We just finished up 3 weeks in Nicaragua. As you are reading this, we are on a bus on our way to Honduras. But before we hit the border, we wanted to share some of our favorite pics from our time in Nicaragua.
Our first stop in Nicaragua was the old colonial city of Leon.
Our first view of the Real e Insigne Basilica Catedral de León Nicaragua (aka Real and renowned Basilica Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary). It is home to one of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the Americas. It is one of the most beautiful buildings we have seen.
But if you go in this very nondescript door on the side, and pay a guy $3, you can take the stairs to the roof.
Once you reach the top of the steps, your first glimpse of the roof is this. It’s like you were teleported to Greece. That’s Volcan Momotombo in the background.
You can wander all over the roof of the cathedral. Here is where one of the bells used to hang, overlooking the Parque Central.
Another view of the Basilica. One windy afternoon, pigeons were swirling around in the park, giving it a very Hitchcockian feeling.
A street vignette. All the buildings are painted in bright colors in Leon. Makes wandering the streets a lot of fun.
Food truck
Colorful gym
Should a city really be allowed to have so many spectacular churches? This is Iglesia de la Recolleccion
Teatro Gonzalez
More beautiful buildings on Parque Central in Leon
Iglesia San Pedro, one of the older neighborhood churches.
Comedy or Drama?
Ornate Doorway
We also had a bit of adventure during our time in Leon. We went Volcano Boarding. Here we are getting ready for our hike up the volcano.
Hiking the scree field on our way up.
Cerro Negro from the top.
Crater!
Click here to read all about our boarding adventure, and see a video of Kyle boarding.
Triumphant Boarding Crew
Iced Coffee on the plaza in Leon
We were invited to attend a Rooster fight, the typical Sunday afternoon activity here in Nica. It is a huge part of Nica culture and we felt we wanted to experience it. At its best, travel challenges our ideas about the world. This was one of those times.
View of volcanoes from the top of Volcan Cerro Negro
From Leon, we headed to Granada, another colonial city on the banks of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America.
Granada is known for its iconic Cathedral as well.
View of the Cathedral from the bell tower of Iglesia Merced.
We spent a morning kayaking Las Isletas, an archipelago on the lake very close to the city.
Water Horses on Lake Nicaragua. We expected to see lots of aquatic wildlife and birds. What we didn’t expect was to come around a bend and see horses in the water, with Mombacho volcano in the background. It was surreal.
Kayaking
View of Granada from Lake Nicaragua
Beautiful flower on Lake Nicaragua
Billboard painted on side of building in Granada
Church in Granada
View of the roof of Iglesia Merced, from the bell tower.
Street Art in Granada
Another beautiful church in Granada
Sign outside a burger restaurant.
Iglesia Xalteva in Granada
We took a day trip to do some hiking at Masaya volcano, about 45 minutes from Granada.
Masaya Volcano is (obviously) still active. They closely monitor it and let you drive right up to the edge as long as things seem calm.
We did have to wear respirators there. We tried breathing without them, but there was too much smoke and sulfur in the air.
On the trail to the bat cave.
Volcan Masaya
Hospital San Juan del Dios in Granada. Built during Spanish Colonial times and long abandoned. We enjoyed walking past its spooky entrance daily during our time here.
Next stop for us was San Juan del Sur. We came to San Juan so Kyle could learn how to surf, but we were surprised by the beauty of the place. We are also super lucky and it turned out to be the Arribada, the mass nesting of the Olive Ridley turtles. We don’t have pics of the turtles (it was the middle of the night and we chose to just soak it in rather than focusing on trying to take a decent photo in no light) or of Kyle surfing. But we still have a few fave shots from this beautiful town on the Pacific. You can click here to read about our night with the turtles.
San Juan del Sur Sunset
We spent most mornings playing cut throat games of Connect 4 before breakfast.
Crab in the sink. Our hostel was high in the hills above the beach, so this crab had quite a climb. Originally, he was climbing the bamboo wall in the bathroom in the middle of the night, and then we heard him fall. From there, he hid himself amongst the folds of a trash bag and then jumped into the sink when we tried to pick up the bag. We finally caught him in a coffee mug and tossed him outside. I was especially pleased to discover at 3 am that it was just a small crab wedged in my bathroom wall rather than something venomous.
Stormy sunset over San Juan del Sur. The sunsets here were all spectacular.
San Juan del Sur’s swimming beach.
From here, we headed to the volcanic island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. It is an island formed from 2 volcanoes, one of which is still active.
Cows in the road on the way to the finca where we stayed. BTW, this was the WORST taxi driver we have had in 28 months…and he didn’t even drive fast.
Volcan de Concepcion hiding in the clouds during our stay on Ometepe.
Petroglifos – On Ometepe
Petroglyphs on Ometepe
Jungle Road on Ometepe
Muddy hike on Ometepe’s Volcan Maderas. It’s the Rainy (Oh, I mean the Green) season in Nicaragua. It rained a LOT while we were on Ometepe so there are not a lot of photos.
There are still loads of stories to tell about our time in Nicaragua, and we intend to tell them in the coming weeks. But we’re looking forward to new adventures in Honduras as well.
See you soon!
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Awesome post and photos!
Thanks, Jay! We enjoyed your most recent trip photos too!