photo: Paul Biondi

One of my favorite books is Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude. The novel’s fictional town of Macondo, where the illogical is viewed as normal, is as central to the book as the main characters. Although the story is supposed to be set in Marquez’s home country of Colombia, I felt as close to visiting Macondo as I ever have in Nicaragua, this week’s #WhereToGoWednesday destination.

Nicaragua is on my mind because a friend of mine just came to me asking for Central America trip ideas. She knows that I have lived and traveled throughout Latin America, so trusted me for some guidance on her next vacation. My advice to her (and to anybody that reads this blog post) is to book a flight to the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes. A perfect spot for a four-day – roughly 100 hours – visit.

Nicaragua offers a bit of everything for adventurous travelers – the country possesses jungles teeming with monkeys, parrots, and other exotic animals; pristine, empty beaches; charming colonial towns; vast lakes studded with volcanoes; and even Caribbean islands.

Most Americans know Nicaragua only from the headlines created during the Sandinista Revolution in late 70s and early 80s. Over the last twenty years however, the country has transformed into a peaceful and safe vacation destination. Discovered and frequented by backpackers in the last decade, the country is now developing a burgeoning sector of stylish boutique resorts as well. If you wonder what Costa Rica might have been like 20 years ago, then book a flight to Managua, Nicaragua to find out. Here are two don’t miss areas:

Granada
Founded in 1524, Granada offers a surreal mixture of the old and new about an hour southeast of Managua — horse-drawn carriages share the road with ox-carts and motorcycles while centuries-old buildings bear advertisements for cellular phone companies. Parque Colón, the town’s main plaza, comes right out of central casting. A yellow cathedral anchors one end of the tree-covered park and brightly painted facades grace the buildings surround its exterior. To the south looms giant Volcano Mombacho and to the east lays Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America.

A parade of humanity uses the plaza as its living room. Old men play cards at rickety tables, women sit gossiping on benches, kids snap old-fashioned clappers, and birds chatter in the trees. The tropical heat slows all movement down to a dreamlike pace.
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