When people hear “Nicaragua,” they automatically think it is all woodlands and that it is out-dated compared to the United States. I can say this is all wrong. Nicaragua has everything the U.S has, but modified to the preferences of its own people. All the places I visited had people dancing, playing music, and their own unique food cooking and being shared.

During winter break I went to Masaya, Nicaragua, for vacation. While staying there, I visited many places including Granada and Catarina. Granada is one of the oldest tourist because of its colonial architecture, while Catarina is a popular place to buy Nicaraguan souvenirs

My favorite part was going to the Masaya volcano, which is Nicaragua’s first and largest national park. I visited the park at night which made the experience much more dangerous. However, watching the lava at night was one of the best experiences I had in Nicaragua.

In Nicaragua, I met many people. Once I got there, I saw that people worked very hard and earned very little income. In each place I visited, people would put up food stands to make a living. Even while staying a night at the beach called “La Boquita” I saw many people trying to make a living, offering bike rides or horse rides. To say the least, the experience and the people I met were unique.

Living in Nicaragua isn’t as easy as living in America. One depressing experience was watching how homeless families would ask for food. That motivated me to throw a feast for homeless families to come and get food.

I ate many traditional foods such as vigoron, baho and nacatamales. Each had their special ingredient making them very delicious. Baho is plate served with beef, plantains and steamed yucca all in banana leaves and can also contain white rice. As for vigoron, the dish contains a cabbage salad with boiled yucca and fried pork belly all wrapped in a banana leaf. Nacatamales was by far the best dish containing pork, rice, slices of potatoes, and tomatoes all covered with ground corn wrapped with plantain leaves

The trip to Nicaragua all started because I had never visited my mom’s birthplace. So, we decided to go for vacation and meet all my family. Once I got there, I was showered with kindness and love from all. An aunt that I met would always make me breakfast without me asking her to do it. She always stated that she made it with love and it was never a bother for her. Not only her but many other families would take me out places to experience different traditions.

There was nothing I didn’t like about Nicaragua. Everything from the food, the people, and the places were great. As I talked to people, they told me their story of how they’re grateful to be living in Nicaragua. There is no doubt that I will be going this year again.