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Caption: NICARAGUA _____________
Caption: Almost on a whim, on one particularly cold day, we decided to book some tickets to travel to a warmer clime; something we rarely do as our typical vacations often find us on mountain tops or in the tundra, bundled to the brim.
In an attempt to make our dollars go far while experiencing a destination that is not quite yet on everyone's radar, we purchased flights to Nicaragua.
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Caption: Our first two days consisted of barreling, empty reef breaks and offshore winds. I surfed A LOT.
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Caption: When I couldn't paddle any longer, I'd grab a beer and sit on the beach, and watch the locals fish as they have for thousands of years; with a hand line and a wooden spool.
Caption: After a couple days' worth of empty peaks and cheap beer, we headed inland, to the lush volcanic island of Ometepe, nestled amidst the expansive Lake Nicaragua.
Here, we switched gears from surfing and beach lounging, to sweaty hiking, kayaking, birding, and volcano climbing.
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Caption: After scrambling for hours up a gorge on the Maderas Volcano, a slice of the canopy opened up to reveal how thick the cloud forest actually was.
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Caption: "Beerding"; documenting birds with a beer in hand.
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Caption: Caught in a summer squall on the return ferry ride from Ometepe.
Caption: Our last two days in Nicaragua consisted of exploring the volcanos, national parks and forest land near to the Capital of Managua.
The active, steaming Masaya Volcano and dormant Nindirí Crater served up a great day's worth of exploring and hiking.
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Caption: An extremely stunted sacuanjoche lines the edge of the Masaya Crater, shaped by the region's constant winds, and disfigured by the emission of toxic gases.
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Caption: THE E N D
