Hotel Casa Del Sol Managua

... America and is also the hottest spot in Nicaragua. In Leon Patricia also took us to some local people´s houses where they make traditional Nicaraguan cookies and crackers. It was an amazing insider´s look at local culture and customs.
Last night we went with Chester and Patricia´s daughter Karina for dinner at Kalua Cafe and Grill which is the restaurant Karina owns and manages. We ate fantastic food and enjoyed a ...

... and participants were all under the age of 18. That means that every single youth who was old enough to walk was a part of this display of national pride. If you had the slightest inclination towards dancing, singing or a musical instrument you were put into a group and marched through the streets on display. If you have none of these abilities, you held a flag ...

... over the packages and paid. We left the post office at 1pm, as they were closing for the day. Victory in under four hours! It really made me appreciate the good ol' USPS.

We'd hoped to move on today but the last bus to San Juan del Sur had left at 1pm so we spent some time figuring out our next move and bought our tickets to San Jose, Costa Rica, for Saturday. Tomorrow we'll say goodbye to Managua and head south to San Juan del Sur.

... about American politics. He said that Nicaraguans were very interested in the American campaign this past year, and he was really happy that Obama won. He feels that it was a great representation of democracy at work, and that America has a great future. I just thought that was pretty interesting to hear from an outsider looking in?

Well - now it is time for me to pack my bags and get ready to leave Managua and Los Pinos Hotel for San Juan del Sur!

Only 1 more week left!! :)

Of course I wish all of you could have been here to celebrate with me - but knowing that is not possible - I truly had the best birthday weekend I could have asked for. I truly am such a lucky girl [or should I say woman... because I am legal!!!!] haha. Okay, so I have so much to blog about. We have done so much in the past 2 days...

So we got back to Los Pinos Hotel Friday evening and it seriosuly felt llike we were coming back to a Hilton 5 star ...

... sun coming in our room about 6:00, but I managed to go back to sleep!

This morning we got up and walked around the streets of Managua... it was CRAZY. The traffic was insane (and don't really care about the whole pedestrians walking thing)... and there were people all over trying to sell bread, which they were carrying on their head, or fruits, or anything like that. We went into a cool furniture store, then their grocery store. All pretty fun and much different than the ...

... of water, a whole pizza (nice and fancy style) and a bottle of wine after tax and tip is was $18 US. it tasted good as well which was a bonus- i guess most people would look at it the other way around its nice when everything is cheap and your hotel costs $15 because you can spend your money on fun things. we are headed to mombacho canopy tours at 9am )dormant volcano with a ´´cloud´´ forest and we should get to see monkeys and crazy birds ...

... Merída by 5pm ish. We stay at Hacienda Merída which is a cool hostel with good breakfast and dinner buffets and amazing sunsets. They also have an English volunteer program where volunteers come for a few weeks at a time and it´s pretty cool. They use those $200 laptop thingies and everything. Chill for the rest of the night... Mérida: The place makes the most amazing oatmeal I´ve ever had, with some kind of fruit and oh ...

... decrepit signs for auto repair, a general grunge about the place, inconsistent or no sidewalks, no evidence of success or wealth. It's all have-nots here, people. Which is fine, but it would be hard to proud of a home like that. We weren't here to spend time in Managua, however. Casa Naranja ( www.hotelcasanaranja.com ) is a fantastic little place in a colonial Nica home. Soft beds, hot water, excellent service. Highly recommended.

Dneska jsme s Magnusem podnikli vylet do kraterove jezera Laguna de Apollo, ktere nabizi skvelou moznost zaplavat si v ciste vode. Navic jsme meli moznost ochutnat jedno z nejlepsich jidel ve Stredni Americe a k tomu dobre mistni pivo Toña, takze nas den jsme meli velmi pohodovy. ;) Pote se nam podarilo chytit stopa do Granady. Zastavilo nam prvni auto a mistni pani pry nikedy predtim ...