Nicaragua and Panama
We returned recently from a trip to Nicaragua and Panama.
Although Nicaragua is not as well-known as its neighbor to the south, Costa Rica, as a travel destination — it does not disappoint. It has everything from beautiful white sand beaches and forests to bustling street markets.
We flew to an Island on the Caribbean coast of the country, known as Big Corn Islands. The islands are beautiful and with the typical tourist crowd missing, it was a great experience. The food choices mainly revolve around seafood and plantains, and lobster is relatively cheap and abundant. After Corn Islands, we flew back to the capital of Managua for a night and did a day trip to Leon, before heading to the colonial rival city of Granada. Granada has a rich colonial history and is evident in the architecture and layout of the city. This being an election year in Nicaragua, there were a lot of signs and rallies all over the place.
After a few days in Nicaragua, we flew to Panama. I wasn’t too impressed with Panama City, as it seemed like any city in the US — perhaps because of the long involvement USA had with Panama with the building of the canal. We went over to the Miraflores locks to see the Panama Canal as large cargo ships passed through the lock system. It’s definitely a great engineering feat to see it all in action.
In Panama, we spent the next day visiting a semi-nomadic tribe, the Emberas, who live about 2.5 hours away from Panama City. They live in small villages along a river, and it took us about an hour by a dugout boat to get there from the end of the paved road. It was interesting to see people still living without things we take for granted like electricity, television and the internet!
More pictures on Facebook, and a few selected ones here..
Nicaragua
