Costa Rica Day 5

On Thursday we woke up super early to go to Nicaragua!

Here we are at the Nicaraguan boarder.

One of our first stops was at a lookout spot in Masaya. The view overlooked Apoyo Crater Lake. 

As we were leaving the city there were people flooding the streets and jumping on to cars. If I understood the tour guide correctly, they were welcoming home Oscar Duarte, a Nicaraguan born Costa Rica soccer player. 

We drove up to Masaya Volcano National Park where we got to stand at the edge of a volcano. Unfortunately, it was difficult to see anything exciting because of the sulfur emitted by the volcano. 

We stopped for lunch which was good, but I rushed through it in order to go shopping! Everything is very cheap in Nicaragua. I bought two hammocks for $30. I'm glad I bought most of my souvenirs in Nicaragua!

There were two brothers from Costa Rica that were on the tour. They were about my age so I had fun talking to them during lunch and while shopping. When they saw my giant bag of stuff I bought, I was like, "Yeah, I'm a shopaholic." They found the word very amusing and even asked me later, "what was the word you said? Shopaholic?" LOL. I realized that my American consumerism mentality is soooo different than the Costa Rican values of simple living and environmental sustainability.

After we went shopping we got on the bus and drove to Granada. We took a boat ride to look at the little mansions located on tiny islands in Lake Nicaragua. 

Then we walked around the city of Granda. I LOVED the colorful buildings. I wish I could have spent more time exploring!

Then it was time for our 4 hour journey back to Costa Rica. 

One of the main reasons why we wanted to go to Nicaragua was to get another stamp on our passports. Friends and family members at home "warned" us that Nicaragua was dangerous. We were a little nervous to go because we didn't know what to expect. We asked a lot of Costa Ricans if they felt save in Nicaragua and everyone said we should go. In the end, I'm so glad we went! Because we were part of a tour and we stuck to tourist spots I didn't feel unsafe at all!

My Nicaraguan souvenirs: