That comes to $42.16 per day or $21.13 per person per day. So we were again over our $15 per person per day budget, but this is because we splurged on a lot more activities than normal when Steve was here, and we bought one super-expensive bus ticket.
Transportation was our biggest expense, but this includes the $70 we spent for a cross-border bus from Nicaragua, through Honduras, and into El Salvador at the end of our time. Take that away and the number would be lower. Local “chicken buses” are really cheap in Nicaragua, around $2 per hour of travel.
Activities were the second-most-expensive category, which is rare for us. But we had a friend traveling with us and wanted to show him lots of adventures. So this included volcano boarding, surfing, and ziplining! All really fun and really worth it!
Lodging was next to nothing again. We only paid for a hostel one night with all the review-writing opportunities we were offered!
Nicaragua’s currency is the Cordoba. $1=23 Cordobas.
Granada zipline tours take place on Volcan Mombacho, Nicaragua and can be reserved through almost any tour agency in Granada. The tour costs $35 per person, including transportation from Granada, 17 platforms, and 11 ziplines! One awesome part of our tour was that we only had five people in our group, so there wasn’t a lot of waiting on the platforms. We just kept zip zip zipping!
Superchico Steve!
After only going on two of them, I’ve decided that canopy tours are one of my favorite things EVER. Apparently the concept of the “canopy tour” was founded in Costa Rica, thus they are very popular throughout all of Central America. The first canopy tour Zach and I ever went on was in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. Pretty fun, but not super scenic, as it was Ohio. We knew we had to go on another one in Central America, and since Nicaragua had the best prices and Steve would be with us, we decided to do it there!
Our crew up in the trees!
The ziplines were various lengths but I would classify them all as medium to long for a canopy tour. There were also a couple tipsy-fun rope bridges between platforms. I just LOVE flying through the air on ziplines. I’ve done a lot of single ziplines at camps and stuff, as well as the Hocking Hills Canopy Tour. Jumping off the platforms and zipping doesn’t even scare me any more. I actually get more scared on the rope bridges. But I still get that spectacular “I’m flying!!!!!!” adrenaline rush.
Braking before I slam into a tree
The BEST thing about this Granada zipline canopy tour was that we got to do tricks! Not just ordinary ziplining, but tricks, I tell you! We got to zip like “Superchico/Superchica” (see Steve, top), zip upside-down like monkeys, and Zach and I got to zip together! But my most favorite of all words-cannot-describe-how-fun-it-was trick was bouncing! On a few different ziplines the guides would send us off and then the guide at the bottom would hang on the cables and jerk them up and down, making us BOUNCE LIKE CRAZY as we flew down. I actually bounced so hard that I could feel the mechanism coming off the cable and the thrill of that roller coaster stomach drop feeling. Seriously, it was SO FUN I was grinning from ear to ear as I flew/bounced down the last zipline. Out of this world.
Upside-down monkey zipTwisted-up buddy zip
The course on Volcan Mombacho was also beautiful! Sometimes you can see monkeys up in the trees; we didn’t see any but we heard them growling. Also, the course runs over an organic coffee plantation, and at the end of the tour you can sample and buy some coffee. Way to incorporate tourism and sustainable agriculture! Basically, canopy tours are such an amazing adventure and I would very highly recommend this Granada zipline tour to anyone.
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