Estelí and Granada

We have decided to combine these two towns for no other reason than we don't have many pictures of Estelí. It is a quiet town in Northern Nicaragua that we planned to stop off in as we had a little more time on our hands, but it wasn't quite as interesting as we hoped. There is a nearby nature reserve with the opportunity to stay with local families, but due to an alarm malfunction, we missed out on that experience.

Our trip to Granada however was far more fruitful. There was tons to do nearby, including trips across various volcanoes that surrounded the typical colonial town and the famous isletas in Lake Nicaragua. 

Hostel Mochilas - not amazing rooms but the common space was nice

A not-so-great mural depicting the local wildlife in our hostel

Also home to two cats...

We did a night tour of Volcano Masaya which is very active. Unfortunately it was so active and spewing so much smoke that we couldn't see the magma in the crater, but it was a great experience nonetheless. As the sun went down, we stood at the mouth of one of the caves formed by the volcano, as hundreds of bats streamed past us and then went for a short walk inside.

The next day we took a boat tour through the 365 isletas.

Inactive Volcano Mombacho in the background, which formed the isletas.

You can just see the outline of the isletas at the top of this photo, which was taken from our plane to the Corn Islands

Wildlife Count: Dogs, horses, monkeys, dragonflies

Mayan Ruins: 0

Bus hours logged: 12 and a half hours to Estelí, 4 hours to Granada

Mosquito Bites: 4

Stuff Lost: James' sunglasses

Sloth Count: 0

Next stop: Corn Islands