We just finished up our week of student directed travel, and have now settled down in Costa Rica. Sunday morning we left the Mariposa Spanish school at 8 am and hitched a 1-hour van through the school to Granada, Nicaragua.
We had been planning our student directed travel for several weeks, beginning deliberations in Ometepe and finalizing our itinerary in La Cancha. We were in charge of booking accommodations, reserving transportation, finding affordable food, and planning fun/culturally stimulating activities, all while getting from the Mariposa school to CIRENAS in Costa Rica in 6 days. It was definitely trying work at times, but everyone really gained a lot of valuable experience in budgeting (knowing when to splurge and when to settle) and foreign travel. Ryan worked with some of the Bona Fide workers to score us 4 nights at an awesome beach house in southern Nicaragua. Based off of the tenuous beach plan, we decided that for our first two nights we would want to go to a historical city with lots of cultural vistas before relaxing on sand for 4 days. Cue Granada.
Granada was ranked as Lonely Planet’s #1 destination in Nicaragua and it did not disappoint! It was undoubtedly the most touristy place that we had visited apart from Antigua, but nonetheless definitely had an off the beaten path feel. We stayed at the Oasis hostel in Granada and had a great set up regarding accommodations. The hostel was quite cheap and reasonably comfortable, and had other great perks, such as an all you can eat breakfast (with delicious pancakes!), a pool, TVs, and free computers and internet.
As for the city, it was fascinating in terms of aesthetic and charm. The Lonely Planet walking tour gave us a great route to view the famous Cathedrals and churches built by the Spaniards during the colonial times. The Parque Central was a great place to hang out, as it was the home to the main cathedral and a lot of other nice statues, fountains, and foliage, as well as lots of vendors selling souvenirs. We also took a lovely kayak tour of the Isletas close to Granada.
After a great couple days exploring the old city, it was off to paradise. We took a van to the beach house which was called the Tuani Lodge. It was a beautiful property with a main house where we cooked our meals and hung out, surrounded by three cabins where we slept. The staff was wonderful and very accommodating. Joey, the staff member we interacted with the most, shuttled us to the beach and back every day and was very flexible about going when we wanted to go.
The morning after we arrived he drove a few of us to a surf shop to rent some surfboards. Playa Colorado, the beach we went to each day, is considered one of the best surf spots in Nicaragua. The beach was beautiful with nice shady spots under trees to hang out under, and wide expanses of white sand to play frisbee. The sunsets were stunning, with the sun dipping below the ocean horizon while casting streaks of orange and pink across the sky and clouds.
Ryan got a nice shortboard and surfed his brains out all day each day, the waves were very fun and quite big. This was a little unfortunate for those trying to learn how to surf though, because the larger beginner boards were a little hard to control in the strong waves. However, everyone had an awesome time anyway playing in the ocean, soaking up the sun, playing beach games, taking pictures, and napping in the shade.
All is well in Maya’s world. Looking forward to seeing you all again, but first let’s get a taste of Costa Rica and Roatan!
