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My friend Barbara and I
decided to take a trip to Nicaragua this year. We both have been to
Guatemala and Costa Rica and decided the next Central American country we
would visit would be Nicaragua since it is off the beaten path! Here
are our immigration stamps for Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
We entered
Costa Rica in Liberia and took a boat on the San Juan River to San Carlos
and received our tourist card for Nicaragua there.
Costa Rica - Arenal Volcano - 2005 Guatemala - Tikal - 2003 Note: Use this link
to check out some of the photos I took in
Nicaragua. Read about our
great trip and the many interesting people we ran into and their stories
about life in Nicaragua. Check out the map and the brief description of
Nicaragua on this link!
This link details some of the medications
one might need to prepare for the trip! Delta Air Lines # 7784 Operated by:
Expressjet Airlines - Please check in with the operating carrier - San
Francisco International (SFO) to Los Angeles International (LAX) - Departure (SFO): February 6, 7:50 PM PST (evening) - Arrival (LAX):
February 6, 9:08 PM PST (evening) - Delta Air Lines # 9693 Los Angeles International (LAX) to Liberia (LIR) - Departure (LAX): February 6, 11:30 PM PST (evening) to Costa Rica. We arrived at the
Liberia Airport and instantly took a cab to town to Terminal 1 and caught
a bus to our first stop which took two hours to Canas. Many of the buses
in Nicaragua are actually old school buses with little room to sit so many
ended up standing, some for hours! We caught the
second bus and rode for two hours to Upala. Caught a third bus and rode for
an hour to Cano Negro and then we were dumped at a park and We then decided to
check out the town and close to our hotel we saw a bar and a woman came
out and sat us down and talked to us for over an hour. She introduced
herself as Elizabeth and sat us down at a table outside the bar! Of
course she spoke Spanish and we, English but found out her husband died 10
years ago and she owned most of the properties along the block. The pharmacy
next door was owned by her and one of her sons was a pharmacist! One
daughter was married and living in Italy! She pointed out her
'lover' next door with his crew and pickup truck cleaning up the
area. She called him over and squeezed him and said lover! We
checked out the town by walking all over, found the immigration office we
needed to visit before going taking the boat to San Carlos. We then
found a small restaurant and had dinner and finally after a long day went
to bed as the next day would be another long one going to El Castillo! I asked if I could stand on
the bow of the boat as we cruised down the San Juan river and I was able
to get several great views of the fort on the hill as we came into El Castillo.
El Castillo
was built by the Spanish in 1673 to repel pirates that were going up river
and looting Granada. We landed and went to the Richardson Hotel for
a room. No air conditioning but a ceiling fan and of course,
mosquito netting! We then toured the town and ended up having a beer
on a second story bar lover looking the rapids. We then found a
house with two tables in the rear and had a drink there. The family
was having dinner at the table and the wife asked if we wanted dinner
there! We said yes and after about an hour, we had wonderful chicken
that was roasted on a wood fire along with rice and a salad. Very
good! We then walked around town
again taking photos and had a drink at one place over looking the
town. Next we stopped at a place we had seen with a pool table in
the front and one table in the back over looking the river.
After about half an hour the owner asked us if we wanted the
special! We asked what it was. A river shrimp the size of a
lobster! Well it was $12 dollars a plate. We decided to try
one plate as a share. There were two shrimp and plenty of rice and
other side dishes so we were happy with the arrangement! It was hot so we went back to the
hotel and visited with the family that owned the hotel. The wife's
sister was visiting with her four year old son who was a darling. He
After our siesta, I actually took a
nap in the hammock hanging in the living room! We looked for a place
to eat and many places were closed due to the fact it was Sunday. We
also found out if we wanted to get the early boat out of El Castillo and
back to San Carlos, we needed to sign up at the Vanessa Restaurant.
We signed up for the high speed boat and then had dinner there.
Finally back to the hotel for a good night sleeps as we had to get up
around four A.M. to dress and catch the boat! We then got on the bus at San
Carlos and the proceeded for a nine hour trip to Managua. The first
four hours were on gavel roads with some holes five feet deep!
We wondered what happened in the rainy season! Then four hours on
concrete! Then in Managua we traveled
by bus to Rivas but it was slow. The road was terrible and we didn't
get there until nine P.M. It was very dark and we were dumped on the
edge of town! Mon Dieu! A cab driver came by and we
said, Take us to a Hotel! He said there were two, low cost and
high. We said the high priced one - the Nicarao Inn! Well it was a very nice hotel and
we stayed there and then proceeded to go to dinner at a club next door
with a great waiter who we had a wonderful time kidding. We had a
wonderful chicken with a rich cream sauce on it. Then to bed and air
conditioning to get ready to take the ferry to the volcanic island in Lake
Nicaragua! The first day we walked around the lagoon and checked out the
birds and the howler monkeys. The bar/restaurant looked
over the beach and the coast line and the sunsets were magnificent.
We decided to g This first evening I started
to talk to a local guide as we watched a fabulous sunset over the lake. Harold, and
I soon became good friends.
He talked about the difficulty of trying to be in business for ones self
and I made some suggestions as to setting up a web site and so on.
The next evening Barbara and I had a long talk with him. We did another walk around
the lagoon and then went to dinner and afterwards Harold joined us for a
drink. We had multiple wine coolers and he had multiple beers
and then dinner! He told us about his role as a guide and his specialty
is taking people to the top of the active volcano. It is a six hours
trip to the top and a four hour hike to the base. By the time
he pays a taxi driver to pick up the people and also supplying a lunch for
each person and, if this tour is made through a hotel, they take their cut
and he as a tour guide, is left with basically a pittance of a
salary. So I said I would make a mock up of a web site for
him. We shall see what transpires. Here is his name and email
address and telephone number in case you know anyone who might be visiting
Ometepe. Harold Tijerino - bullsharktours_29@hotmailcom
- Telephone - 505.950.2511 We found out the prices were
at least $10 a room higher and maybe even more! We were told they
were having of all things, an International Poetry Recital in the Main
Square and all the rooms in town had been rented so we were lucky to get a
room in a nice area of town. We did go to the Main Square that night and there were several
thousand people in the square and a big podium in front of the main
cathedral and office building and the first poet read her poem but, she
read it in Chinese and about five people clapped out of a thousand!
Each poet spoke in their language, French, Polish, Chinese, and so
on. Very strange to say the least. (A side note. I went to the
YMCA today, the 21st, and told a woman in the senior center I had just
come from Nicaragua. She asked me, "Did you go for the Society
of Poets Convention there?" I had a good laugh, even someone in
San Francisco knew about the poetry recital in Granada. Go figure
the odds on that!) Here is a photo of the street where our hotel was on and as
you can see, the streets were very clean We had a long talk with the
receptionist and he told us when he was four years old, his family escaped
over the border into Texas in the early 1980s. He said Nicaragua was
so dangerous and in Texas, they were kept in a camp for over a year.
He and his father were in one camp and his mother and sisters in another
camp. President Reagan passed a law to allow Nicaraguans in danger,
to get a green card to allow them to live in the U.S. without
problems. So basically his family moved to the Seattle area and live
there. He decided to move back to Nicaragua and said even he has
problems understanding some of the Spanish after living in the U.S. for so
many years. While I was on the
top of the high hill, a tourist guide came along and was very nice.
We talked Barbara told me she was
sitting in a view spot when a woman came by and said she recognized
Barbara. She said she saw her on the ferry to Ometepe. She and
her husband were on the same boat but he and I were on the top deck, they
were in the hold. She said she was in the back being sea
sick! Well guess what, we did see her again the next
day. Read all about it on the 15th! Next we went back to Granada
and there we took a nap and suddenly heard a lot of noise. We got up
and went outside and didn't see anything. So we walked around and
suddenly on a side street, saw a parade. We saw a man who was from
Ireland and had bought a store front across from our hotel and asked him
what was going on. He laughed, said it was the parade of the poet
society! They stopped every so often and someone would read
their poetry. There were lots of great costumes and children
were having a great time. We followed the parade to the wharf and
there they had fire works and lots of groups dancing in local
costumes. We toured the islands,
visited a small Spanish fort and saw many expensive homes built on private
islands. There weren't many birds as it was the dry season plus they
said since global warming and pollution of the lake, many birds had
disappeared. We stopped for a beer at a famous bar/restaurant and
then proceeded back to our hotel and dinner. Another great
day! Well so much for that.
Suddenly we were packing our bags and hiking over to the main square to
catch a bus to Leon. Actually it worked out all right as we had seen
most everything and were going to Leon anyway. So it took about three hours
and we caught a cab to the hotel and it was fabulous. Hostal
"La Casa Leoncsa" It originally was a house and had been
bought around 1990 and converted into an eight room hotel, the owner also
lives in the house. Fabulous antiques and wicker chairs, a small
pool to swim in and air conditioning! She said she was Vice Mayor for
a few years but there is so much corruption and many people we talked to
indicated the taxes just disappear in the pockets of the
politicians. That night we went to the
Hotelito El Cedro as we had heard the chef was Canadian and had a special on
Sunday night! It was garlic mashed potatoes and roast beef and a green
salad. Well for $6.00 we had a huge plate of potatoes and meat!
Talk about a treat! Several people would tell us when we saw them, we
would have to have the special at El Cedro and we would laugh, been there,
done that!
We then went to the Museum of
the Revolution and the man right off the bat, took a pointer and started his
talk about the revolution. Of course he didn't ask if we spoke Spanish
so he went on for 20 minutes pointing out the mimeographed copies of
articles and photos, all in poor condition. The good thing was
we could see dates on the articles and photos so we had a good idea as to
the time and places and people involved. He then took us up to the top
floors and then he took me to the roof where I had a good view of the city
and the surrounding five active volcanoes by Leon. Leon was originally
on the lake and in the 1600s was devastated by a volcanic eruption!
You can see the volcanoes, very high and perfect shapes, a perfect
cone! So we went back to the hotel to
rest up and take a quick swim. We then went back to the Hotelito El
Cedro for our last dinner in Nicaragua before taking a taxi the next
morning, to Managua and the airport.
LACSA # 716 Operated by: Sansa For Lacsa - Please check in with
the operating carrier. - Managua Augusto C Sandino (MGA) to San Salvador Comalapa
International (SAS). - Departure (MGA): February 19, 12:05 PM CST
(afternoon). Arrival (SAL): February 19, 1:15 PM CST
Delta Air Lines # 276 - San Salvador Comalapa International (SAL) to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson ATL (ATL) Delta Air Lines # 1591 - Atlanta
Hartsfield-Jackson ATL (ATL) to San
Francisco International (SFO)
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Nicaragua - Ometepe Volcano - 2008
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Feb. 06
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Feb. 07
told the next bus was due at
six o'clock! Well it was only 1 P.M. and we would get into Los
Chiles at eight and it would be dark - how would we find a hotel! So Barbara saw a small off the
road vehicle and flagged it down. A German man and two women agreed
to take us to Los Chiles and we paid $20. It was well worth it as
they drove us all over town and we all checked out the hotels and ended up
staying at the same one, the Hotel Cabinos Carolina. Very clean and
it had air conditioned!
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Feb. 08
We got
up early, dressed and put on the back packs and off to the immigration
office. We got here as they opened and had our papers filled out and
were on our way. Except the boat didn't leave until around 12:30
P.M. so we sat at the dock and people watched. W
e finally got on the
boat and off we went. About half way to San Carlos we were
stopped by the Nicaraguan military and papers were checked and off we went
to San Carlos. This trip took about two hours. We landed on a very
small wooden board walk in San Carlos and waited in line for our tourist
papers. We then rushed to another boat that took us to Es
Castillo. This trip took about three hours.
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Feb. 09
We got
up early and had breakfast at the hotel and made an effort to see the fort
early in the morning. We hiked up the hill and started g
oing
through the ruins and the museum. Suddenly it started to rain and we
enjoyed the cool air for about an hour. Then it cleared up and was
warm again but not bad enough to make one feel like lying down!
Check out this link for more information about the fort of El Castillo.
was practicing with his net like a fisherman and wanted to show me how he
could swing the net out on the grass like a real fisherman. I got
several good photos of him doing his thing.
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Feb. 10
Today
was the worst day of the trip. We got up at around 4 A.M. and got ready
and walked to the dock by 5 A.M. The high speed boa
t left at 5:15
and off we went to San Carlos. Every time the boat did a swerve on
the river, the water sprayed over the people sitting on the side seats, I was sitting in the middle for a change and
was happy about that fact.
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Feb. 11
Today
we got up early and caught a taxi to the port and there we boarded a ferry
to Ometepe. This link details the Ometepe Island
and volcanoes. We landed on the island and caught a taxi to our hotel, the
Charco Verdi, situated on the beach beside the active volcano. We
never actually saw the top of the volcano due to all the clouds.
We actually had a bungalow with two regular
sized beds and a twin. It was very large with a huge bathroom and
air conditioning and fans. 
et a good nights sleep because the next day we wanted to
visit the petroglyphs on the other side of the island plus do the walk
around the lagoon again.
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Feb. 12
The
next day we had an early breakfast and checked out the howlers
again. We then decided to take a bus and travel to the other side of
the
island and check out the
petroglyphs. They were created
by the local natives around 1,500 years ago. They were
representatives of monkeys and other animals plus a version of the twin
volcano island.
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Feb. 13
Today
we caught a taxi to the port and took a smaller boat to the
mainland. There we caught a bus to Granada and stayed at the
Asialatina Hotel. I said it sounded like a gay bar and the
receptionist laughed and said the owners were gay! The 'white'
man was from Manhattan and his lover was a black Nicaraguan.
and the buildings maintained with
bright colors. We ate at many of the restaurants and had
drinks at various places during the day.
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Feb. 14
Today
was very busy. We first took a bus to Masaya, the active
volcano just outside of Granada and Managua. We told the bus driver
to stop at the front entrance and then we paid the fee for
a truck to take us the three kilometers to the top of the volcano.
We hiked up the one volcano that was inactive and then I climbed 170 steps
up to the top of the highest hill overlooking the volcano and into the
smoking cinder cone being built up! This volcano erupted around 1700 and lava flowed for miles around the
volcano. In 2001 the volcano had a big burp and large rocks flew out
of the crater and onto the cars in the parking lot by the rim.
No one was hurt at least! We also went to the museum to see how
volcanoes work and also some of the animals the are in the area.
and I introduced him to Barbara later on and we asked about a
tour on the lake and the islands next to Granada. He said he was
available the next afternoon and we hired him on the spot for a tour the
next day!
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Feb. 15
Today
we went shopping and lounged around. We had seen most everything and
were looking forward to the lake trip but the reception
ist at our hotel said the time was rather late in the
day. We were hoping the guide, Denis, would come earlier than 3:30
or 4:00 P.M. Well we were going out around three and Denis came by
and asked if we minded having two people join us for the tour on the
launch. No we said, two more is fine. So he took them to
the boat and came back and got us. We had to laugh, the couple was
the same ones that were on the ferry to Ometepe several days before.
I recognized the husband from the ferry. Talk about a small
world.
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Feb. 16
We got up and had breakfast at the Asianlatina
and the receptionist was so nice, how nice, he suddenly said, "Bad
news, your room is booked and you have to leave!" We had asked
the day before about staying an extra day and he said fine.
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Feb. 17
Today we walked all over town and
took photos of the many churches and cathedrals. We visited the main
square and shopped there. We then went back and took a nap and had a
long conversation with the owner. She escaped from Nicaragua in the
1970s and went to
Alabama! There she married a
German man and raised her children there. They all live there in
Alabama today! Her husband passed away and in 1990 she came back to
Leon and bought this house. It was in very bad shape, people let the
property fall apart because the Sandanistas would come in and take property
away from anyone if they wanted it. She redid the roof, put caning on
the bottom, then a lining of zinc, on top of that, the red tiles. The
floors are fabulous tiles and she has a lot of old German
furniture.
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Feb. 18
Today was very hot, as was
yesterday. It was around 95 degrees or 30 degrees Celsius! We
went shopping for souvenirs but the main market was for foods. We saw
a woman cutting up beef and on the table were two hooves of a cow or
bull! Tasty! Another woman had a basket full of live iguana and
she took one out and shook it by the neck for us to take a photo. So
tasty! There were tons of fruits and
vegetables
and then we went to another market but it mainly had dozens of shops
carrying bras and women's panties. We didn't find many things for
gifts so hit the streets again and went to the main square to find some
items on the side walk tables.
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Feb. 19
Departure (SAS): February 19, 2:00 PM CST (afternoon) - Arrival (ATL): February 19, 6:28 PM
EST (evening)
Departure (ATL): February 19, 9:59 PM EST (evening) - Arrival (SFO): February 20, 12:21 AM PST (morning)
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San Francisco California
Created on:
2008.02.22
Updated on:
2016.04.10