NICARAGUA

Follow in the
wake of pirates
and adventurers

G R E AT E S C A P E
The San Juan River winds
through the Indio Maz
Biological Reserve, which
features trees up to 50 metres
tall and 500 years old

48 Lonely Planet Traveller July 2016 July 2016 Lonely Planet Traveller 49

1. Granada
Wander the wide cobblestone boulevards and linger in
the churches of Nicaraguas phoenix-like colonial city
F
OUND IN POCKETS, CASH
tills and stuffed down sofas
across Nicaragua is the 100
crdoba note (about 2.50),
showing the Cathedral of
Granada, presiding over the nations most
handsome city. Turn the note over and
youll see the other famous symbol of
Granada a horse-drawn carriage and its
grinning driver, clip-clopping along the
citys cobbled streets.
The horses, the carriage and the grin all
belong to Mauricio Sanchez himself part
of the long tradition of Granada carriage
drivers. One day Mauricio looked up
from a handful of change to see his own,
moustached face smiling back at him,
the depiction copied from a photo taken
by a tourist a few years ago.
Carriage driver Mauricio Sanchez
50 Lonely Planet Traveller July 2016
Granada is the city Nicaraguans are most
proud of, he explains, parked among the
laurel trees in the central square, scouting
for customers to take on an afternoon tour.
It is the oldest city in Central America, and
it has a history that makes everyone feel
romantic. Sometimes, when I have people
in the back of my carriage, I wish it didnt
make them quite so romantic!
Whether seen on foot or from the back of
a carriage, Granadas architectural harmony
is apt to prompt profound reactions; a
refined antidote to the sprawling megacities
of Central America. Jumping on the
carriage, the wheels soon rattle beneath
the duck-egg-blue faade of the Iglesia San
Francisco and the off-white Iglesia de la
Merced churches both originally built
in the 1500s, their foundations laid not so
long after Columbus spied the New World
through his telescope. Inside, people
shuffle up creaking staircases to the top of
bell towers for views over the rooftops of
the city: villas with shuttered windows,
courtyards with gurgling fountains and
old tobacco factories in the distance. The
carriage passes squares where locals picnic
on lunches of cassava and pork rinds served
at little kiosks, sitting beside statues of
Nicaraguan poets with sparrows perched
on their learned heads.
Rather surprisingly, Granada has the
moniker The Great Sultan the Spanish
settlers intending to build a tribute to the
citys Moorish namesake over the Atlantic
in the Old World. But whats even more
surprising is that Granada exists at all. In
1665, Welsh pirate Henry Morgan sailed to
Granada on one especially swashbuckling
raid, paddling canoes up the San Juan
River by night and sneaking across Lake
Nicaragua. He did what any self-respecting
pirate would do when confronted with
a city of exquisite beauty after a long,
exhausting and miserable journey: he
burnt it to the ground. There followed three
more pirate raids along similar lines, and a
conquest by maverick American adventurer
William Walker in the 1850s a man who
proclaimed himself President of Nicaragua,
and, when this didnt go down so well, left
the embers of the city with a sign reading
Here was Granada.
NICARAGUA
Clockwise from top left The 1915
Cathedral of Granada; locals chat outside
a hairdressers; the citys characteristic
pastel-coloured buildings; a vividly
painted statue of the Virgin Mary
By the time Mauricio has set out on his
last trot, the scorching afternoon heat gives
way to a gentle breeze. Evening crowds
stroll beneath the wrought-iron lampposts
and acacia trees, beside the peeling stuccoed
faades of barbers shops and Granadas
long-closed railway station, where steam
engines have been rusting at the platform
for decades. Games of baseball strike up by
the shores of Lake Nicaragua and the last
rays of sun disappear from the highest spires
of the city. Morgan, Walker and various
others failed to appreciate that Granadas
habit of getting destroyed was matched
only by its habit for rebuilding itself
G R E AT E S C A P E
bigger and more beautiful than before.
From Granada, its an hours bus ride to San Jorge to
catch the hour-long ferry to Ometepe Island.
Essentials
Hotel Dario is a colonial-era hotel with
an imposing mint-green front just south of the
cathedral. Rooms with ceiling fans and timber
furniture are arranged around two elegant
Andalucian-style courtyards (from 65;
hoteldario.com).
Horse-drawn carriages can be hired from
the Parque Central an hour-long tour takes
in all the churches and the waterfront park by
Lake Nicaragua (from 10).
July 2016 Lonely Planet Traveller 51

Ojo de Agua is one of Ometepes
natural water holes, and is
popular with swimmers
52 Lonely Planet Traveller July 2016
2. Ometepe
Set a course for an island of twin smouldering volcanoes, black-sand
beaches and ancient legends, set in Central America's largest lake
S
TANDING UNDER A PICTURE
of the Archangel Michael,
Captain Donald Jarquin rests his
hands on the tiller of the ferry
El Rey del Cocibolca, scanning
the horizon beyond the steel-grey waves.
Some way ahead, two mountains rise
leviathan-like from the water, their summits
crowned with wispy haloes of cloud.
Ometepe is almost a different country to
the rest of Nicaragua, explains island native
Donald, throttling the engine. People are
different; the landscape is different even
the volcanoes are different.
Nicaragua has dozens of volcanoes, from
soaring peaks to squat little lumps of lava.
None have shaped the countrys landscape
as exquisitely as Concepcin and Maderas,
two volcanoes that surged out of boiling
water long ago and joined to form the island
of Ometepe (meaning two mountains).
This mini lost world has long been a
retreat for those wishing to escape the busy
cities along the lakes shore. Ferry-loads of
Nicaraguans arrive at weekends to hike to
remote waterfalls, kayak lagoons and paddle
the pebbly shallows of the lake, stalked by
the twin summits of the volcanoes wherever
they go. In truth, Ometepe has always
possessed an almost mystical power over
the Nicaraguan imagination. Aztec settlers
from Mexico thought they had discovered
the promised land when they saw the island
they were proved right when they found
its fertile volcanic soil yielded giant crops.
NICARAGUA
The active volcano
Concepcin, shrouded in
cloud it last erupted in 2010
G R E AT E S C A P E
Following a footpath along the islands Kayakers on Lake Nicaragua haul their boats
southern shore, Ometepe today still seems onto the black-sand beaches, and groups of
a place of almost Eden-like abundance. friends sip rum at ramshackle beachfront
Gardens of mangoes, watermelons, chillies bars. One by one, lights from distant villages
and bananas shade trails that meander emerge, twinkling like fireflies in the dusk.
between the lakeside bungalows, passing For now, at least, worries of scheming
stacked sacks of coffee beans and tangled witches, volcanic annihilation and
tree roots as they go. accidental gender reassignment could
Pre-Columbian legends have thrived here not be farther from anyones minds.
too. Before long, the path reaches Laguna
Charco Verde: a little emerald-green lagoon Back in San Jorge, its a seven-hour drive to San Carlos
mirroring the pyramid of Concepcin, at the head of the San Juan River. Alternatively,
kingfishers swooping along its shores and board regular buses for a two-hour trip north to
spiny cedar trees growing along its banks. Managua and catch a plane.
The waters are said to conceal an entrance to
the underworld, guarded by a swimming Essentials
witch who barters for mortal souls (and who
also has a penchant for turning them into
farmyard animals). It is not the only legend
on Ometepe: one story tells of a little stream
whose waters are said to trigger an instant
sex change though this doesnt deter the
women who come here to wash their laundry.
There are geological hazards as well as
mythical ones on Ometepe. Its not long
Totoco Eco-lodge has seven thatched
before the trail reaches a yellow sign
bungalows on the slopes of Maderas. The
reading Ruta de evacuacin with regular
restaurant serves simple but satisfying
eruptions of Concepcin, the government
Nicaraguan food (from 70; totoco.com.ni).
occasionally orders islanders to evacuate
The ferry from San Jorge on the mainland to
(though they struggle to persuade a good
the port of Moyogalpa takes one hour (from
portion of the 30,000 inhabitants to leave).
1.20; ometepenicaragua.com). The Laguna
By the time the last ferry hauls into the
Charco Verde is set in the Charco Verde nature
docks, Lake Nicaragua sparkles in the
reserve, close to the town of San Jos del Sur
afternoon sunshine, and the twin clouded
(admission 50p).
summits blush in the slanting light.
July 2016 Lonely Planet Traveller 53
 NICARAGUA

3. San Juan
Rosa Amelia Herrera lives
with her husband Cristbal

River
on the banks of the San Juan

Follow the route of pirates

and Gold Rush pioneers
into the heart of the jungle

I
T IS JUST BEFORE SUNRISE ON
the San Juan River, and the sounds
of the jungle stir like an orchestra
tuning up. There is the percussive
rattle of cicadas and the staccato
putter of a motorboat, setting the reflection
of the moon on the water trembling as it
departs. There are the whoops of howler
monkeys invisible in the high canopy, and
the deep bass gulps of caimans, wallowing
in the reed-strewn shallows by the banks.
The real maestro, however, is the river itself
foaming over rapids, making the timbers of
riverside stilt houses groan mournfully with
the quickening of the current.
What the Amazon is to Brazil, the San
Juan is to Nicaragua a 119-mile stretch of
water journeying east from Lake Nicaragua

to the coastal lagoons of the Caribbean Sea,
forming the border with Costa Rica for its
final leagues. And midway along is the Indio
Maz Biological Reserve an area of virgin
rainforest more than 1,500 miles square, in
whose remoter reaches the paw prints of
jaguars, ocelots and pumas can be found.
Taking a guided trek through its muddy
footpaths in the half light of early morning,
it seems everything is constructed on a
superlative scale. Giant cobwebs cling to
towering almond trees, which might have
been saplings when conquistadors first set
foot in the New World. Minuscule poison-
dart frogs hop about the ferns, their backs
coloured luminous reds and yellows. It is
a place with a dense profusion of life in
A cormorant rests on the
banks of the San Juan
G R E AT E S C A P E
whichever direction you happen to look: From San Carlos, its a six-hour bus trip to the
capuchin monkeys swing from the creepers, capital Managua, from which there are regular
wild orchids burst through the leaf litter, the flights to Great Corn Island. From there, it's a
rustle of displaced foliage hints at some half-hour boat ride to Little Corn.
unseen creature escaping the attention of
approaching people. Only occasionally does
the rumble of river traffic on the San Juan
Essentials
rise above the clamour of the jungle.
Without any surfaced roads nearby, the
San Juan remains an important connection
between Nicaraguas Spanish-speaking west
and its Creole-speaking Caribbean coast
but long ago this was the only route into
Nicaragua. In the 19th century when the
Wild West was still wild and Panama was
canal-less steamboats carried Gold Rush
prospectors travelling from New York to
California via the San Juan River. In the
more distant past, pirates from the Atlantic Luna del Rio in El Castillo has five simple
rowed upstream through the jungle to timber-panelled rooms, the best of which have
plunder Nicaraguas Spanish cities. balconies looking out over the San Juan River.
I am so used to the river, I dont even hear Guests can eat excellent fish dishes on the terrace
the sound of it, says Rosa Amelia Herrera, (from 45; riosanjuannicaragua@yahoo.es).
swinging in her rocking chair and watching The main point of access for El Castillo is the
cargo boats slip past. Aged 84, she is one of town of San Carlos at the source of the San Juan
the oldest residents of the riverside village River. From here, two daily panga boats take
of El Castillo, and has lived in the same stilt around 90 minutes (5, departing 6.30am and
house built by her husband Cristbal 10am). Its possible to arrange half-day guided A view across the San Juan
since she was 22. All of my children were tours of the Indio Maz Biological Reserve from River from La Fortaleza, a
born above the current. When I dont hear the tourist office in El Castillo (from 45). 17th-century fortress built to
the sound of the river, I miss it. defend Granada from pirate raids

54 Lonely Planet Traveller July 2016 July 2016 Lonely Planet Traveller 55

4. Little Corn Island
Doze in a hammock, go beachcombing on white-sand shores and abandon
your Spanish phrasebook on Nicaraguas most serene Caribbean island
N
ICARAGUA IS A COUNTRY
with beguiling geography,
from its two vast lakes to
the chain of volcanoes along
its spine. This means that
someone studying a map probably wont
notice two punctuation-sized dots of land
off its east coast: Little Corn Island and Big
Corn Island. Upon disembarking at Big Corn
airport, with its arrivals hall not much
bigger than a bus stop, it becomes clear that
this is a place that moves to its own tempo.
The language turns from hurried Spanish
to the slow, mellow tones of Creole. The
quick shuffling of Latin American pop
music switches to the gentle bounce of
reggae on the radios. And, on taking the
half-hour ferry ride from the quays of Big
Corn to the shores of Little Corn, the pace
of life shifts from slow to the last rung
above stationary. For though Little Corn
technically counts as Nicaraguan soil,
this is a bona fide Caribbean island.
Little Corn is a place where everyone says
good morning and good evening to each
other, says Winston Downs, aka Mr Winnie,
mayor of Little Corn Island (population:
1,200, cars: 0), sheltering from a brief rain
shower inside the islands little community
centre. We dont need roads here because
roads only make people go faster. Why
would we need to go faster here?
Being barely two miles long and one mile
wide, Little Corn Island is a place whose
56 Lonely Planet Traveller July 2016
NICARAGUA
Jovan Emanuel with his
djembe. Left Hammocks are
the favoured way to relax on
Little Corn. Right Bicycle is
the ideal way to get around
G R E AT E S C A P E
footpaths should be explored with strategic Back on Big Corn, catch a return flight to Managua;
slowness. An amble in any direction will, from here its a two-hour bus ride to Len.
within 15 minutes, see visitors arriving at
a white-sand beach. The beach will, in all Essentials
probability, be dotted with driftwood and
coconut husks, tangled nets and beached
fishing boats that havent known the splash
of the Caribbean for generations. Very
likely there will be people horizontal
in hammocks slung from palm trees.
At the centre of the island is a baseball
field where horses graze, with a grandstand
that some say is big enough to seat the
entire population of Little Corn. At the
southern end is the Village, which, being
the only settlement on the island, doesnt
require the formality of being named. It is
a place only slightly less peaceful than the
rest of Little Corn: dancehall music plays on
a Friday night, gospel rings out on a Sunday Yemaya resort sits on the northern edge of
morning. The clink of pool games sound Little Corn Island close to the beautiful Otto
from beachfront bars around sunset and, Beach, with cabins set in landscaped gardens.
at irregular intervals, a sudden cacophony Theres an excellent on-site restaurant serving
of drumming comes from a nearby house. Caribbean dishes, regular yoga classes and
Sometimes we play our drums for hours private boats to shuttle guests to and from the
without stopping, says Jovan Emanuel. airport on Big Corn Island (bungalows from
Hes sitting on his porch playing a djembe 230, sleeping two; littlecornhotel.com).
an instrument made from almond wood Little Corn Island is a 40-minute boat ride
and taut goat skin, common to Nicaraguas from Big Corn Island (4). Theres excellent
Caribbean coast. Little Corn inspires me. diving in the lagoons around Little Corn Island
Little Corn is blessed with
When I touch the drum, I feel a kind of Dive Little Corn is among the reputable outfits numerous palm-fringed beaches
lightness inside me, I feel completely in the Village (open-water PADI course 230; coconut production was the
weightless. But, however loud we play, we divelittlecorn.net). islands primary industry for
never get complaints from the neighbours. most of the 20th century
July 2016 Lonely Planet Traveller 57

5. Len
Head to Nicaraguas original capital city
to read deep into the countrys poetic soul
I
T IS GRADUATION DAY IN
Len, and students gather outside
the whitewashed face of the
cathedral. In the cool reaches
of the nave, parents mingle with
tutors, watched over by marble saints
and relics brought across the Atlantic from
Spain half a millennium ago. Outside,
loudspeakers turned up to seismic volume
blast pop music across squares full of
revellers, rattling the iron shutters of
shop fronts and threatening to loosen
the terracotta roof tiles above.
Like The Godfather Part II, The Empire
Strikes Back and Terminator 2: Judgment
Day, a sequel can surpass the original
and this is most definitely the case with
the Nicaraguan city of Len. Founded in
1524 as the countrys first capital, Len
was initially renowned as a pit of Old
Testament-style vice ruled by tyrants
with an appetite for money grabbing and
massacring indigenous locals. And sure
enough, in true Old Testament-style,
Len was destroyed and buried under
ash by a volcanic eruption in 1610.
Len take two was relocated some
15 miles up the road, and four centuries
later lives a far happier life as a bookish
and boisterous university city. Its colonial
architecture is more ramshackle than
Granadas: its pastel-coloured bungalows
topped with a tangled mass of telephone
lines, its streets adorned with satirical
political graffiti. Dotted about the city are
bullet holes and bomb damage sustained
during the Nicaraguan Revolution in
the 1970s when Lens students led a
rebellion against the repressive Somoza
dictatorship. Portraits of revolutionary
martyrs are hung proudly on walls across
the city, annual parades commemorate
demonstrations in which students were
massacred, and the small Museum of the
Revolution pays tribute to the lost.
Through the day, locals pick their way
around markets piled high with fruit
58 Lonely Planet Traveller July 2016
NICARAGUA
and vegetables. Evenings see students
idling outside the cathedral, beside
a fountain guarded by four growling
stone lions. Wherever you go, a chain of
volcanoes still forms a (now fortunately
more distant) backdrop to Lens
crumbling colonial grandeur.
Len is Nicaraguas city of books,
says Alberto Alvarez Oporta Cruz,
G R E AT E S C A P E
a secondhand bookseller selling crinkly
volumes in the town square, looking to
pick up more stock from departing
students. Len is our countrys cradle
of poetry we have so much to inspire
poets here.
Across Latin America, Nicaragua has
Looking east from the top
a reputation as a country of poets: a place of the cathedral, volcanoes
where skilled bards are revered as rock dominate Lens horizon
stars, and where everyone, from primary
school pupils to the president, pens their A woman sells baskets
own verses. In Len its not uncommon Essentials at the side of the street.
to see students selling printouts of their Right The Mexican-style
compositions to passers-by. Baroque Recoleccin church.
Albertos favourite poet and Lens Far right A fruit stall holder
most famous son lies not far away, buried
beneath a statue of a more sorrowful stone
lion in the Cathedral. Rubn Daro is
revered as the Nicaraguan Shakespeare: by
the time he was 10 he had read the whole
of Don Quixote. By the time he died, aged
49, his verses could be recited across the
Spanish-speaking world. One of the citys Occupying a colonial mansion a five-minute
proudest possessions is his old home walk north of the city centre, Hotel La Perla has
now a museum, housing his bible and the comfortable whitewashed rooms and leafy
four-poster bed where he breathed his last. courtyards (from 65; laperlaleon.com).
Come nightfall, the post-graduation To find out more about the political upheaval
celebrations gather momentum. Streets are of 1970s Nicaragua, pay a visit to Lens Museum
closed down, bottles of beer are glugged, of the Revolution (1; Parque Central). The
stages are assembled, bands play music Rubn Daro Museum is set in the poets
and poets read commemorative verses to childhood home (1; Calle de Rubn Daro).
appreciative crowds. The party doesnt
end until the morning sun colours the sky Oliver Smith is senior features writer at
beyond the easterly volcanoes, by which Lonely Planet Traveller and was last year
time its hard to disagree with the verses named AITO Travel Writer of the Year.
inscribed on Rubn Daros stone tomb:
Nicaragua is created of vigour and glory. NEXT MONTH
Nicaragua is made for freedom. Great Escape: US NATIONAL PARKS