DSC_6200     Whatever you may have heard, Nicaragua is a great place to visit.  Sure, you occasionally need to bribe a policeman and there are many areas of the country that you shouldn’t go without armed guards, but don’t let that spoil your fun.  My wife, Larry and Mitzi Bodie and myself took off for an adventure in Nicaragua and it paid off big time.  To start with, we rented a beach house that is reminiscent of a Columbian drug lord’s castle complete with its own light house tower and armed guards.  The trip wasn’t all about drug lord style pampering however, we also got to do a little good for the community as we took supplies to two different schools and spent time working with a medical missions team.  Larry and Mitzi pulled more than their fair share of work there.  Mitzi was the triage nurse while Larry help dentists pull teeth!  Kimberly and I weighed babies to ensure they received the right amount of medication.

    We spent a day visiting Leon and Grenada which are 15th century era town with some unbelievable architecture and history.  We took a lot of pictures from the top 100_0925of the Cathedral.  We couldn’t believe they actually let people go up on the roof.  On a different day we hiked to the top of Cerra Negro volcano and sand boarded down the volcano.  Over and hour to hike up, 20 seconds to ride down.  The ground was so hot in some places that you couldn’t even touch it.

    When we weren’t visiting old downs and different volcanoes, we spent our time at the beach house.  The ocean side pool was awesome but we really enjoyed the ocean.  It was a different type of beach that we’ve ever seen before with the rock walls, cliffs, and swimming holes made by all the volcanic rock. 

    To sum it all up, it was the best vacation we have ever had, and I think the Bodies concur.  We plan to go back in October of 2010 and take a crew to help us build some houses as well as enjoy all the rest Nicaragua has to offer.  The people are extremely happy and welcoming and the country has so much to offer it is amazing.  One day it will start to become over developed and start to lose its wonderful culture so get there before it’s commercialized!

– Chad Quesenberry

Tags: ,