Travelling to Nicaragua Was Never Part of My Plan

A church in Granada, Nicaragua with blue sky

Travelling to Nicaragua was never part of my plan. Yet, suddenly I was on a plane to Managua. I threw caution to the wind and played it by ear…

Upon landing in Managua, it was easy to find my way out of the smallish airport. This was in a time before Google Maps was popular. I never intended to stay long in the capital. My plan was to move onto first León, then Granada. Both cities are about equidistant from the capital, so if you’re wondering which one to visit the answer is: both!

Using only my directional sense, I looked for the bus terminal to get out of town to León. I ended up in a maze of a market with no end in sight and panicked. I must have looked lost. Soon, a short Mayan-looking woman offered to escort me to where the buses– essentially vans – left town.

The drive to León is punctuated with volcanoes, which I stared at from my seat in the van. My seatmates seemed completely unfazed by them as they slept or relaxed. Exhausted between my crack of dawn flights from New York to Houston and bus ride from Managua to León, I was operating on pure adrenaline.

Moving On

I’ll admit, I don’t remember much about arriving into town except for looking for a place to stay. That’s right: I came all the way to

An old Spanish church in León, Nicaragua

La Recolección Church in León, Nicaragua was built in 1786 and has stood the test of time.

The small city consists of buildings dating as far back as the early 1520s, when it was founded. This is what I’d come for! Aside from a Central American guidebook and a complimentary map I’d picked up, I didn’t exactly have an itinerary. I spent much of the day just wandering around. After hours of strolling, I found myself at a marketplace hawking such wares as bullfrog skin wallets and heart-shaped pendants with scorpions encapsulated in plastic. I recall the intense heat, which I soothed by sitting in a dark tavern, nursing an ice cold Granada versus León

The main plaza in Granada, Nicaragua

Plaza de Independencia is the backdrop you’ll likely see when researching travel to Nicaragua.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a historical

A boy rides a bicycle through town in Granada, Nicaragua

Outside of the pastel-painted, pristine town square, Granada moves at a slow pace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though both cities are landlocked, Granada boasts An Adventure

However, perhaps the best adventure was yet to come. The next morning, I passed through the busy market place to board the bus to continue my trip onto Costa Rica. Unaccustomed to rustic travel, the bus was the type of

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