Nicaragua Photo Tour

• Where: Nicaragua
• When: Dates TBD – no tours possible to Nicaragua currently due to the political situation there.
• Who: You and 9 other fabulous people. Spouses and non-photography types are welcome.
• What: A photo tour that caters to working with the best light of the day, in the field practice in a fun, small group setting, hand-picked activities off the main tourist trail in communities where you can interact and work with the locals, and a flexible schedule that we get to decide on as we go.
• Why: Learn to take better photos, immerse in some local culture, help some kids, and have a whole lot of fun doing it from sunny warm Nicaragua!

Day 1 – Arrive in Granada

Arrive at Managua International airport, in Nicaragua. Drive to Granada (airport pickup and transfer to Granada is all arranged for you, so it’s hassle free) where you’ll check in to your hotel and be greeted. Enjoy an evening beverage on the outdoor patio, or turn in early.

Day 2 – Granada

Enjoy a morning orientation group meeting, followed by a photo lesson and a short orientation walk of Granada. Enjoy lunch in this historic city, and in the afternoon we will take a sunset boat cruise on the lake to see Las Isletas (365 little islands). Dinner is at a hand-picked local establishment, then you’ll have the night to explore the Granada nightlife, or socialize with new friends. All meals and activities included.

Day 3 – Granada

After a hearty breakfast you’ll be treated to a guided historic walk of Granada (including a chocolate shop, cigar maker, hammock factory that employs disabled workers, the best coffee in town, and then lunch. In the afternoon we will have a short two hour Spanish lesson so you can learn some key phrases like, “May I take your photo?”. After dinner at another amazing restaurant, we will have a private showing of the documentary Gringos in the Garbage (filmed in the community you will visit in a few days).

Day 4 – Granada

Today you’ll spend the afternoon helping with the first ever class photos for a local school. This is one of the special things you will get on this tour – interact with the locals in a meaningful way, something that helps them and an experience you won’t soon forget. The morning is yours to enjoy, either lounging in a hammock, or choose from a selection of local tours available (not included). It’s coffee picking season, so consider touring Cafe Las Flores, an organic coffee plantation halfway up Mombacho Volcano, a short drive south of Granada. Continue on up the volcano and do a hiking tour (with guide) of the national preserve that offers stunning views of the area, as well as a welcomed 10°C drop in temperature. On our inaugural tour, guests were able to photograph a sloth, only five feet away from them over the trail. Other possible half-day tours include local cigar makers where you can watch as they hand roll a cigar for you.

Day 5 – Granada

A free morning on your own to sleep, take another local tour, or you could opt for image review with Darlene. If you like you can join Darlene’s husband for a more in-depth cigar factory tour where you can photograph the walk-in humidor, the tobacco, or the people hand rolling cigars. You’ll also get to see inside colonial homes and businesses. There are three excellent cigar locations in Granada to explore. After lunch a photo walk of the barrio with the photography club kids from Empowerment International is a special treat. They take amazing photos and you get to shoot their neighborhood alongside them, and share photos. We will visit the gallery to see some of their images as well.

Day 6 – Leon via Laguna de Apoyo

We get picked up by our own private, air conditioned bus, and start making our way to our hotel in Leon. A two hour drive will take nearly most the day as we wind ourselves through the Nicaraguan countryside, stopping at personally selected locations. We first stop to visit artisans in Catarina and San Juan de Oriente while making sure to take in the view at Laguna de Apoyo (we will have lunch in the area), a lake formed in the crater of Volcano Apoyo. An hour later we stop at an organic family owned pineapple farm, just outside Managua, for a tour and fantastic photo opportunity. Then finally, we reach Leon in time for dinner.

Day 7 – Leon

We’ll head out in the morning, before it gets too hot, for a walking tour of Leon, lead by a local guide who will show us around this historic city, founded in 1610. We’ll learn about its amazing history and then go inside (and on top of) Leon Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After an amazing lunch, we will give a rum factory for a tour. After dinner, a evening of night photography in the square.

Day 8 – Leon

Finally, a day of rest. The entire day is yours to plan for yourself. Shop, visit a museum, surf down Cerro Negro Volcano, or just take a day to yourself to relax, swim, visit an art gallery, or get a massage – it’s up to you. Darlene is available all afternoon for image reviews or photo lessons, lunch and dinner are on your own, wherever you end up for the day. We can help you make plans for any activity.

Day 9 – Chinandega

After a short drive, we check into our next hotel and ready ourselves for a day in El Limonal, a small settlement developing at the edge of a garbage dump, nestled between the sewage facility and a cemetery. We’ll spend the morning preparing a massive lunch meal which we will serve, then return in the afternoon for a more intimate exploration of the community. A gardening project is in the beginning stages, where families will be able to grow their own food, so you may want to learn about or participate. You might want to take a tour of the dump where the community works, or visit families adjusting to their new homes. Darlene has built relationships with the people of this community with many visits there, and they welcome her and her groups (you) with open arms – you will have opportunities to interact with the people and photograph them, that others simply do not get. Other possible activities may include a ladies spa day, temporary tattoos for kids, soccer, jewelry making, and seeing the Sunday street sweepers. After cleaning up back at the hotel, we’ll enjoy an amazing meal at a local hand picked restaurant.

Day 10 – Jiquilillo

After an early breakfast, we continue on to our west coast beach headquarters Brisas del Mar, our home for the next few days. Following check-in and orientation, we’ll have a guided walking tour of the little fishing village. You’ll get acquainted with your surroundings and meet some of the locals. The afternoon includes photography instruction, before photographing the baby sea turtles released on the beach near the estuary. Follow this by an evening of night photography, fire spinning, and photographing the milky way over the ocean, with palm trees as foreground. It really doesn’t get much better.

Day 11 – Jiquilillo

The day is yours to explore as you like. Walk up the beach, photograph baby turtle release, tour the estuary, mingle with the locals, do some surfing (lessons available) or go deep sea fishing. The fishermen push their boats out with the tide in the late afternoon, so you can get some shots of them heading out. Get yourself a beer, a coffee or a fresh coconut and pull up one of many hammocks and just watch the surf all afternoon. Plenty of time today to just enjoy.

Day 12 – Jiquilillo

You might want to get up at dawn to capture the fishing boats returning from the sea with the catches. It’s an amazing thing to see and you can even buy a fish (or even lend a hand pushing a boat like one lady did last time)! Another day to explore the area, have a private photography lesson or image review. You may also choose to just relax in a hammock, with a cocktail and a good book.

Day 13 – Granada

Sadly, we leave Brisas del Mar for the drive back to Granada. On the way, we will stop in Masaya for a visit to the artisan market, where you can shop for some things to take home. We’re back in Granada in time for a farewell dinner together, an evening wrap-up and final drink.

Day 14 – Fly Home

Final tour day, if you are leaving this day, a return flight home and say your farewells. Your airport transfer is once again arranged for you.

Cost of Photography Tour to Nicaragua

Includes:

• Airport pickup and return
• All accommodations
• All meals, except those on your free days in Granada and Leon. Alcoholic beverages are not covered.
• All tours and transportation (exception being transportation or optional tours booked for your free time.)
• A basic Spanish lesson
• Photography lessons and image reviews in a group setting
• Photography tutoring and help as needed, you just have to ask
• A translator for our activities
• Tour guides in Granada and Leon
• A portion of your tour fee will be a contribution towards the charitable causes we support in Nicaragua such as: Hotel Con Corazon’s foundation for education, sea turtle conservation project in Jiquilillo, food supplies for lunch we will cook and serve at the El Limonal community (garbage dump), child education and tutoring in Granada.

Our Accommodations in Granada, Hotel Con Corazon

We were lucky to have discovered the Hotel Con Corazon in Granada. It’s a fantastic hotel with an amazing mission, which you’ll learn all about. They get a 4.6 star rating on Google Plus with 6 reviews and a full 5 stars on Trip Advisor with 499 reviews, and they’re ranked #1 for Hotels in Granada.

Accommodations in Leon at Hotel Azul

Our Accomodations in Chinendega, Hotel los Balcones

Our Accommodations on the Beach

Come and experience Central America like never before. Brisas del Mar invites you to a rustic hideaway on Nicaragua’s gorgeous, north Pacific coast. Their brand new air conditioned units and restaurant sit on a breathtaking sandy surf beach, just on the edge of the traditional fishing village of Jiquilillo. You will relax in front of the pacific ocean, play in the warm surf, and kick back with fresh food and new friends. The dogs patrol the beach, and the parrots sitting in the tree will serenade you (don’t stand directly below!). Watch the iguanas warm themselves in the mid afternoon sun, and the fishing boats go out to sea at sunset.

NOTE: we have built this tour to stay in a location with accommodation located directly on the beach, among a local community, for a more authentic Nicaraguan experience!

Other Points to Note:
The release of sea turtles has quite a number of variables that include mother nature, from reproduction right through weather. While we have booked these dates specifically to coincide with the release of the turtles, we cannot guarantee that this event will occur. It’s our intention that the weather will be perfect, and everything will happen exactly as we expect. We would ask that you hold the same intention.