NICARAGUA!!!

I apologize for the delay for this post, but I have been struggling with uploading the pictures.

I left for Nicaragua around 12 noon on Friday after my Spanish final. It took approximately six hours to get to the Costa Rica-Nicaragua border from San José. We took a smaller bus than the last few trips, because there were only twenty other students in my group. We took the same, scenic road as the previous trip to Tamarindo, passing many ranches, beaches, and smaller towns. We also got to see a number of good examples of Costa Rica's national tree, the Guanacaste tree. We reached the border right before it was about to close. I found it interesting that it was actually much more difficult to get out of Costa Rica than it was to get into Nicaragua, but above all I was very excited to get another stamp in my passport.

After we crossed into Nicaragua, even though it was dusky out, the first thing I noticed were the improved road conditions. I have found from many people I have talked to in Costa Rica that there is a bit of a prejudice between many Ticos and Nicas. A large portion of the population of Costa Rica are Nicaraguan immigrants, many of the women working as maids. Also, there was a small (over-exaggerated in my opinion) conflict at the Nicaragua/ Costa Rica border over land. In fact, some of the tour groups had cancelled their trips due to the "violence". The truth is, there was no violence, and it was perfectly safe to cross into Nicaragua. I have heard a number of Ticos talking about how backward, weird, and dirty Nicaragua and its people were. Again, this was a complete lie. For all the talk about the instability and economic hardships in Nicaragua, they sure seem to keep their cities looking very nice and their roads excellent (much smoother than roads in Costa Rica). 

Our first hotel was located a few blocks away from the central park in Granada, Nicaragua. Granada is the oldest city in Nicaragua. It was never destroyed by war or natural disasters such as the violent eruption of the nearby volcano Masaya or the earthquake that completely destroyed Nicaragua's capital city of Managua. The yellow cathedral, pictured below, is located in Granada. This picture was taken just after sunrise. All of the bright, colonial colored buildings in Granada simply glowed in the sunlight.

This cathedral is the centerpiece of the central park in Granada.
 As the sun was rising, the building seemed to glow.

This building is just another example of the gorgeous architecture in Granada.

We also got to take a horse-carriage tour of Granada. It was a wonderful opportunity to see much of the colonial city and its famous architecture. Our tour guide stopped periodically and let us off to explore some buildings and ruins around the city. Granada was absolutely gorgeous!

This was the carriage we rode in during our tour of the city.

This is the old hospital that we got to explore during our horse carriage ride. The hospital was in use during the 1800s, but the ruins still stand. Pictured below is just the front of the hospital. It actually extends back a great distance behind the street view. All of the roof is missing, but there are still some stairs leading to the non-existant second floor. A lot of the patient rooms were also still in tact.

These are the ruins of the old hospital.
It was huge and really interesting to explore.

All drinks were sold in plastic baggies,

 and you were given a straw.

This is the old cathedral in Managua. It is no longer in use,
because it sustained significant damage during the earthquake.

We stayed in two different hotels during our stay in Granada. Below is a picture of the inside of the first hotel. From the outside, all of the buildings appear very small. However, after entering through the first part of the building there was often an open air section such as this. In the fountain, there was also a number of turtles. The second hotel we stayed in was located in the central park, and it was very colonial in appearance. For breakfast each morning, we were served Gallo pinto - a rice and beans dish very popular in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua. There was also a special (very salty) Nicaraguan cheese, eggs, bread and different types of marmalade such as pineapple. 

The inside of one of the two hotels.

In Nicaragua, my friend Emily and I decided to visit a Cacao/ Cocoa Factory to learn how to make chocolate the old fashion way. We were with a number of other international tourists. The couple next to us were from Germany and had lived in the United States for a while. There were a few Ticos, Japanese, and other Europeans. We started out listening to an explanation of how Cacao seeds are dispersed and how they were used by the Mayans, Aztecs, and Spanish. We were also given samples of cacao drinks from all three cultures. The Mayan drink was very bitter with only the cacao and cinnamon. The Aztec drink also included chili, so it was rather spicy. The Spanish were the first to include sugar and milk in their drink, it tasted much more like the hot chocolate that I am used to. 

The Cacao tree grows in the tropics. The seed itself cannot be dispersed without the help of animals such as monkeys. The monkeys are attracted to the fallen seed pod by the fleshy, milky fruit that surrounds and protects the cacao seeds. The cacao seeds themselves are rather bitter, even more so than coffee beans, so the monkeys and other animals spit them out. In this way, the seeds are dispersed. In the history of the cacao plant, the fruit itself has never been overly utilized for human consumption. 

We got to help roast the beans over a fire. Then we cracked the beans open to release the actual cacao seed. Afterwards we crushed the beans into a fine powder that was used to make the drinks that we tried. After adding milk and sugar, we were able to create our own chocolate bars. The chocolate tasted a little bit stronger than Hershey's, and the texture of the sugar was more evident. Emily and I added cashews to our chocolate bars. 

Roasting the beans.

Crushing the cacao beans into cocoa powder.

The actual chocolate, this was the stuff we used for the bars.

Emily and I with the finished products of our factory tour.

We also went on a boat tour of some of the 365 islands in Lake Nicaragua. The lake was so large, that they did not know it was a lake until they tasted the water. In fact, the lake is connected to the ocean at one point, so there are several species of sharks living in the lake.  The islands that we explored are a part of an archipelago that was formed by the eruption of the Masaya volcano. The islands are now occupied by rich Nicaraguans, Costa Ricans, Europeans, and Americans. Although many of the islands have human residents, we also went past an island inhabited mostly by spider monkeys. Our guide drove up beside the island and let two of the monkeys on our boat. He warned us to protect our bags, because the monkeys did try to steal our things. The monkey pictured below is named Lucy, she was very friendly and even sat on my lap for a period of time. 

This is the island I want to purchase.

One of the 365 islands in the lake formed by the explosive
 eruption of el volcan Masaya

MONKEYS!!!

You could pretty much see the Masaya volcano from
anywhere in Granada.

We also visited a water volcano. This is the lagoon that was formed after the eruption of this volcano. The lagoon was absolutely enormous, and it was surrounded by a number of beautiful houses. People were also taking advantage of the abundance of wind to sail on the lagoon. There was always a nice breeze in Nicaragua, and we saw two different wind farms while driving in the country. 

This is the lagoon formed by a volcanic eruption.
It was absolutely massive!

We also went zip-lining again! This time we zip-lined over a lake just outside of Managua. In Nicaragua, there were less strict about having cameras, and they also let us try out different zip-lining positions. My favorite was definitely going upside down. There were three lines in all.

The superman way is a bit more daring.

But going upside down was definitely the best!