Our First Christmas in Nicaragua!

An update from us is long overdue, and now I'm not sure where to begin, so I decided that I'd start with our Christmas, since I just added a whole album of photos to our site for your viewing pleasure.

We had hoped that one day we would get to have a Christmas vacation just the two of us... Well that day finally came!  Here we are in Nicaragua with no family visits in sight!  So instead of pouting, we took the opportunity to explore new territory and went to the Spanish colonial city of Granada for three nights.  It is only about 45 minutes by bus from Managua, so it's an easy, stress-free trip.   

Granada's Famous Cathedral in the Central Park.

From the bell tower of La Merced.

Our Hotel - Santa Lucia Social Club.

Merry Christmas from tropical Nicaragua!

We stayed at a lovely hotel with only two other guests at the time.  So basically, we had our own private hotel equipped with a pool, full kitchen and cabana.  Our room was spacious and all the doors and windows were round!  It was a great place to relax and soak in the sun.  We strolled throughout the city exploring churches (from the altars to the bell towers), learned about cacao and sipped on hand-crafted hot chocolate in a café, and ate delicious meals after dark in outdoor patios of quaint little restaurants.

On Christmas Eve, we found two masses that were going on in the beautiful Catholic churches in the city.  Check out more photos of the churches, manger scenes and decorations at our photo site.  We soaked in the spirit of Christmas as incense drifted through the church, while listening to a choir and a message encouraging us to see past all the commercialism and seek the true meaning of Christmas.  Firecrackers went off throughout the night, culminating in a grand finale at midnight.  It was energizing to experience new traditions in a new culture. 

On Christmas Day, we rented bicycles and biked along a back road to a peninsula.  We found a restaurant along Lake Nicaragua with views of the Granada Islands. and in the distance, Ometepe Island that holds two towering volcanoes.   On Christmas Day, everyone goes to the beach or the lake to swim. This was indeed the case as we biked along the main beach.  Street vendors selling everything from ice cream to fresh coconuts, children swimming, parents hanging out, people biking around, BBQ grills, coolers and lots of family time!  If I was in the States, I would have thought it was the 4th of July.  It was wonderful to see all the action and great people-watching from our bicycles!

Spanish lesson:  nadar = to swim; bañarse = to bath oneself
Most Nicaraguans do not know how to swim, so instead of using the verb nadar, they use the verb bañarse.  If you ask someone if they will go swimming with you, they'll say NO, I can't swim!  But they they may go in the water anyways, and cool off where they can stand.


We returned to Managua 110% relaxed and refreshed from the holidays.  Here's the link to more photos on our Shutterfly site!  Check out our Granada Christmas album and more!    http://transitiontimes.shutterfly.com/pictures/345