Discovering Nicaragua through the Northern Highlands

Ok, so we are in the Northern Highlands of Nicaragua and it is absolutely stunning. Gorgeous mountains with pine trees you would see in North America but intertwined with a tropical landscape - palm trees and lush green colours, all fed by the highly nutrient soil in the area. You go outside and the air smells of roasting coffee beans - you almost can't escape it. Even being a non coffee drinker, the smell is devine.

There aren't a lot of tourists in this area. As you drive along the brick or dirt roads, many small towns are driven through. The maps we have access to aren't entirely accurate - even the most recent National Geographic maps aren't 100%, and there isn't a lot of tourist information available - so we have been lost a few times but found our way out again. The trick is if two or more of the maps we have access to match, then it is a safe bet that the roads exist.

Many people stare as we drive by; while everyone stares, especially at the ginger, when we walk by. Even photos are taken of us in some instances. When we spent some time up in Jalapa, the owner of the property said on average about 2 tourists stay in the area a month...which explained a lot to us.

It has been interesting seeing how the locals live in the smaller towns. All seem to have electricity, even satellite dishes placed outside their small shacks, with wells out the front. Horses are regularly used as transport, oxans used for pulling carts, chickens, pigs and other livestock roam around the streets looking for food - like many other Central American towns, but somehow here it all seems quaint. Maybe it is the remoteness and small populations, perhaps it is the stunning landscape used as a backdrop? Or it could even be that we feel a little bit safer in this area, and I don't have the emergency beacon sitting on my lap as we drive along any more.

As we have travelled through the US, Mexico, then onto Cuba, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras we have seen the changes from first world countries, to second world countries through to third world countries gradually. Now in Nicaragua, it feels like there is money around again, and it is shifting into a second world status - this can obviously be explained based on the funding provided by the UN. Who knows what additional funding will create? And how long will this gorgeous country continue being relatively untapped for?

One of the small towns we passed through, Ciudad Antigua - where, erm, Jesus was a pirate