When we set off on our trip to Central America, we planned to be back in the United States in May. One month in Nicaragua has turned into five, and we may be here longer than that. Before coronavirus struck, dental tourism was big here in Nicaragua. The cost of dental care is much cheaper in Nicaragua than in the…
We stay cooped up in our house in Nicaragua most of the time. It is hard to continue to stay home when we have been quarantined for so long, but we know that getting sick here would not be good. COVID-19 is here. It is real. We do get out to grocery shop and occasionally head to a deserted beach…
Last week we went to the pool for a swim. Lucas and I (Judy) discovered a frog in the pool. It looked like the frog was having trouble climbing out. We were nervous at first to get near the frog (we are city dwellers). After much screaming, laughing and experimenting with how to get a frog out of a pool,…
In January of 2015, we took the kids on a cruise. Lucas was four and Henry was 2. We went with Judy’s mom Miriam and her husband Jim. We chose the Carnival Cruise line for its affordability and itinerary. The boat stopped in Belize, Honduras, and Mexico. Who knows how the cruise industry will rebound after Coronavirus, but we have…
When we arrived in Nicaragua at the end of February, our first stop was in Ometepe. It is an island in Lake Nicaragua that is made up of two volcanoes: Concepción and Maderas. We hiked part of the way up Maderas, but Maderas is dormant. Earlier this month we drove two hours to visit the Masaya volcano, an active volcano.…
We are now entering our fourth month in Nicaragua. We were only supposed to be here for one month. We picked up our passports from immigration yesterday with our new 60-day stamp. We signed a two-month lease in a new house. Our new house is in a community next door to where we were staying in April and May. We…
In January of 2018, Michael and I went to Cuba for our 10-year wedding anniversary. Originally, we were scheduled to go in September of 2017, but Hurricane Irma had other plans. We were only in Cuba for six days, but it felt like three weeks. It was an incredible trip and we hope to go back there someday with Lucas…
We took advantage of having a car and took a day trip to Managua after squaring away our visa extension paperwork. When we went last week, immigration would not process our request for a 60-day extension without a signed lease. We arrived at immigration at 7:45 am on Monday morning in Rivas to finalize the paperwork with our lease in…
We decided to rent a car for a week. We have been able to walk to shops and restaurants and before COVID-19 we took shuttles and taxis when we wanted to explore so we didn’t need one. We also rented the car because our visa is about to expire and the immigration office is in the next town over. We…
We have been in Nicaragua since February 26. Other than two days with a few minutes of light sprinkle, we have not seen rain. It has been sunny and low 90s since we got here with the occasional overcast day. It was not so bad when we were out and about going to surfing lessons at the beach. Since we…