Nicaragua

     This winter we decided to take our family on an adventure vacation to Central America.  Our son Caiden has been in love with Nicaragua for years so we thought it was a fitting choice.  Many people wondered if it was safe to travel to Nicaragua with kids.  It was totally safe and I would do it again.  Nicaragua shares the same cost line and tropical rain forests as Costa Rica but it is cheaper and it's not as touristy.  We wanted to experience the beach, volcanoes, the beautiful colonial cities, and tropical rain forest while in Nicaragua.
     We flew in to Managau, their capital, then traveled about 2 1/2 hours to an island near Ponelonya.  We stayed at the Surfing Turtle Lodge which was amazing.  They are a youth hostel but offer small private huts on the beach for $60 a night.

The main draw to Surfing Turtle is their turtle hatchery.  Sea turtles are endangered and not protected in Nicaragua.  Poachers sell the turtle eggs to restaurants as they are a delicacy.  So the lodge buys them at a higher price and keeps them in their hatchery. There is no cost to be apart of the releasing.  Being apart of a sea turtles release with your children really was an amazing experience that we will remember for many years to come.

The hotel also had other experiences that we enjoyed.  My daughter and husband did the sunset beach hour long horse back riding with a guide for $12 each .  The horses were wonderful.  My 7 year old daughter rode alone and has really no experience riding.  The guide was great at going at a pace that my daughter felt comfortable with It was one of the highlights of the trip for her.

     The city of Leon was only about 20 minutes away.  It is a beautiful colonial city full of color and life.  There is a University there so there are plenty of things to do.  We loved all the colorful buildings and large doors.  The best thing in Leon is defiantly Cerro Nego.  It's an active volcano you can hike then volcano board down.  It took about an hour to reach the top.  Maddy and Westin were too young to board down which was fine with me.  The hike up was beautiful and it was run to run down the volcano.  It is also really amazing to stand on an active volcano.  We saw vents where steam was coming up and if  you scratch the ground you can feel the heat. Mike and Caiden did the volcano boarding and loved it.  They reached speeds of 60 kph.

The volcano boarding experience was an all day adventure.  We spent the next day relaxing at our ecolodge.  The kids loved playing in the ocean and enjoyed playing the games on site.My husband and I liked the drinks. It was a really playful place to stay. They had a swing at the bar daily volleyball games, which I joined in one night.  And the sunsets were all beautiful.  We also enjoyed the stars at night.

After 4 days at the beach lodge we packed up our bags and drove 3 hours to get to the ferry docks then a 1 hour ferry ride to the island of Ometepe.  Once we were on the island it was another 1 to get to our airbnb.  The traveling to get there was a full day but it was worth it. The island is made up of 2 volcanoes and is just beautiful.  We stayed in a rental house on a organic farm.  We had a 2 bedroom tree house that was beautiful.  It was nice for the kids to have their own space. Breakfast was also included in their open air kitchen.

After a good nights rest we paced the day full with activities.  We went zip lining in the morning.  All 5 of us went.  Which was pretty amazing that they had gear that would fit a 3 year old.  It was a lot of fun.  We hiked up a hill then zip lined down through a series of about 15 different zip lines.  The course over looked lake Nicaragua. The coarse was $25 and lasted at least 2 hours.

After zip lining we went to a lagoon called ojo de aqua.  The water was crystal clear and felt very refreshing after hiking up the hill to the zip line coarse. There was also a tight rope there the kids like to walk on and a swing.

That evening we walked into town for dinner.  We saw our first monkey in the trees which was supper cool.  There are many animals that just roam the area.  The kids loved seeing the pigs, horses, cows, and dogs that are everywhere.  The food was always delicious and very affordable.

The next day we went on our tour of the organic farm we were staying at. We learned about what plants grown in the tropical climate and the animals and insects that call it home.  The farm practices permaculture so the kids had a lesson on sustainability.

After our tour we hiked the San Ramon waterfall.  It was a intense hike with children.  The path was rough at times. It was worth it though.  The falls were awesome and we could play in them. We were there with only a few other people too.  We saw several monkeys and butterflies on the hike.

On our last day we took the kids to swim in Lake Nicaragua.  We went to the Punta Jesus Maria, a sand bar that juts into Lake Nicaragua.  The lake was high that day so the sand bar didn't go very far but the kids still had fun swimming in the lake.  There was a small fee to enter the park.

We started heading back to Managua for our evening flight.  On the way to the airport we stopped by the Masaya volcano.  It's an active volcano where you can see and hear the lava bubbling.