Ometepe and San Juan del Sur - Nicaragua - Feb., 2018

La Isla de Ometepe - el 16 de febrero al 19

We took the (rough) ferry to La Isla de Ometepe on Feb. 16,



and the motorcyclists held on to their bikes.

Volcán Concepción

Dining in the restaurant near our hotel

 

            Our concierge

We walked across to the laguna on our second day

One of the many magpie jays

Traffic "laws" are different down here!

Volcán Maderas

Volcán Concepción (The sun sure sets quickly here!)

A capuchin monkey along the side of the road

Cattle egrets

La Cascada de San Ramón

Volcán Concepción at twilight, with car lights illuminating the nearby foliage and fence posts.

San Juan del Sur - el 20 de febrero al 23

Then, on Feb. 20th, we journeyed over to San Juan del Sur, on the Pacific coast. Our first evening there I hiked up to the Mirador del Cristo de la Miseriocordia. An exhilarating walk!





The San Juan River - see the boat? A local operates a ferry service, pulling the boat across the river. He charges 5 cordobas, or about 20 cents, and works from dawn 'til dusk. "Mucho sol!" he said.




After the other tourists left, I waited around waiting for it to get darker, but the attendant asked me to leave, so I had to be satisfied with this photo.

On my way back down, although I had a headlamp, I didn't use it, not wanting to advertise that I'm a Gringo.




I only saw one horse in San Juan, this one along the beach.


I took this photo of the rainbow from our hotel patio.

On the evening of the 22nd, I went back to the river to capture photos of the ferry captain.




The wind blew constantly while we were in San Juan.






Motorcyclists don't hesitate to ford the river.


Many egrets were fishing at dusk.

I had my tripod in the water and a wave jiggled it, but I decided to keep the photo and enhance it a little to make it more abstract.


After sunset, I met the others in La Lancha for a lobster feast - about $8 US.

And then stopped in the plaza to admire these dancers.

Most Nicaraguan cities have free wi-fi in their central parks.

Our last day in San Juan, we took a tour through Parque de Aventura las Nubes, up in the cloud forest near San Juan. We didn't do any zip-lining - been there, done that! - but had an exhilarating buggy ride up and down the hill, a nice walk through the forest, and an interesting tour of the iguanarium. 

The view of San Juan way down below


Monkeys on the side of the road

In the Iguanarium, they raise green iguanas and then release them into the wild. Green iguanas are endangered in Nicaragua because they are a local delicacy. In the mercado in Léon, we saw live green iguanas being sold, for food or pets?

                                  

                                                    Our guide with the Papa. 

                        

                     The Mama is larger

                     

                                                        You lookin' at me?

And in the enclosure next door were many babies of various sizes. Iguanas can lay up to 50 eggs a year, and in the center they have a high survival rate. 

                                        

                                

                                       

                       

That evening, we went to "Simon Says" restaurant, and enjoyed fresh bread from the clay-baked oven.

But before that, I had gone back down to the beach at sunset - just couldn't stay away! - and shot a few hundred more photos. It was probably the nicest sunset we had on the beach. 

You can make out el Cristo through the palapa. 

And that's it for Nicaragua. A wonderful country with wonderful people and an amazing mix of the old and the new. 

León y Granada, Nicaragua - Feb., 2018

León - el 9 de febrero al 12

We had two full days in León, and my favorite place there was the main plaza with the cathedral, a World Heritage Site.

These two rolling blading girls were happy to pose for me. 

As well as taking photos from the square, we climbed the stairs up the tower and had a great view of the city from there.

I've never taken a tour of a church where you can walk all over the roof!

The interior of the cathedral seemed beautiful, but I only managed to take one photo before I was expelled. Photos are "no permite" in the cathedral.



My favorite tour in the city was through the museum of the revolution, which ended in 1979 with the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship. Our guide, who spoke animatedly in rapid-fire Spanish, fought in the civil war. I understood enough to get the gist of his talk.  He was also very photogenic!

I took some photos around the city too.

We spectated a  game of fútbol from the adjacent roof-top restaurant. 

"Hola."

Granada - el 12 de febrero al 16

After three days in León, we took a three-hour shuttle bus ride to Granada - a wonderful colonial city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. The city with its natural environment is a World Heritage Site. Granada, like the rest of Nicaragua, has a real rural feel to it, as attested to by this man:

"Who's tired?"

 Once again, the cathedral is the center of the city.

 



The interior of the cathedral is also spectacular, and unlike in León, they allow photography inside. There are several spectacular ceiling murals and various alters.

I waited about 10 minutes for the pigeon in this next photo to fly from its perch. Was it worth it?

Susann and I climbed the stairs to the top of the bell tower.

The view was worth it!



And, like other Latin American countries,  dogs roam the streets.



The main plaza is also an attraction for the locals; not because of its World Heritage Status, but because of the free wi-fi!



Iglesia Merced is another large church in Granada, but although almost as large as the cathedral, it is not nearly as ornate.



Feb. 14th was the beginning of the season of Lent, the six weeks prior to Good Friday honoring the sacrifice of Jesus, and we were fortunate to witness this procession:

I also walked through the cemetery at daybreak one morning, thinking there wouldn't be any thieves around that early. However, I was warned by one of the employees that "ladrones" were lurking about behind the tombs and were waiting to steal my camera. Luckily, I escaped with my camera (and images!) intact.






On my way to the graveyard I had noticed a beautiful bougainvillea and thought it might make a nice photo, if I could get something in front of it. Upon my return, I waited for this garbage truck to approach before I took my picture.



I then passed through the mercado municipal, a hub of activity early in the morning!

We took a few excursions from Granada too. On Tuesday morning, we went kayaking in Las Isletas, and paddled through beautiful little islands.

We saw several local fishermen out catching breakfast.

That evening, we went to Volcán Masaya, an active volcano.

Looking into the caldron of Volcán Masaya. 

The next day, we journeyed to Volcán Mombacho, an extinct volcano. We were lucky to have a clear day so that we could see Granada 1000 meters below.

A bromelia in the lush cloud forest.

Colorful butterflies too.

A cleft in the rock, built to facilitate irrigation lines.

On our walk down, we saw a troop of monkeys,

and this cute lizard.

And then we caught a "moto-taxi" all the way back to our hostel in Granada. 

My last time in Nicaragua, I only had a short time in Granada, passing through on my way to Mombacho. I took a carriage ride, thinking that if I didn't I might never get to see the city. Well, here I am!