Every single person I told that we were going to Nicaragua said, “Whoa! Why on EARTH would you go there?” Well, there are a thousand reasons to visit this beautiful country, and when we visited, it was a relatively safe place to go, since politically it was pretty chill at the moment. That did all change shortly after we were there, which is a massive shame, but you can still totally visit this country, see absolutely amazing sights and feel pretty safe.

We flew into Managua, the capitol city, and got out of there pretty quickly. We were picked up by one of the guys at our resort, Adrian, who would actually be the main person driving us around to many of the sights around the country for the week that we spent there. We absolutely loved Adrian, he was so jovial, so proud of his country and his resort, and no request was too much for him! As we drove about an hour to the resort, he told us all sorts of facts about Nicaragua, talked a bit about the political issues there, and pointed out the factories and other industry there, which he was very proud of. The drive to the resort, as in the last mile, is extraordinarily bumpy, and Adrian only went about 5 miles per hour because it was impossible to go any faster with the massive gulleys in the road. I always say, though, that a place isn’t worth going to if it’s not at least a little bit tough to get there!

We stayed at Hacienda Puerta Del Cielo in Masatepe, which is very close to the (active) Masaya volcano. We chose this place because they had a big special going on – I believe we only paid $1700 all inclusive except alcohol for the entire week for the two of us. A complete steal. We really lucked out, because, for 5 out of the 7 days we had the resort completely to ourselves. It felt weird at first, but we got used to it eventually.

We had our own private casita called Casa Cayo, which was Bali style with the bed in the middle of the room and the bathroom behind. You could open all of the doors/windows and see the view of the Masaya valley below. The room was large, super comfortable, and air conditioned. I would note that there was a very bright light from the path behind the room that shined directly into our room at night, making it extremely bright in the room. However, since we were the only ones there, they showed us how to turn off the path lights at night so that we could sleep in darkness.

The rest of the resort is beautiful, with lots of colorful pillows and furnishings everywhere. The pool is amazing and made for a really gorgeous view. I’m not really sure why they don’t have comfortable loungers by the pool, but that was something that was really missing here. They did set up some chairs for us, but it would’ve been nice to have a cushioned chaise of some kind to enjoy the view, since we spent several days by the pool. The sunsets were amazing from here, and you could always see the red glow of the volcano off in the distance.

The food at the resort was totally incredible. As I mentioned, we had an all inclusive package, which basically meant a three-course meal for every meal including breakfast! There were also snacks served in the early evening which were always delicious – taquitos or croquettes, chips and guacamole, all the good things! There were always fresh fruits and veggies, and all of the plantains you cared to eat. This was easily some of the best food we have had at a resort in all of Central America! I have great memories of the food at this resort.

We spent a few days lounging by the pool, but we also did a few excursions as well, completely organized by the resort, and very reasonably priced, especially since our excursions were totally private. First, we were able to drive up to the very top of the Masaya Volcano in the evening to view inside the caldera. It was absolutely insane! There is a very good paved road going all the way to the top, and it takes a while, because there is always a huge line of people to get up there. On the way up, we stopped in this cute little nature museum, which talked about the area around the Volcano and the interesting ecosystem there. Then, when you get up to the top, you can literally look down into the volcano. I really don’t know if there is any other place in the world where you can stand on the edge (there were these kind of stone walls built up around it) and look into the caldera of an active volcano. I mean, the lava was really really far down there, so there was no danger at the time or anything, but wow – what an experience!

We also spent a day in the old Spanish capital of Grenada. This city is absolutely stunning and filled with gobs of colorful Spanish-Colonial architecture. We went into a few churches, and our cigar addiction was born here as well. We visited the Dona Elba Cigar Factory to see them rolling and filling and cutting the tobacco leaves and learned a bit about cigar making. We bought a few for ourselves to take home as well! Yum!

We also took a small boat around Lake Nicaragua where we were able to check out some of the hundreds of islands (Las Isletas) that dot the lake as well as some of their inhabitants (so many monkeys!) Afterwards, we wandered around the city and had some lunch and did some souvenir shopping. There are some major bargains to be had here, and it was a great place for shopping. I absolutely loved the city of Grenada, and I would love to come back here and spend a few more days exploring and eating!

Our last excursion took us on a hike to the middle of nowhere, Chocoyero park, to check out about a thousand parrots flying back into their nests for the evening. We hiked for about 2 miles where our guide pointed out several birds and other wildlife along the way. When we got to the spot, we waited for the parrots to arrive. We were expecting to see all thousand birds come in at once, but they actually all just came separately or in pairs over the course of about 30 minutes, so it was a bit underwhelming. Still cool to check out this natural habitat, and we did see a LOT of birds! According to their website, it doesn’t appear that this excursion is available anymore.

There were a few bumps in the road (literally and figuratively) staying at this very remote place in a very very poor country, but overall we absolutely loved our stay here, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a little adventure. In fact, checking out their website, they still have a 7 day, 6 night special which includes all of your meals, airport transfers, several excursions, and spa treatments for about $1800 for two people, plus tax. This is an absolute steal, and I don’t hesitate to recommend checking it out!