Nicaragua

Words and Photography by Mellina Wallisch

During the winter holiday, our family backpacked around the cities and jungles of Nicaragua. We, my husband Dan and our children, Brodie and Mia, a fifth and third grader, are by nature drawn to the exploration of new lands. Nicaragua appealed to us. Friends who had visited relayed their experience of the natural beauty of the country and its people. We felt that it would be a good educational and cultural experience for our children who have been studying Spanish for years in a Spanish immersion school. So, for winter break, we traded our snowy mountain town of South Lake Tahoe, California, for the jungles of Central America.

On a clear February day, we landed in Nicaragua’s bustling capitol of Managua. We hopped in a taxi for the the two-hour ride to Granada, our first stop. There we settled and rested in a canary yellow colonial hotel room with a courtyard pool. It was run by a jolly Irish man who welcomed us, made the kids laugh and cooked chocolate chip pancakes for the family before we departed for Isla de Ometepe the next morning.

We set foot on Isla de Ometepe after several hours of traveling on land and water. The island is formed by two volcanoes in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, and home to the bull shark. In a bumpy van, we navigated along the perimeter of the island around the volcanoes, slowing down for horses and wandering cows, pigs and chickens that crossed our path. By the end of the day, we found lodging on a finca, or organic farm off the beaten path.

45Isla de Ometepe is a hidden paradise little known to outsiders. We spent our days soaking up the soothing vibes of the island. We were wakened to the eerie sounds of howler monkeys hanging out in the trees. Birdsong, chiming insects and swishing palm fronds in the tropical breeze completed the symphony played out on the island. Flocks of lime green parrots fluttered overhead. There are about 80 different bird species on the island. Among them was Brodie’s favorite, that he named “Fawkes” because of its resemblance to the Phoenix in Harry Potter.

We sipped juice from fallen coconuts and soaked in mineral springs. We trotted to waterfalls on horseback and kayaked to islands inhabited solely by white-faced monkeys. We shared lemongrass tea on the roadside with a barefoot medicine man who said that shoes would obstruct his connection to the earth. We lived the days reading in a hammock, swimming in the lake, hiking in the jungle, playing in the beach or doing nothing.

Time passed slowly or seemed not to pass at all.

47484950Leaving the island, we ferried back to the port and after a four-hour taxi ride northward, we found Leon. A university town of intellectuals and artists. It is the birthplace of the famous poet Ruben Dario. Leon’s charm exudes from the historic colonial architecture, art museums and churches (over 16 of them), standing monuments against the passage of time. We spent hours watching passersby in the Parque de Central, or Central Park, sipping Pitaya, dragon fruit juice out of plastic bags. We stopped at a street vendor to buy fresh quesillos, cheese and sautéed onions wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. And there was the nearby Pacific beach of Los Penitas, a quiet surf beach dotted with restaurants and cabanas resting on sandy bottoms.

There, my son’s foot was stung by a stingray while surfing. He was crying in pain as we carried him to a nearby shack where a local knew immediately what had happened. He calmly pulled a tube from a kit and extracted the venom. After soaking his foot in the hot water and sand for an hour, the pain subsided. All that remained was a scar on his big toe, a crescent shape that would flavor his childhood memory in later years.

5253545556The second part of our adventure began with a two-hour trip northwest of Leon to Playa Jiquilillo, a remote fishing village. Playa Jiquilillo is like no man’s land. It has no hospital or police. What it does have is endless miles of magnificent beaches of indescribable beauty. Blankets of pale gray sand stretch as far as the eye can see. Nothing but coconut palms and beautiful shells and crystals of every shape and color adorn the barren and rugged seascape.

We stayed in little bamboo huts under palm thatched roofs a few steps from the beach. Ranchos, as they called them, were the homes of about one hundred families in the fishing village. We were very much on our own here. Each day we rose with the sun to the sounds of the jungle, crowing roosters and buzzing insects, among others. Mia loved running to the little pulperia to buy Nican candies and orange fanta in a glass bottle. One evening, under the rising full moon, while we were on the beach looking for agate crystals and sand dollars, we ran into a small group of turtle rescuers. They buy turtle eggs from poachers, then they incubate, hatch and release the baby turtles. Buying and selling turtle eggs are illegal in Nicaragua, but they continue to exist in the markets. We helped return the endangered baby turtles to the ocean. I was moved beyond myself as I watched our children swimming in the ocean with the baby turtles they had rescued, their little turtle heads bobbing up and down as if nodding in gratitude.

Our diet consisted of fresh coconuts, locally grown yucca, plantains, cocoa, homemade yogurt and cheese, fruit smoothies and homemade Nicaraguan fare like Albondigas soup, fresh catch of the day and lots of gallo pinto (rice and beans). We spent most of our time with the ocean, jumping in and out of it throughout the day. There were hours of playing and yoga on the beach, reading and napping on hammocks and lingering and admiring the brilliant sun setting on the horizon. We set up a spot under a palm tree, toña cerveza in hand, feeling fully present and in awe of nature’s masterpiece.

We thoroughly loved and learned from our trip. It was one of our most memorable travel experiences, both in the physical and spiritual realms. I have learned to appreciate the meaning of freedom, a sense of liberation from the excesses of modern lives. I felt so in tune with myself and the environs during those two blissful weeks with my family in Nicaragua. We returned home as better persons, with a deeper sensitivity and appreciation of our fragile and beautiful planet.