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Old train track on Ometepe Island.

We’re wrapping up week four in beautiful Granada, Nicaragua. By the weekend, we will have arrived in San Juan del Sur, a go-to beach destination competing with near-by Costa Rica at a fraction of the cost. This after having spent a handful of nights on twin volcano island, Ometepe. These three spots, and the country’s capital of Managua, are a small glimpse of the entire country. More of the county’s best destinations still hover well below many traveler’s radars.

Nicaragua is full of scenic towns both on the interior of the country covered in green landscapes and lake views and the exterior with beaches only visited by locals and seasoned surfers. There’s something for all types: couples, backpackers, surfers, families, and first-time travelers to Central America. Problem is once the word gets out on Nicaragua it could turn into another overrated tourist trap. I’ll hope for the best and share our journey ensuring news of this gem continues to spread. News that counters preconceived notions of Central America and claims Nicaragua is impoverished and unappealing.

Here’s the deal when you populate a generic list of the most impoverished countries in Central America: Nicaragua is number one on that list. However, poverty doesn’t equate unappealing and making that comparison is unfair. I have felt more safe in this country than the many we visited before. That safety seems to resonate all over the region as Nicas take pride in their mutual identity of tolerating peace over violence, safety over insecurity, and community upkeep over disarray.

Horse-draw carriages pepper Granada.

We’ve experienced this firsthand not while living in a hotel surrounded by foreign tourists, but while living in a home on a block full of humble families and merchants. We shop like locals, shuffle around town as they do, and engage in daily tasks interacting with community members who have been cordial, polite, and welcoming. 

The next time someone tells you they wouldn’t visit Nicaragua because of poverty, nod, smile, and visit anyway. Poverty is a very real issue across Central America, but don’t let that stop you. When you visit Nicaragua you help boost tourist dollars generating revenue for a beautiful country striving for progress.

Visit Granada for the colonial architecture, delicious international cuisine, beautifully clean city streets, monuments, and countless churches. We love walking the city streets either at day or night, riding in horse-drawn carriages and dinning out. I literally didn’t have one bad restaurant meal in Granada and we ate out maybe 2 to 3 times per week in four weeks.

Vista Managua for the city life, large scale commercial appeal, and lakefront attractions. Managua does an amazing job keeping its city clean and inviting. Security guards in public spaces are quick to correct patrons disturbing the landscape or cleanliness.

Visit La Isla de Ometepe for the outdoor appeal, slower-pace way of life, or to enjoy a romantic and rural destination. Kayaking at sunset or renting ATV’s is a MUST! If you love nature you’ll find it hard to leave Ometepe.

San Juan del Sur: for the beach scene, oceanfront accommodations, and as an affordable Costa Rica alternative. We look forward to spending a handful of days tanning on the beach and swimming in the clear blue sea. Planning to also take in the amazing view from “El Cristo de Misericordia” overlooking the beach…

Have any questions for us about Nicaragua or any other destination on our Queventure route, so far: Puerto Rico > Belize > Southern Mexico > Mexico City > Guatemala, feel free to ask in the comment section below…

As we wrap up our fourth month of travel, here’s a look back at some of our initial expectations vs. what has actually transpired. 

We’ll fit EVERYTHING in these two bags…yeah right.

Fast forward to today: we lug around the two large red backpacks, cramming each one with about 50lbs., a large suitcase, a medium size suitcase, a regular backpack, a medium duffel bag, and the three small backpacks the kids still carry.  WTF?!?

Our homeschooling would be almost entirely paperless and online! In our initial research, we discovered a wealth of online resources. We paid and signed up for some “premium” online content available 24/7! We would educate our kids entirely via our tablets/phones/laptops. We’re living in the 21st Century after all. Who needs paper!?! Remember the medium sized suitcase I mentioned earlier? Well, now it’s filled with about 3 heavy textbooks, a truckload of workbooks, art supplies, binders, hundreds of pages of printouts, etc. We have a full blown traveling classroom weighing in at about 35lbs. worth of supplies.

Our initial strategy called for short and sweet 7-10 day stops. We planned on arriving at someplace, seeing everything and moving on. The underlying idea was maximize how much we saw and did during our trip. Sound familiar? Most family vacations are planned this way. For example, we spent eight nights in San Ignacio, Belize before moving on to Corozal, Belize for another 7 nights before moving on to Chetumal, Mexico for another week. In contrast, our last few stops have been over a month in Guatemala City, another 28 days in Granada, Nicaragua and we’ve schedule a full month and a half in Costa Rica.

What caused these complete 180 degree changes? Subscribe to find out! Part two detailing the reasons is coming soon! Looking into long-term family travel? You don’t want to miss part 2, we wish we would have known this before starting out…would have saved us time and money!

When we first told our friends and family about our decision to leave our jobs, sell all of our belongings and travel for a year, we received a wide variety of reactions. Some were congratulatory while others asked if we had won the lottery. Some people, quite frankly didn’t believe us. A family member even implied we had gotten into some serious trouble and needed to leave the country (really?!?). From coworkers, I heard rumors that I was fired. It was all quite interesting. 

One reaction though, left me thinking for a long time. This reaction at first surprised me, then confused me, and lastly turned out to be the initiator for some thorough self-assessment. 

The Kids

A few days before we left the U.S. we had a small farewell. In the middle of a crowded and loud bar a close friend pulled me aside and said, “You’re really going to do this, huh?” “Of course!” I replied and with a very serious look on his face and his hand on my shoulder he says, “Well, I don’t mean to offend you but… it’s cool that you get to get away from the stresses of work and get to go on an adventure but, but… I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do that to my kids.”

I couldn’t do that to my kids.

This caught me off guard because at first, I didn’t understand what he meant. How could I be doing this to my kids, as if it were some sort of punishment, when one of the primary driving forces was to do this for my kids?

We both kind of laughed it off and went about having some more adult beverages. 

I didn’t think about it again until the next day, still a bit perplexed by my friend’s interpretation of what we were doing. Eventually I began to understand his perspective. Eventually I understood he looked at our decision as a selfish one, something meant to benefit my wife and I and oh, by the way, we have three young children, guess we better bring them along as well. 

His point of view was that in us pursuing this dream, our kids would be collateral damage. Our kids would have to suffer the consequence of their parents’ wild dream chasing. 

When I thought about it even more, I realized his reaction wasn’t really unique. He had just vocalized it in a less subtle way than others. Thinking back now, many people, including very near and dear family members, looked at us sideways as they say and with thinly veiled suspicion/judgement would ask, “what about the kids?”

I guess I should not have been surprised. It’s not like we had broadcasted or explained this dream to many people. And when things are left unexplained, misinterpretations and false assumptions can run amok.

Reflecting on this conversation even more, it also gave me an opportunity to really analyze our own motives. I had to take as an objective view as possible of our own actions. While we had obviously put a great deal of thought into the effects this decision would have on our children, his comment gave me a different awareness of the situation.

First, there are the obvious “risks” to our decision. I believe these are the risks my friend alluded to. We were, after all, moving out of our comfortable home, leaving good jobs behind, pulling our kids from great schools, selling all of our belongings and traveling through a number of countries not entirely known for their safety. The concern is what for? Why put ourselves and more importantly our kids through these completely “unnecessary” and optional risks? Seems rather careless in light of the alternative – staying the course: continue keeping on with our jobs, increase our income, move into a bigger home, drive nicer cars, move into an even safer neighborhood, etc. It would be naive to think there aren’t any negative effects on our kids. We worry about the lack of interactions/socializing with kids their own age. We obviously worry about their health. We worry about the water, the mosquitos, the unknown.

However, there’s this. Doug Sundheim notes in his book Taking Smart Risks: 

When we understood this idea, we realized it was incredibly risky to not fulfill this dream. We realized that while we must mitigate any real and immediate dangers, there is a tremendous amount of risk in playing it safe. 

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.

How many people hate their jobs? Jobs they’ve been at for 35 years. What was sacrificed for all of those years? What about marriages? How many loveless marriages are out there? What was sacrificed all in an effort to do the safe thing? What about parents’ relationships with their kids? All children grow up and will come to some conclusion about their parents – were they brave? Did they live a life they aspire to? Or did they play it safe? While I wouldn’t go as far to judge playing it safe as “wrong”, my wife and I were clear on the risks of such a life and wanted to pursue something else.

All this is not to say you should run wild and risk it all. But what my friend unintentionally did was solidify our decision, as misunderstood as it may be. We can look into our children’s eyes and with all the confidence of someone who has actually done it, tell them to “pursue their dreams!”