big Trip and I'm still writing blogposts about it! I'm determined to get them done as I want to write about other things on here very soon. I'm currently in Shenzhen, China and can't wait to talk all about that. Maybe in video form for the bloody craic? Anyway! Here are my highlights from the beautiful Nicaragua:
- We ended up taking a flight from Guatemala City to Managua which saved us a 16 hour bus trip. The ticket was more expensive in the end because we booked it last minute but I'm so glad we travelled this way. We then got the bus to León where we had our first lunch there in a restaurant called Hong Kong. It was a Chinese restaurant (full circle! life is mad) that was full of locals and played One Direction bops. Beer was the equivalent of 70c and came in a frosty glass. Golden!
- Our Airbnb in León which was a private room in a house which cost a tenner a night. There was no aircon but there was a cat, turtles and a lovely host.
- Volcano boarding sounds a lot more terrifying than it actually is. It was essentially a massive sand dune that you slide down on a board. The group we were with took pictures of us on our way down. Declan, as you can see above, looks very cool with dusht flying around, a relaxed lean back and a wave to the camera. Mine looked like I was at a stand still with a load of sand on my board, and a bit daft if I'm honest, so I've saved picture that for my own precious memories. A good day out all the same!
- I was told about Surfing Turtle Lodge by my friend Karan. It's a beachside eco-hostel outside of León. It takes a bus, boat and horse to get there. We had a great time here. Great times included: incredible thunder storms, Jenga, cocktails, beer pong, chasing crabs, new friends, attaining bottles of alcohol and a nighttime walk to find some baby turtles head to the ocean.
- The lemonade in Nicaragua is the stuff of dreams. Just the most perfect drink on a hot and sweaty day.
- When in Granada we travelled 30 minutes outside the city to Masaya which has an ACTIVE volcano. We saw real life magma which was pretty bloody cool.
- Ometepe was just stunning. We stayed at Casa del Bosque and can't recommend it enough. It is stunning and I would go back there in a heartbeat. The food was unbelievable but unfortunately I had gotten a bad tummy bug just before we arrived which stayed with me for the time we were there. Because of this though we did have a very memorable trip to a local pharmacy which was in a very small shed.
- The last place we went to in Nicaragua was San Juan Del Sur where we had a little holiday towards the end of our backpacking trip. We stayed for three nights in HC Liri Hotel which was right on the beach and so chill. SJDS was very different to the rest of the places we visited in Nicaragua as there seemed to be a big community of immigrants and felt more American than Central American. Restaurant recommendations are La Vecchia Signora for pizza and Dale Pues for a variety of things.
Costa Rica was our final destination where we travelled to Tamarindo (where I surfed for the first time and was pretty damn good!), Monteverde, Manuel Antonio and San Jose. We ended the trip in San Jose staying with friends who showed us an absolutely amazing time! Costa Rica was stunning and I will definitely be back there again. Photos are great memories but sometimes it's just nice to enjoy it in the moment and leave the camera down. That's what I did for the majority of our time in beautiful Costa Rica.
That's it for The Big Trip - A fab experience with my Dec and can't wait for the next one!
Ciara
x
