Into the clouds of Catarina, central mountains of Nicaragua

San Juan del Sur was so blazing hot and so North American, we were taken aback by our initial visit to Catarina.  We had been so used to a touristy town with English spoken everywhere and now we were in a true pueblo.  To find the place we were to call home for the week, the owner sent us a picture of her driveway (looked more like an alleyway to me), so that we could find it.  

It's really neat how these pueblos are designed.  It's like a one story apartment building is made.  All the houses are connected to each other with a random driveway here and there to land, which the owner of this home owned.  And our place was somewhere in this driveway. 

A cute one story, 2 bedroom, 1 bath duplex with a pool situated in the courtyard and perfectly suited for our little family!  Oh the pool was FREEZING cold!  Well, it is in the mountains and the sun doesn't hit it all the time since it is inside the courtyard.  

This town was much less expensive than SJDS and the locals did not speak English.  The tiled pavement of the town was just as iffy as SJDS so I still had to watch my step.  The road headed to an amazing Mirador (lookout).  

Mirador of Catalina stood high in the mountains and from there you could see Laguna de Apollo, Granada and Lake Nicaragua.  I don't even know how to describe the view.  Hopefully a picture is worth a thousand words.

If there is one thing I noticed with Catarina, there are a lot of nurseries.  Flowers were everywhere.  It was amazing to see such beautiful colors bloom from every direction.  

The playground was super cute and the boys loved the space (I loved the colors and flowers) and they even got to get on a horse for a short ride.  Just $6 for both boys!

The horses all have their mane cut like a mohawk.  Why?  Because it's too hot to let the mane grow out.  The cows, the bulls are all chowing down on hay while the smaller animals, like the chickens just run around them.  Be careful not to step on all the poo on the ground, especially the ones that are smoking.  😂

So here I am standing on this "farm" that isn't what I expected.  It seemed more like a patch of land next to the freshly manicured baseball field next door.  What a vast contrast to what we usually see at home, farms that have a large home, front porch, big pickup trucks, a large red barn and heaps of space for all the animals to roam.  

We found one restaurant (there weren't many) that we really liked and in the back of the restaurant there was a huge angel trumpet tree!  If you don't understand my shock of why this particular tree is within the vicinity of a restaurant (and homes full of kids), just google this toxic beauty.  

Since it was nearing Semana Santa (Holy Week) we did get to see a neat procession of about 100 or so horse drawn, cow drawn, donkey drawn carts heading to Rivas.  These processions are a tradition.  With music blaring loudly the people of Nicaragua celebrate Semana Santa with vigor.  These slow processions take days or weeks as families travel with their belongings to their final destination where they celebrate Holy Week.  

A very common form of local transportation.  Cars are a luxury here.  It's all about walking.  Everything is close by so it's not like you really need some kind of transport. 

I forgot to mention.  We now have access to taxis and mototaxis (tuk tuks!).  So fun and super inexpensive.  But prepare for a slow ride.  The more weight, the less gusto. 

I never did get into this pool.  It was so freezing cold.  I don't think the boys ever played in the pool longer than 15 minutes.  

Good old fashion metallic slide - rust and all.  

I got my little snuggles every day! 

The owner of our place was from England and had married a local.  She had a baby boy and a farm to take care of.  She lived in a beautiful 2 story home that she designed herself, with just the right amount of local flavor, color and views.  Her pool was pretty sweet too. 

If there is one thing you can count on is that there will always be some sort of historical building in each pueblo.  Usually they are churches like this one.  No doors, no window coverings.

At the Mirador with the cuidador, caretaker. His name is Juan.  

The cuidador, caretaker, of her property took us for a short walk to see the farm.  His name is Juan. 

As we walked up the path, his sister was sweeping the front of her door.  It was dirt, yet she was sweeping it "clean" of debris.  The house was made of the same cement blocks as all the other but it was a stand alone.  I snuck a peek inside.  It was basically a shell of a home.  No separate bedroom or kitchen, just a square cement building with the bare minimums, a bed, a curtain, kitchen counter and the ever so necessary dresser with an old tv propped right on top.  I didn't see a stove or anything.  I am sure it's either in there or she cooks outside on a grill like so many other locals.   

Juan helped the boys get on the animals at the farm.  He was a kind man, hardly any teeth and enjoyed his position as caretaker.  

The Semana Santa procession.  This was super cool.  How often do you get to see a true pilgrimage to celebrate the rise of Jesus Christ?  These people do this every year!

It's a big celebration here in Nicaragua, and thankfully, a tradition that the government has not stopped. 

The playgrounds here are hilarious with all sorts of indigenous animals playfully on display everywhere.  

A cool form of transportation is the tuk tuk but here they call them "moto."  They are obviously slower than a real taxi so they do cost less.  You have to get super creative when you are a family of 4 and are carrying groceries WHILE driving on a dirt road back to your farm casita. 

One of the best things about Nicaragua and the AirBNB's are that most have access to a much needed pool.  It does get pretty hot even in the mountains so the boys love dipping in the pool. 

Scott and I just love that they are outside and getting to play together.  It's fun to watch and makes us smile!  This is not something they did often in the states.  

All these little pueblos have a personality.  Catarina is no exception.  The fact that this mountain town is up high allows for the most amazing trails and views!  

It absolutely blows my mind how drop dead gorgeous it is in Catarina.  Visitors from all over their country and around the world come specifically to this location. Talk about heaven on earth! 

There are markets that line the streets heading to the overlook.  Everyone is trying to make a buck so you will get people coming up to you to buy stuff.  

All the markets are definitely way better than the tacky tourist shops in the states, but we are traveling.  We are minimalists.  As much as it would be super cool to get some local products, reminders of our travels here, we have to keep saying no because we have nowhere to place all these little items.  

Oh that Angel Trumpet tree!  One of the most toxic of plants and it's right in everyone's backyard, to include the restaurant.  Which, for the record, everyone's business is also their home, so it's in the owners backyard. 

Naturally it's only toxic if you ingest it or inhale it (like a perfume). 

We were just a block from the Mirador.  Up this hill is the Mirador and the sunset.  This is a nice view to end the day!  This little pueblo is a delight!