Blogs from Rio San Juan Region, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean

Nous nous sommes arrivés à la fin de la rivière (ou fleuve) San Juan hier après toute une journée de voyage en bateau qui est parti à 9h du matin de El Castillo pour arriver à San Juan vers 17h. Le bateau s'arrêtait à toutes les demi-heure pour laisser débarquer les Nicaraguens vers la frontière Costa Rican (A pied...) ou pour que les militaires du côté Nicaragua du fleuve puissent vérifier le bateau de temps en temps. On a vu quelques crocodiles pendant le voyage aussi, mais ils ne nous ont pas arrêtés.. Puis on était naïfs de penser qu'on aurait pu prendre un bateau de San Juan jusqu'à Bluefields.. c'était probablement une mauvaise idée de toute façon avec un petit bateau à la mer. Sinon on a découvert San Juan, un peu perdu et (surprise!) ... read more

We decided to travel down de San Juan river, straight through a pristine bio reserve, all the way to the caribbean coast of Nicaragua. After stamping out of Costa Rica, walking across the border and stamping in to Nicaragua we got to the small but busy river town San Carlos. We emptied the only cash machine in this whole region, had a very nice diner overlooking the river and lake and next day shipped ourselves into a ‘bote’, a long but narrow riverboat. We got out in the middle of ... read more

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 ... read more

Our Arrival The boat took 3 hours and we arrived at 3pm. Where We Stayed Hospedaje Universal - $10 for a room with shared bathroom. $18 with private bath. Lovely place with firm mattresses and pillows, crisp white sheets and river views from 2 rooms. Nice balcony with river or street views and rocking chairs. When you get off the boat turn left for a few metres. They can also arrange tours. What We Did Visit the fort - $2 admission with a museum attached with English signs. Watch a baseball game - on Sat or Sun Caiman Tour - $40 for 4 people booked through our hostel. Saw mostly glowing eyes. The guide caught 2 baby caiman's with his hands and brought them on the boat for us to look at. Where We Ate Comedor ... read more

We left La Fortuna on the 6am bus to Ciudad Quesada (1.20h) for our connecting bus to the border town of Los Chiles (2.5h) where we brought our boat ticket and got our exit stamp for the border crossing. The boat journey down the Rio Frio was beautiful seeing many of the same animals that we had seen in Tortuguero along the way. The boat dropped us off at the immigration post in San Carlos Nicaragua, after which we were picked up for our boat transport to the Jungle Lodge La Esquina del Lago, named because it sits on the corner where the Rio Frio and Rio San Juan meet the lake. The lodge was built 10 years ago by a French fishing enthusiast and that is the primary reason for people to come and stay ... read more