Flor de Sacuanjoche
The Flor de Sacuanjoche (a frangipani) is the national flower of Nicaragua. The trees flower around May each year and I finally saw my first tree in full bloom on Isla San Fernando in the Solentiname Archipeligo. Love the smell!

The Flor de Sacuanjoche (a frangipani) is the national flower of Nicaragua. The trees flower around May each year and I finally saw my first tree in full bloom on Isla San Fernando in the Solentiname Archipeligo. Love the smell!

Central America is well renowned for its “chicken buses”, essentially old, worn-out school buses from the US that get a second lease on life transporting the good folk of Central America and their produce (including animals, hence the name) from one place to another. They are all dilapidated (though brightly coloured) without any creature…
OK – I know I’ve been here for 2 weeks for very few blog posts, but you won’t believe me if I try to explain how busy I am! A rundown of my day: 5am (ok, so I haven’t quite made it out of bed at 5am yet, but I’m getting closer! Currently 5:30am): wake…
Apart from kayaking around the Solentiname islands, the other thing I was keen to do was visit the artisans who are renowned for their balsa carvings and primitivist paintings. The main population of artisans is found on the largest island – Isla Marrancón – so we visited the first afternoon we spent in the Archipelago….
Although I couldn’t get all the way down the Río San Juan, I wanted to go as far as possible. So from El Castillo I headed down to the Refugio Bartola (about 8 km further on) where there is a rustic hotel, plenty of hiking trails and the Río Bartola to explore. It is right on the boundary…
There’s something about horse riding that is really special. If there is an opportunity to go horse riding I usually take it, so this morning I headed out with Ayssar (guide) and Rosita (my horse) for a few hours near San Ramón on the southern end of Ometepe. Specifically we went to check out some of the…
Every Thursday night, the Centro Cultural Antiguo Mercado de Masaya (ie the artesania market) hosts a cultural show of dancing and singing called La Verbena. Here you can see traditional Nicaraguan dances as well as some Nicaraguan singers, and it is attended by both locals and tourists alike. Once per month a trip to La Verbena is…