From Costa Rica we went to San Jan del Sur, Nicaragua. No, this is not the coast of the Pacific. Lake Nicaragua is a massive freshwater lake (3,200 sq miles!) in the middle of which is a huge island with two volcanic cones. Before construction of the Panama Canal, a stagecoach line owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt connected the lake with the Pacific. Plans were made to take advantage of this route to build an interoceanic canal, the Nicaragua Canal, but the Panama Canal was built instead.

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