Feliz Navidad.. a la Nicaragua!

Merry Christmas!

Since last writing we have left El Salvador and are now in Nicaragua. The journey between countries wasn´t a trip highlight (lets just say a sleepless night and a toddler on a 10 hour bus ride with 2 border crossings wasn´t that much fun). Once in Nicaragua, we landed in Esteli.

First impressions of Nicaragua are that the country seems a little more rough around the edges... not quite as charming as El Salvador and not nearly as foreign or indigenous as Guatemala.

Esteli is a town lacking some charm but surrounded by beautiful national parks and mountains. The town´s saving attribute was the great place we stayed and the restaurant that accompanied it - where we met so many great backpackers also hitting the central american trail. And, Domingo, our tour guide for our day-long excursion, made it a worth while stop.

On our second day in Esteli Domingo picked us up in his truck and we headed out of town to a national park called Tissy. We worked our way up to a small town. The town is a cooperative, where all members of the community work to sustain and maintain their life there. They grow food (all organic), make cheese, there is a craft shop- all wages earned are divided equally amongst all members of the community. We got an agricultural tour, which consisted of checking out their crops field-side. We walked on a trail through the woods which ended with a beautiful view of Nicaraguan fields, mountains and volcanoes (one of which was steaming). We also got a tour of their cheese making process.. the cheese was disappointingly salty but its super cool that they were putting out their own cheese.

View from our hike! Check out the Nicaraguan volcanos in the far distance.

The cheese!

Today, we took a little bus from Esteli to Leon. It got significantly hotter over the course of the two hour bus ride. So, we arrived sweaty and hot. First impressions of Leon are mixed. The book describes it as a place where people ¨leave their hearts¨ but so far I wouldn´t say Im in love. Its a church town for sure, all of which we´ll be checking out tomorrow (its the perfect day for a church tour, no?). So far today we had lunch at a cute little place and have just walked around trying to figure out what is open over the course of the next two days and we´re we might celebrate our Christmas. As it turns out, a local tour operator is organizing a typically Nicaraguan Christmas dinner tomorrow night. We bought tickets.. so we´ll see how it goes.

Daniel is off trying to hunt down Henry´s Christmas present.. we´re aiming for a piñata. Keep your fingers crossed Santa can come up with one on such short notice. Otherwise, there are a few other trinkets that have made their way into our backpacks.

We´re staying at a little place called La Tortuga Booluda. Henry is taking a nap (naked, with the exception of his diaper) and in addition to blogging, Pearl Jam is my musical accompaniment.

A few additional thoughts: On the bus today, as Henry reached over the seat to touch the head and hand of the young boy sitting in front of him I couldn´t help but think how we really screw things up. The boy´s response to Henry was to hold his hand. They played and the boy (along with his brother) made Henry laugh by hitting their empty coke bottle repeatedly against their heads. Kids keep it simple, they connect on such a basic but human level. It really is all about the kids because the adults screw it up. Wars, garbage, hatred etc... Henry doesn´t even know what it means to hate. And, his attempts at connection with complete strangers are so earnest. Not to paint such a tree-hugging, hippy/peace picture but if us adults just kept it simple and thought about the little ones we impact, things might go better for us.

Another Esteli highlight was the truck ride home from our day-long excursion with Domingo. Henry hung is head out the window (yeah, that car seat thing is still kind of a joke). He watched himself in the truck´s side  mirror, and watched his hair blow in the wind. He would then poke his head back in the truck say ¨mama¨ point to his head and then proceed to do it all again.. it was so sweet. Also, he and Domingo had a really sweet moment where Domingo let him sit on his lap in the drivers seat and let him make the windsheild wipers go, honk the horn and touch anything and everything he wanted. Henry kept looking back at me as if to say ¨this is so freaking cool.¨

Look at me... no car seat!

oh yeah!

Merry Christmas and sending love from Nicaragua.