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Published: February 24th 2014
Arriving in San Carlos
Had an ice cold beer next to immigration. How convenient... Lake Nicaragua.Cocibolca is the local name for Lake Nicaragua, a.k.a., Lago de Nicaragua, and means "sweet sea," nevermind that it's a lake. After 16 torrid days in Costa Rica I've toned down the pace quite a bit during my first couple of weeks in Nicaragua. Not difficult to do as the languid places I've been coupled with the ever increasing heat have made it impossible to move around at anything close to how quickly I blew through Costa Rica. Just spent a few days in Masaya and Granada, the former almost tourist free compared to the latter. Arrived in León today and the plan is to head north to Estelí, Somoto, and Ocotal (staging area for Nicaragua's highest peak) before crossing into Honduras.
$US ≈ 26 Nicaraguan
córdobas (C$)
San Carlos
Port of entry if crossing from Costa Rica at Los Chiles. Small town, boiling hot but friendly and very relaxed as if anyone could do anything with a modicum of speed in the oppressive heat. Surprisingly rained quite a bit and the lake can get super windy (windmill farm on opposite side of lake). Easy immigration with a fistful of receipts but best to have US
dollars to pay the trio of entry fees ($13 total).
Accommodation and food Didn't take long to find what had to be the cheapest place in town, Hospedaje Río San Juan. Wide spectrum of rooms, I split a very basic one with someone on the boat from Costa Rica for C$100 for each of us. Stayed in a similar room by myself for C$120 after returning from Papaturro. Fan in the room, grubby share bathroom, and decent WiFi. There was one fairly nice room with a double bed and bathroom on the first floor for C$250-300. The proprietors were nice enough to let me occupy the room til I left for the late afternoon ferry but I had to turn in the sheets early. Checkout is normally at the obscenely early hour of 8:00.
Many inexpensive restaurants in San Carlos but my favorite was Criollita del Grand Lago whose specialty is meat or chicken slathered in spicy
jalapeño cream sauce with salad, plantains, and the ubiquitous beans and rice for C$70. Tacos for C$25 are an interesting, filling choice and were not at all what I expected. Wash either down with a C$25 bottle of Toña beer or
a C$20 tall glass of fresh squeezed OJ on ice. The
panaderia (bakery) has great pastries and bread but don't be deceived by the C$5 coffee which is instant crap.
Transport For me the boat schedules to Papaturro and Isla de Ometepe were of paramount importance. To Papaturro a boat leaves at 9:00
al punto on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday for C$105 and arrives ~12:15. There is a "sail" through
lancha that ties up to the Papaturro boat ~11:00 where fried fish with a plantain can be bought on the run for C$40. I did not partake on the way out but bought one on the way back, nothing to write home about. Better to grab pancakes in Papaturro before heading out then lunch at one of the great
malecón restaurants upon return to San Carlos.
There is a ferry twice/week to Granada, stopping at Altagracia on Isla de Ometepe. I left on a Friday evening at 17:00, arriving in Altagracia at the wholly inconvenient time of 00:30 the following morning - too late to get a decent night's rest and too early to wait out the night and save on accommodation. Share taxis meet arrivals and
shuttle to town for C$50/person. Why this boat can not leave much earlier or later is a mystery. Foreigners are obliged to buy "first class" tickets for C$161, first class being an arctic, air con version of second class below. Small
comedor on board and if you're lucky a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie marathon blaring at unnecessarily high volume. The ferry purportedly arrives in Granada at 4:30. On Tuesday the ferry leaves at 14:00 but still arrives at the same times because it makes a couple of intermediate stops on the lake shore before Ometepe. Return trips from Granada to Ometepe and San Carlos are Monday and Thursday afternoons.
There are also buses to Managua (some nice express services), Granada (one or two chicken buses per day; ferry is a far better option), and El Rama (for Bluefields).
Papaturro/Los Guatuzos Reserve
This town must exist solely because the Papaturro River crosses the Costa Rican border ~4 kms away. There's a small military outpost along with ~100 inhabitants. All baggage searched upon arrival so leave the El Salvador-procured Kalashnikov behind in San Carlos.
Many animals easily spotted all over town but there are guided
walks available through the institute or also Armando with Cabañas Caiman. The rates are fixed for groups up to 3 people so that wasn't really going to work as I was the only tourist in the village during my stay. But even so, I didn't really feel the need for a guide as there was so much to see just hanging around my cabin or very close by.
Accommodation and food Was met at the boat dock by Carmen from Cabañas Caiman, one of only two accommodation options in the village. I had my own spacious, clean room (there are only 2) with bathroom and mosquito netted bed (although not a problem as all windows have proper screens) for $14/night including a pancake breakfast with filter coffee ($10/night without breakfast). Lunch or dinner is an additional C$150 including lots of juice. Carmen will also provide drinking water upon request. It's a good deal considering the remoteness. There is also an ecological institute where a dorm bed runs $11 and there are also more expensive private rooms with bathrooms. Not sure what the food situation is there. The only other place I ate in town was Bar Wesly which had
3 Toed Sloth
Perezoso in Spanish, means lazy which I totally identified with in the heat. Maybe if he didn't have so much damned fur he could move a little quicker, Papaturro. comidas for C$100 that were not nearly as good as Caiman's but the
gallo pinto with eggs was OK.
Transport Boat back to San Carlos leaves Sunday, Monday Tuesday, and Thursday at 8:00 for the same C$105. If you
really need to get back to San Carlos I'm sure it would be possible to hire a private
lancha although presumably quite expensive. Could also use
lanchas to get to the Solentiname Islands.
Isla de Ometepe
Every traveler I've met in Nicaragua has made a stop on Ometepe for a few days. It's a pretty place, couple of desolate windswept beaches, Chaco Verde Reserve (not much but only a C$40 entry), a nice waterfall hike at San Ramón (C$75 entry fee) but the big attractions are the the twin volcanoes of Concepción and Maderas. The ascents are under brutal temperatures and reported conditions and a small group of us bailed on Maderas as it was pouring rain while we were finishing breakfast with the guide (mandatory for both hikes; $20 for up to 3 people for Maderas and $20/person for Concepción although I think the latter could be bargained down if in a group as there
is a serious supply and demand issue). Didn't try for Concepción since that hike is completely exposed to the sun and both summits were continually covered in clouds so the views from the top would have been totally obscured. With the aborted volcano attempts, I spent most of my time chilling (odd word choice given the weather nearly everywhere I've been in CA).
Accommodation and food Upon arrival in Altagracia in the middle of the night, I was at the mercy of a tout who was offering a place to crash at Hospedaje Ortiz (chosen solely for the name although presumably no relation to the immortal Boston Red Sox designated hitter) whom I had previously tried to contact to no avail. A bed in a fan cooled dorm (only 2 beds but I was the sole occupant) with a share bathroom was C$100, nice breakfast with real coffee was C$50, no WiFi, many loud roosters early in the morning (a constant on the island). Mario, the owner, is very knowledgeable about getting around Ometepe by bus and setting up volcano treks. Returning to Altagracia a couple of days later I couldn't handle another morning with the roosters so opted
for more central (Altagracia is tiny) Hotel Castillo in a grotty single with fan, share cold water bathroom, and WiFi for C$150. It's popular with backpackers and the place filled up very quickly after the ferry from Granada arrived. Nearby Hotel Kencho has nice self contained rooms and a
comedor serving C$20
batidos (cool, frosty milk shakes blended with fruit). In the park is a super basic restaurant with C$45
platos and C$6
refrescos. Can buy decent fruit in the park too.
In Mérida I pitched my tent at Hacienda Mérida for C$115/night (dorms ~C$230, private rooms much more). Clean ablution block, OK WiFi, but the restaurant was expensive (and not very good from what I heard from other guests) so I ate at El Pescadito (which strangely never had fish) down the road where the food was great but service not so much. Great
jugo de naranja but it seemed more like grapefruit juice without the sour bite.
My last night on the island I stayed in San José del Sur in order to catch the early morning ferry El Rey (supposedly best boat to take to or from the island). I crashed for the night at
Hostal Sinaí for an overpriced C$175 (fan, share cold water bath, WiFi). Breakfast
sin café is an extra C$65. Roosters naturally had the run of the place.
Transport Possible to almost entirely circumnavigate the island on sparsely scheduled buses (one or no service on Sundays for most routes) but many people rent bikes or motorcycles. Hitching short distances is fairly easy given the number of ex-pats with their own wheels. Buses go almost everywhere on the island but the service is not quite hourly for the busy route of Moyogalpa-Altagracia-Santo Domingo-Santa Cruz-Balgüe, and much less to Mérida or the north side of Volcán Concepción. Fares top out around C$20-30 so it's definitely a money saver over taxis or a rental.
Departing the island I took the El Rey de Cocibolca (King of the Sweet Sea) ferry from San José del Sur to San Jorge for C$55 leaving at 7:30. There is an afternoon service at 15:00 and the trip is a little more than an hour. Return trips from San Jorge leave at 9:30 an 17:00. At the San Jorge dock there was a chicken bus (old U.S school bus whose passengers do, in fact, frequently carry live
squawking chickens on board) waiting to leave for Managua (supposedly an express but "chicken bus" and "express" are assuredly mutually exclusive). Several of us boarded the bus and waited for about 20 minutes before someone finally had the sense at 9:20 to ask when it was leaving. 10:30 was the reply. Four of us opted to split a taxi (C$20 each) to the Pan American Highway bus stop in Rivas to wait for a bus there. Only a few minutes passed before a real express bus coming from the Costa Rican border stopped to pick up all who were waiting. Fare was C$71 to Managua but I was getting off in Masaya ~25 km short of the capital (a whopping C$1 less but worth it for the absence of poultry). The bus did not enter Masaya proper but discharged passengers on the highway from where it was a 20 minute walk through the bustling
mercado to the park in the town center. Overall travel time from Ometepe to the center of Masaya was under 4½ hours... not too shabby.
There are many more boats from Moyogalpa to San Jorge but these can be small
lanchas that may not travel
so well on the lake when it is windy. A few larger ferries leave from there also.
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