Nicaragua gets a rough write-up in the news, and that keeps a lot of people away — it shouldn't. We came here more than once on visa runs while we were living in Costa Rica, and every time it was the people that stuck with us: reserved until you say hello, then warm and happy to see us filming their country. Nicaraguans are proud of where they're from, and it shows.

And there's plenty to be proud of. Lake Nicaragua and the twin volcanoes of Ometepe, the west coast, and Masaya — one of the few volcanoes on earth where you can stand on the rim and watch lava bubbling in the crater below. Granada is the one we'd come back for: a historic colonial city with a charm that's hard to fake, and a place we think belongs on everyone's list. It's cheap, too, by just about any measure. We'd go back without thinking twice — for Granada, and to see more of a country we mostly passed through.