travel

agosto 5, 2025

Capítulo 7: Montelimar Todo Incluido

Terminando con los pies en alto

Having spent the month staying in self-service apartments and lodges, we decided to treat ourselves to a little bit of luxury for the final short leg of the trip. We found one of the very few all inclusive resorts in the country and checked in for two nights.

It was called Barcelo Resort in the small town of Montelimar on the Pacific Coast. Across the expansive site there were multiple pools, bars, restaurants, sports grounds and a long white secluded beach where all drinks and meals were included.

It was a great setting to put our feet up and reflect on the month of adventures that was drawing to a close.

The resort turned out to be populated entirely by local Nicaraguans. At first it was a little intimidating to be the only white family and we got a lot of curious stares. However, Joanna's fluent Spanish immediately broke through any tension. This ability to connect with people in their native tongue has been such an important aspect that has shaped the trip. It has filled long taxi journeys with interesting stories about families and life in Nicaragua and it has helped significantly in the difficult moments such as an emergency visit to an ear doctor.

The Pools

We spent most of our time hanging around the various pools and sipping on the unexpectedly strong premixed cocktails.

Iona's swimming improved so much over the month and by this point she was absolutely smashing it.

At one point we got locked out of our room and the girls couldn't handle the heat so the only option was to jump in the pool fully clothed.

I introduced the girls to chess at this resort with a comically oversized set beside the pool. Rowan really got it and took my king after a decent game. Iona may need a few more years before she's a contender.

Rowan developed a Michael Phelps-esque swimming technique and just got the head down and started doing lengths. Pretty sure she was bouncing off the pool floor, but it certainly looked professional. This pic really captures the vibe well with Rowan getting another length in, Iona chilling and Jo chatting the face off another Nicaraguan family just trying to have a quiet holiday.

Feeding Time

The meals were buffet style in a large seafront restaurant. Despite some severely negative reviews, the food was not bad at all. There was plenty of choice in every meal and the dishes were varied each day. We had heard horror stories of waiting hours in the queue for meals and that was not the case.

The girls did pretty well and only needed a little bit of supervision and encouragement. The unlimited ice cream desert was a useful incentive.

The evening entertainment was just too late for the girls so we had to make our own fun at the dinner table.

Our Last Pacific Beach

The resort had a private stretch of beach with white sand and rolling waves.

It was a really good spot to hang with the girls - there were no rocks in the water and it wasn't very deep. We dug a few holes and jumped around in the mega waves.

There were a few resident horses kicking about the beach. The girls were not interested in trying horse riding, but I tipped the guy and he let us do a dramatic photoshoot.

This pristine sandy beach stretched for tens of kilometres due north of the resort so it was perfect for a meditative run out and back. I've captured that run in the Nica Trails post.

Our last night was spent collecting shells as the sun set. It was a cloudy evening which blocked out the sun while it set over the Pacific ocean, but there was a lovely spell of around 45 minutes where the clouds all lit up in pink.

With my pockets bulging with exotic orange and purple shells, we called it a night and said goodbye to the Pacific sunset one last time

And so we had come to the end of our month-long adventure around Nicaragua. On the final morning in Montelimar we had a good breakfast and one last dunk in the pool, then waited in the foyer for uncle Julio to pick us up for the drive to the airport hotel in Managua.