Nicaragua – ChrisGreenwood.co.uk

Discovering Beauty Off the Beaten Track in Jiquilillo, Nicaragua

It’s late at night and dark except for the light of the moon. I’m floating in a kayak in a estuary near a small village in Nicaragua that is well off the tourist trail. I have no phone, and I can neither hear nor see either Alex or our guide.

I realise that I’m totally alone, with no means of rescuing myself, in an unfamiliar country in an unfamiliar kayak.

I don’t panic however because I’m at peace in this beautiful place. The stars are shining, there is an occasional firefly and every time I dip my paddle in the water the disturbance causes a bioluminescence that briefly illuminates the water around me.

I also know that because of the darkness Alex and the guide can’t be too far ahead and if I just paddle onwards for a minute or so, hopefully I’ll be able to catch a sound of their paddles.

I’m the most relaxed that I’ve been on this trip and, although it took a while, I have now firmly fallen in love with Nicaragua

How did it come to this?

Exploring León, Nicaragua: Art and History in the City

Looking less squished than we felt on our second bus ride

We stopped in León, Nicaragua, for two nights. Our journey there was by local buses to cross the country from Granada. Buses in Nicaragua don’t run to a strict timetable, but instead they leave when they are full, but we timed it well with both buses and were not waiting long at all. It was a hot and sweaty journey though, with open windows only letting in a blast of hot air. The second bus was a pretty cramped ride with one of our big bags balanced across our laps, and our small backpacks jammed between our legs. The ride was fairly smooth and fast though, as we managed to get two very new minibuses. After around three hours we were safely in León. We’d decided in advance that we could easily walk the 15 minutes to our hostel, even with bags. This turned out to be a sweaty trek across a busy market under the hot sun. Chris does much better in the heat then me so he did all our navigating as I blindly followed him.

We arrived at our hostel and checked in, we’d decided to go for this particular hostel as it was family run, plus it had a room with air conditioning, ensuite, a balcony, and even bedside tables with lamps. Luxury! Our hosts were a nice family who greeted us warmly and, I suspect on seeing how I was faring with the heat and humidity, went and turned on the air conditioning in our room whilst we checked in and were shown around.

Architecture and Art in Granada

After a few days of fun on Ometepe island we were keen to get to Granada, famed for it’s old Colonial centre. We’d booked three nights in one of the largest and most well established hostels, and were looking forward to the facilities of a city after being in small towns or villages for a few weeks. First however, we had to get there.

I’d organised for the taxi driver who dropped us at our accommodation on Ometepe to pick us up and ferry us back to the port and, although this was not a cheap way to travel, the public buses from a remote village on a Nicaraguan island aren’t great. After the taxi it was a short wait at the port and then we were on the boat where we met a nice German couple who’d been travelling for three years! Their travel stories and recommendations made light work of the boat ride and soon we were at the port. We needed to get from the port of San Jorge to the roundabout in Rivas where we’d be able to catch a bus going North and, avoiding the taxis, we spotted a bus which I don’t think was actually in service but was going in the right direction. Unfortunately the fare we paid wasn’t much less than the taxi, but they did helpfully point out where to go once we reached the roundabout!

Ometepe Island Adventures: Volcanoes, Kayaking, and a Motorbike

Ometepe is a very large island in the enormous Lake Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America at 8,264 km²). It is dominated by two volcanoes, one active (called Concepcion) and one with a lake in the crater (called Maderas). To get here you have to get a ferry from the mainland that takes about an hour, the lake is huge!

We did well with our journey there, our host at Rancho Chilamate was going into town so she gave us a lift. There we found a yellow bus bound for Rivas. The bus dropped us at a petrol station and we met another backpacker going to Ometepe and agreed to share a ride. We were offered a taxi by a man charging $5 per person, whereas we’d all been told $5 per car. We took our bags away and met another driver, this time very nice and offering the price we expected. He helped us by explaining the correct taxes and ferry prices, and telling us where we needed to go. He asked if we needed transport on the Ometepe side, and then proceeded to call his friend and pass the phone to me to explain where we were going and to agree a price.

Once on the little car ferry, the water was surprisingly rough for a lake! Water was splashing up over the bow and through the door where we were sitting. We spent the journey chatting to Nina, the Belgian girl we’d met by the taxis. Chatting to people on public transport has been great, we’ve received lots of travel tips and it really helped pass the time on long journeys. The twin peaks of the volcanoes loomed closer and we were soon disembarking onto a sunny quay.

From Costa Rica to Nicaragua, a few days relaxing near San Juan del Sur

We had a lovely few days doing pretty much nothing when we arrived in Nicaragua. This is very unusual for us, but at this point we were about half way through our trip and needed a break from moving around.

Rancho Chilamate, a lovely place to relax

San Juan del Sur is on the backpacker trail, and is a bit of a party town on the Pacific coast. We decided we didn’t want more partying at this point, so we opted for a very nice Airbnb option at Rancho Chilamate, about 20 minutes drive on dirt roads by a small town called Escamequita. Rancho Chilamate is a horse ranch set in beautiful countryside. It was hot whilst we were there, low thirties most of the time, but with a strong breeze. We had a lovely room, with air conditioning and a nice ensuite with cold water shower (this is very common in Central America, and is perfectly OK in most places as it is so hot you really don’t want a warm shower). Our room opened onto a courtyard around a swimming pool, with a small yoga / gym area off to one side, it just perfect for a few days relaxing. The ranch is home to a few people helping out, and it was fun spending a some nights drinking and chatting with them and meeting their friends, neighbours, dogs, and cats.

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