Another hot morning in Granada! I took a short walk to visit a few more churches in the city after breakfast this morning, but after a mile and a half, I was dripping and exhausted. It’s embarrassing to admit this, but I truly need air conditioning to thrive. It’s one thing to spend a few hours out in hot humid weather. However, here in Central America, A/C is rare so the majority of one’s day is spent in 90 plus degree heat. In the US, there are places to cool off throughout the day. The only place Kevin and I have had A/C this week has been in our hotel rooms. None of the restaurants or hotels have A/C. None of the museums have A/C. People here are used to it, but we are not. I wonder how long it might take to get acclimated. It’s definitely more than 10 days! We lingered in the pool a bit more during mid-day skipping lunch as it was simply too hot to be hungry.

In the heat of the afternoon, we took off on our last Nica adventure. There are many things that travelers can see and do in Nicaragua that can also be done in Costa Rica. Things like hiking in the cloud forest, climbing up volcanoes, zip lining, kayaking, watching monkeys, searching for sloths, identifying colorful birds, and on and on. During my 4 student trips to Costa Rica I was blessed to have the opportunity to experience all of those things. Therefore, I didn’t feel the need to spend our final travel days exploring the rain forest like so many travelers to Nicaragua do. However, not one to miss an opportunity to enjoy local flora and fauna, we decide to take a private boat to the Isletas (little islands) of Granada to get a sneak peek at some of Nicaragua’s most famous natural wonders. So, before leaving this beautiful country, Kevin and I worked with a local man to take a boat out to Lake Nicaragua to see the islands. Our driver, Arial, picked us up at our hotel and arranged a private boat for just the two of us (plus his son Ariel, Jr.) with a local tour guide. With cloudy skies and nice breezes, we toured through 60 of Lake Nicaragua’s 365 mini islands. We saw houses owned by many different foreigners plus the house of the founder of Flor de Caña, the national rum.

I can’t list all of the birds that we saw, but there were many. I can’t believe how many species of herons we saw today! Then, of course were the monkeys. We watched both howler and spider monkeys put on a show for us. Finally, we stopped at the San Pablo Fort for some quick pictures. For our final night in Nicaragua, the Mombacho Volcano gave us quite a view. It was such a great way to end our trip.

We stopped at an American-Nicaraguan cafe for dinner on our way home after the boat tour. It was called The Garden Cafe. We both enjoyed our final Nica Libre (Flor de caña, lime, Coke). I had another amazing buddha bowl while Kevin enjoyed a fresh pesto sandwich. We picked up some desserts to take back to the hotel along with some snacks for the morning since we won’t have time for breakfast before we leave for Managua.

We will say goodbye to Nicaragua tomorrow morning. It has been a rewarding, beautiful, significant trip for both of us. We are thankful to have had the experience and are especially grateful to have experienced it together. Not only did our Spanish get better, but our mother son bond also deepened. This won’t be our last adventure together. Of that, I am certain.