Nicaragua- My Visa Run Experience

then....MI PERU

    So Danai, Alex, and myself chose to go to Nicaragua as our destination in order to renew our visa from our three month stay in Costa Rica. Something very unfortunate happened at the end of this visa run...I lost my camera with all my beautiful Nicaragua pictures!! sad I know...so...all of the Nicaragua pictures that you see here on the blog are courtesy of my nice friends who were there with me, thanks Danai and Dave (Dave is one of the guys in the pics, we met him at Lago de Apoyo and travelled together for the rest of our time there).

Another unfortunate thing was that both Danai and Alex got ripped off at the Nicaragua border with currency exchange...well, we just gotta laugh about it right? hehehe.  A third (and last) little problem was that we had to stay an extra unplanned night because the bus company gave us a bit of trouble, they are a little dissorganized and did not provide us with correct information about our return.Other than that, we had an amazing time overall...there were no other incidents at all, everything was great, and I really loved Nicaragua and its people....take a look at the pictures, it's a gorgeous country!!

We spent a couple of days in Granada, which is a beautiful colonial town.  I would not really call it a city, since to me, it is very small.  We walked around the streets of Granada where it's always full of people and there is always music in the streets...it was great. Then we spent one night at Lago de Apoyo, a volcanic crater lake...the nicest water I've EVER swam in!! the temperature was just perfectly cool and crystal clear.  We met many people there and had a blast! We also went swimming at night and were surrounded by bats who started flying right above the water right by us.  We met Dave and Marcos there at this lake, they were in the same hostel as us, the "Monkey Hut" (I really recommend it) They provide free kayaks and large floaties to play with in the water.  There are also lots of hammocks overlooking the lake, and you can run a tab!!

Ometepe Island was our next destination, and we stayed two nights there, the four boys and I.  Our hostel was very rustic and right in front of the lake.  The boys went for a hike to one of the volcanoes for a whole day.  For me, it would have been exhausting so I spend the day biking around the island and spent a nice relaxing time at "Ojo de agua" a natural pool with beautiful, crystal clear water coming from the volcano's river...amazing!

Lastly, we went to San Juan del Sur, a gorgeous beach on the pacific coast.  This place is very touristy, so we were surrounded by lots of Americans and Europeans...surfers mainly, a young crowd....we had lots of fun though, too bad that's where I lost my camera!!! :(

Upon my return to Costa Rica, that same night, I received very sad news from my family in Peru...my grandmother had passed away.  I had just returned from Nicaragua, but had to leave in a hurry the next morning to be with the family, specially my father who was not doing well.

Although the circumstances were far from happy.  I had the opportunity to spend time with my family after 5-6 years of last seeing them.  Both my sisters and mom also flew to Peru from Toronto so that we could all be together.  I'm sad about my grandmother, she was amazing...but I'm sure I will see her again....up there somewhere.

It was important for me to be there, my family is very close and we always try to be there for eachother...I love them so much and hope I'll be able to see them again soon...when I get time off from my Toronto life.