A year ago, my family and I were in Granada, Nicaragua, riding on chicken buses, swimming in geothermally-warmed waters, peeking into a caldera flowing with molten lava, and generally enjoying la vida nicaragüense. As we settle into the latter part of winter (at least where I am now in North America), I thought you might enjoy reading this article I wrote for The Los Angeles Times about our visit to this old Spanish colonial capital.

My family’s trip to Granada was part of a larger year we spent in Central America. I blogged about our time abroad at Warmer Than Canada, my website about family gap years abroad. Soon I’ll be wrapping up my reports from our year abroad with a final post about our return and readjustment to life stateside, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this glimpse of Nicaragua.