By Dan, Jamie and Brad

Welcome back to the Branmie (Brad, Dan, and Jamie) Wherever the Wind takeover! The three of us were sufficiently brutalized by the Chicago winter that we decided to meet up with Jaitlin as they started to make their way through Central and South America. We were also joined by Kerry, Caitlin’s friend from the Peace Corps, and Evan, Jed’s friend from college. The five of us joined them in Nicaragua, reviews of which ranged from “It’s the new Costa Rica!” to “Why are you going THERE?!”
San Juan del Sur was much more beach town than tourist city, but we did enjoy hiking up to Cristo de la Misericordia, a giant Jesus statue overlooking the city in Río-like fashion, ziplining and watching Brad and Evan try fly-boarding, the latest futuristic adventure craze.
![]() After soaking up the sun, Toñas, and ceviche, we piled into another van and headed back toward Lake Nicaragua to the colonial city of Granada. We spent that evening touring the Mombacho Cigar Factory and learning all about the cigar-making process, which was fascinating to some of us and painful on the nostrils to others. Our tour guide, Danny, is a transplant from Gibraltar. If you would like to seriously question your life choices, take a look at his Instagram account: https://instagram.com/danny_mombacho/ |
We were also boarded at one point by Lola and her child, monkeys well-known by the locals who inhabit one of the islands. Some of us welcomed their visit, while others cowered in fear that they might find it more appealing to try to eat us instead of the bananas our captain was shoveling out to them.