Nicaragua is hiding something amazing. Itself.

Inexplicably, Nicaragua remains off the radar of many travelers to venturing to Central America. Those who do decide to make the trek to discover it however, are rewarded with exquisitely rustic new world colonial charm found in the cities of Granada and Leon, azure lakes that defy your senses, in-your-face volcanic landscapes, three(!) types of monkeys to admire, and some pretty incredible bird life and oh yeah… it’s ultra (almost inconceivably) cheap! Fun fact: In Nicaragua you really get a bang for your buck, U.S. bucks work just like an unofficial local currency here (!) you can even pull them out of the ATMs.

To the Costa Rica / Nicaragua Border…

We began our Nica journey not in Nicaragua but with a quick stop over in Liberia, Costa Rica staying  night in a hostel before grabbing a 90 minute bus to the Costa Rica Nicaragua border. (Budgeteer Tip: For anyone who has an Alaska Airlines credit card you can use your $120 Companion Fare ticket to fly to Liberia, Costa Rica! Then, as we did, once in Liberia simply hop on a bus to the border which is a very short bus ride away. Our two round trip tickets from Portland, to Liberia cost us just $659 using this strategy.)

In researching our trip we found fellow bloggers had recounted a wide variety of steps and processes we could expect to encounter at the border crossing. It proved to be a… unique experience. Recommended for those who enjoy problem-solving puzzles, playing detective, and labyrinths. Prepare for no signs on your walk into Nicaragua, instead you learn to rely on being redirected by police or immigration when you misstep. We would almost encourage walking in a zig-zag route once past Costa Rican immigration just so you are consistently being redirected by officials to prevent bypassing some check-in or going the wrong way.

Step 1: Take the bus from Liberia to the Costa Rican border “town” of Penas Blancas, a.k.a. “Frontera”, which will cost you $2 for a 1 hour, 45 minute journey.

Step 2: Arrive at border crossing, debus, and walk towards white Costa Rica immigration building on left. And don’t forget to ask for your departure forms from the first immigration official you see, they are free… don’t pay for them from the locals standing outside trying to sell the forms to you.

Step 3: Inside the Costa Rican immigration building find an ATM like machine, if it is functional you get to pay an $8 departure tax with a credit card and advance to step 5. Departure tax machine out-of-order? Go back outside and back to step 2, look confused and wait for one of the locals standing outside to spot your look of confusion. With their assistance you may proceed to step 4.

Step 4: Your local guide will kindly relocate you back towards the bus you came in on to this legitimate(?) looking cashiers window… where you pay your tax in lieu of the broken machine. Once paid up, continue back to step 3, or step 2 if you still have not gotten your departure form, then onward to…

Step 5: Congratulations you made it out of Costa Rica! Urm… where is Nicaragua customs?? Well, it must be… further down, the road… presumably?

Step 6: Walking down the road you find encouraging signs like this which might optimistically confirm you’ve successfully navigated yourself into Nicaragua… but not so fast! in reality you’re only about halfway. Keep on walkin’!

Step 7: After walking about a kilometer, we got to some official looking Nicaraguan border patrol officers and we were questioned on our professions. The border guard was good natured and we all laughed at the bungled Spanish/English translations we spat out of park ranger and… a fiesta planner (event coordinator)?! After passing this identity test, we pointed towards a nurse sitting at a table at the roadside. She asked if we were a couple, we replied, “Si” and we passed(?) the exam. Moving on…

Step 8: Nicaraguan Immigration? After about 900 feet of walking, you should find this unassuming building… none of the doors are marked, and are blacked out, so we waited and watched for someone to go into the building to discern which door was unlocked and potentially the entrance.

Step 9: Once inside don’t forget to stop at the small booth just inside the door to pay your $1 municipal tax.  Then proceed to an Nicaraguan immigration official, get stamped, pay $12 per person, and out the exit door!

Step 10: After exiting Nicaraguan customs building, unless you really want to take a taxi, walk immediately through the taxi driver gauntlet who may send you astray by telling you the next bus doesn’t leave for 1.5 hours. Then as you wait, oh they just heard the bus is even more delayed. This tipped us off, there were supposed to be lots of buses here; did we miss something? Wait, there is a gate to the left just after exiting the customs building that was blocked by the taxi drivers! This gate was flanked by more customs officials who will again checked our passports… and then motion you through the gate and bam!  You’ve made it to Nicaragua!

With the border adventure behind us we pushed onward… to Leon!

Our bus was al ‘directo’ to Managua. Arriving in Managua, after a very long journey on a stone-hard school bus seat (thank goodness for our Fillo pillows.), we took a mini bus for $.90 from Managua’s UCA Station to Leon. By the way the station is pronounced u-ka, not UCA(!), any other pronunciation will not get you there!

Leon, Nicaragua

Leon, founded in 1524, feels like discovery. It’s most definitely not as touristy, nor as polished as its colonial city rival, Granada, but it has colonial beauty and charm in equal abundance. Leon seems to present itself as a place to reward those who want to explore it haphazardly, a wanderers’ city for those who enjoy searching out special places. Leon is living and breathing its history. In1610 the original city (old Leon) was abandoned after a series of earthquakes. The new Leon city sprung up and battled back, and forth with Granada as the capital city before Managua won out in 1858. Today, we all get to soak in the spoils of that colonial capital tug-of-war between those two great cities. We had just two nights and days to wander Leon and find the Nicaragua it was hiding. When we arrived we were quickly (and happily) snapped up at the bus station by a bike-taxi, which gave us a wonderful first introduction and perspective to Leon as our driver coasted over the cobblestone streets. Corner after corner our eyes were wide and our excitement swelled. We were delivered in style to our accommodations at Paz de Luna ($30/night), a great location and value B&B & Cafe which we would happily recommend.

And a magnificient gallery of beauties in Leon awaiting discovery in Leon…

The next day, despite our growing wariness to willingly choose to put our increasingly fragile and aging bodies into harms’ way in our travels…uh… fuck it, in twenty years we’d be more disappointed by the things we didn’t do than the things we did do. (Thank you Mr. Twain) Enter, volcano boarding. Nicaragua the only place in the world which we know of where you can do this. Interesting foot note to our fear of incurring self-injury on this adventure: while signing our names in the park registry book beforehand we noted that in the previous three pages, containing about 50 visitors names, origin, and age, there was just one person listed as being older than us… he was 41. Hmmm, red flag?

Cerro Negro Volcano first appeared in April 1850 and has erupted 23 times since, the last being in 1999. We booked this amazing experience Volcano Day Tours, who also incidentally donate their profits to local educational charity, so you can do it for the kids if that helps motivate you. They even threw in a complimentary tank top, and a well-deserved Toña at the end of the trip (the local beer of Nicaragua!)

After the volcano boarding, and a really delightful shower to dispose of the lava and pumice rock now embedded in our hair and various nooks-and-crannies, we set out to take in the sights of Leon. We happened to learn that you can get an incredibly unique experience at the Cathedral of León, also known as Our Lady of Grace Cathedral, by climbing up the bell tower and walking out onto its roof! The brilliant white Cathedral of Leon shines from blocks away as you approach the historic center of Leon. It’s not hard to understand why this striking Cathedral is also listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stepping out onto its rooftop is truly a divine experience, you are also made to take off your shoes beforehand which in our case, only helped to heighten the experience of walking (barefoot) on a masterpiece of architecture and all with a view to leave you speechless. This was one of the most extraordinary perspectives of a church we’ve experienced

Granada, Nicaragua

From Leon, we packed our bags headed to the bus station and began our journey south by 2 hours, to Granada the reigning crown colonial-jewel of Nicaragua. For us, we found the Spanish colonial treasures on display in Granada to be a something between that of brilliantly polished regal Cartagena blended with the fantastic faded glory and rustic charm of Havana. We stayed all three nights of our time in Granada at the 18th Century historic Granada Boutique, a wonderfully restored colonial mansion smack in the middle of historic Granada and all for an unbelievable $35/night which also included a very refreshing courtyard swimming pool for us to lazily cool off in. What a find!! Until nightfall.

The people of Granada, as we found out after our first night, are apparently very late to bed, and accordingly, late to rise. For a couple of disadvantaged perpetual light sleepers who are most definitely ‘morning people’ this was a bit of a lose/win arrangement… frustrating sleepless nights followed by wonderfully deserted (until 10 a.m.) peaceful city streets made for wandering at your own pace. By the way, those of you who suffer with the curse of being a light sleeper we came to depend upon one of our favorite travel apps, the white noise app, to help get us through the loud and restless Granada nights.

The view of the Granada cathedral from the Bell Tower. Lake Nicaragua is in the distance. This is the second largest lake in Latin America, after Lake Titicaca. Due to its position on this lake, Grenada was once very susceptible to pirate attacks and before the Panama Canal was built, this was how people got from the Pacific to Atlantic without going around South America. In fact Mark Twain did this in the early 1800s.

As luck would have it, when we booked, we were blissfully unaware that the International Poetry Festival was in Granada that same weekend, coinciding with Valentine’s Day. Poetry fest you say. How does that… happen, work, look like? Well, who would’ve guessed that a poetry festival inspires Latin people to party until 4:30 a.m., even on weeknights! Well, we can attest it did. The festival was actually a huge draw, some of the presenters spoke in English which we were grateful for, but simply listening to Spanish speakers reading their poetry to the masses, even though we couldn’t understand it, was certainly moving. And, add in the backdrop of Granada’s magnificent main square, and we had yet another truly surreal, unique experience to add to our time in Nicaragua.

Incredibly walkable and friendly, Granada is a city to a true pleasure to get lost meandering in…

Like in Cartagena, there were horses and carriages everywhere. Since it wasn’t our honeymoon this time, there was no woo-ing to be done, which is too bad considering the cheap factor 

Las Isletas Tour

The most difficult thing we faced in Granada was being spoiled for choice of excursions and day trips. Granada itself is distracting enough by itself to consume days out of your itinerary exploring the city sights, with an overwhelming variety of affordable tours and nearby attractions to choose crippled our decision making abilities and soon led us to resort to doing paper-rock-scissors in order to reach a consensus decision on what to see. We settled on 2 excursions each about $18-$20, Las Isletas (The Islands) on Lake Nicaragua and Volcan Masaya.

The Las Isletas tour came in two options, small motorboat or kayak (…more choices!!). Initially we opted for the kayak tour, but unfortunately found the tours full so we instead opted for the boat tour. The Las Isletas are a group of dozens of small volcanic islands created in Lake Nicaragua after a nearby volcano blasted the large (island sized) lava bombs out into the lake during an eruption. Today, the islands are an odd patchwork of unchecked nature and needs-to-be-checked-overdevelopment. Over the years, many of the islands have been bought by well off Nicaraguan, American, European, and Canadian expats that have built their own private mansions. Those islands which are still for sale, or those too small to be built upon, are wild and rich in wildlife. The short 20 minute drive from the urban center of Granada to the lush tropical marshland shore of the launching site into Las Isletas was a remarkable transition in environments. Our first glimpse of Lake Nicaragua was simply awesome, a horizon of azure water as far as you can see, and the island of Ometepe with it’s picture perfect cone volcano rising up from the lake. Wow! As we tranquilly motored out through the network of channels and into the reserve, we passed several wild and overgrown islands with bird life everywhere until we arrive at Isla San Pablo, where a 18th century military fort stands that once protected Granada from pirates. Another stop, Monkey Island, was quite literally named. As we found out with closer examination, all 3 species of monkey found in Nicaragua (Spider, Capuchin, and Howler) inhabited the tiny tiny island which seemingly should not be able to support a colony of ants, let alone 5 monkeys. Our guide’s explanation was that the monkeys were abandoned there by local fishermen, and they subsist solely on food given to them by passing tour groups (like ours) and a few locals who feed them.

The next morning we strolled the deserted early morning (8 a.m.) Granada city streets stopping in at the delightful Cafe de las Sonrisas, a cafe staffed completely by deaf Nicaraguan youth. Created not only as an employment opportunity for them, but also as a venue to give a voice to a population often neglected by others. The menu and wall space in the cafe is cleverly designed to help facilitate communication between the deaf servers and patrons by using sign language. What a mind-opening experience, and what a wonderful find! Next door to the cafe is a hammock factory that is staffed by disadvantaged youth who sell their expertly (and beautifully) hand woven hammocks to passersby. We were amazed and inspired to watch a blind hammock maker intricately weave his way around his loom, counting the differently colored threads in his head as he went so that he could create a uniform pattern to his hammock.

Another worthwhile stopover on your walkabout in Granada is the public market. The market is easy to spot from blocks away, the first thing you’ll see is the fruit vendors that have spilled out of the market building and onto the surrounding streets, making it look quite chaotic. It is chaotic. There is no main entrance, rather if you want to get to the interior of the market and the tasty local food stalls you’ll have to walk the exterior fruit vendors (be sure to stock up on any unrecognizable fruits you see like the Sapodilla, Star Apple, or Passion Fruit/Maracuya) and keep an eye open for one of the many narrow alleyways leading to the interior. Just like a labyrinth. Once you’re in, the fun begins. There are different sections of the market that sell different items and no one-stop shops. Most of it is household wares. Everyone we met was very friendly, not pushy, and smiling. It’s an enjoyable wander in the market labyrinth, sucking on that Maracuya we just picked up.

Our next paper-rock-scissors decision day trip excursion winner, a night tour of Volcan Masaya, Nicargua’s first national park. It was an uninteresting sleepy 45 minute van ride up to the national park entrance from Granada with our tour group, another 45 waiting at the entrance to be permitted into the park, then… into the park, and oh maybe we’ll see some monkeys or maybe some pretty… gosh we seem to be picking up some speed here… sure, I guess we should’ve passed that other van on a blind corner… more passing (?!)… wait did our van just go on two wheels around that corner (?!!)… holy hell… are we part of a suicide mission to drive off a cliff and into the volcano? Once, safely stopped (engine off) at the caldera it turns out the park only allows tour groups to view the crater for 15 minutes before having to leave, so what ensues is a mad dash to get us to the top in order to maximize our time up viewing there. And wow, what a view it is! It’s not often one gets to stand at the very edge of fiery active volcano and gaze into a river of churning lava that’s just one unfortunate misstep below you. No surprise, they don’t let you do this at Kilauea, Hawaii. But in Nicaragua, eh, you can stroll right on up to the edge of your doom, with just a passing warning that there might be scorpions. Bats were also in abundance swirling around us and diving into the caldera’s caves. Gives a whole new perspective on the phrase, “bat out of hell.”

Now, back into the death defying hell van to plummet down the volcano and (hopefully) back to Granada.

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

Our ears were quickly filled with the uncountable and beautifully exotic sounds of the jungle; alien sounds that make you say, “What-the-hell is that?!” Suddenly we heard an odd sound that made it worth every Cordoba to stay here, the eerily unsettling primal roar of Howler monkeys. We were surrounded by them!

…and a pretty incredible beach awaited us after an easy and peaceful 25-minute walk from Rancho Cecilia, past rural farms and local homes. After making the walk we were rewarded with being the only beach goers on a wide, clean, postcard perfect beach. Beach day!! All day!

Oh, and yes there were other jungle critters awaiting discovery. We found this beast under hiding under Greg’s phone. It felt a bit like an omen, that he posed in front of this magazine. Love it!

Playa del Coco, Costa Rica

Our last stop before we flew out of Liberia was an overnighter in Playa del Coco for one last beach day. Playa del Coco is just over the Nicaraguan border in Costa Rica, and about 45 minutes by bus from the Liberia bus station. Our accommodations ($50) at the Beach Hotel M&M were oceanfront and very pleasant, their breakfast (included) was an especially enjoyable surprise and we definitely made good use of their stocked kitchen with a super view. In Playa del Coco we soon discovered there was a particularly abundant population of retired Americans/Canadians living in the area, so many that when we went out for a drink at a local bar we stumbled into a charity/raffle bingo event put on by the Veterans Association and its several dozen members who took every seat in the house. Clearly the expat population here offered an explanation for the abundant gringo centric food options, English only menus, and certainly the inflated gringo pricing. But then again, the view also explained why we all came too.

Wrapping up our trip budget, after 10 days we spent a grand total of $1489, for everything; including airfare. Even with  surprise expenses that included spending more on taxes between Costa Rica and Nicaragua then we originally anticipated, and extras in staying at the eco-lodge and tours or excursions we absolutely got a ton of bang for our bucks. Nine nights is definitely not enough time to cover the diverse landscape of Nicaragua, but it was a fantastic primer. Nicaragua was a delectable first bite of what a longer stay could taste like and left us craving seconds. The land of lakes and volcanoes… we’ll be back!