For the traditional December break we decided to drive up to Nicaragua. While planning the trip Shirlene's mother decided to join us as she has the time now after retiring from work. Dec. 27 we left from our house and drove up to La Cruz, a quint little town close to the border (Peñas Blanca) where we would cross into Nicaragua. We decided to sleep in La Cruz to get an early start at the border post, not knowing how busy it will be.
Dec 28 we arrived at the border post at about 5h30 to find a substantial number of people already there! This reminded me very much of crossing at Beitbridge to Zim, just not the chaos and noise. Immigration was a fast smooth cruise...but the time it took to get the car papers done, a complete opposite! Two and a half hours later we were through ...and the qeue was gone - so much for going early!
From the border we drove up to our first destination, Granada but stopped for breakfast at a little town called Rivas. Rivas is a lakeside town and nothing worth mentioning, except that the breakfast was expensive. On to Granada. The main roads in Nicaragua are amazing, perfectly built and maintained and then as a bonus, very little traffic. Wherever we went this was the case, and driving was a pleasure with a general speed limit of 80km/h.
Granada was a very pleasant surprise. One of the historical capitals of Nicaragua it has a very european touristy feel, very clean and seemingly organised and of course the old, older and ancient buildings are making it super nice. I could live there! We enjoyed two days in Granada doing whatever you can do there and still we missed some things, giving us reason to go back some time.
From Granada to Masaya, a city halfway to Managua. Now I have to explain, Masaya is only 45 km from Granada but the difference is indescribable. It is something like a cross between the current Polokwane in S.A. and Maun in Bots. Hot, dusty, dirty, overcrowded, noisy and you don't feel at ease there. BIG mistake in the planning, we should have skipped it....so I will skip it now.
Stopping at the Masaya volcano national park was nice. It is interesting to see the area, ancient lava flows and strange vegetation that grows there. The area is rather dry and this was also the dry time of the year, so it appears really arid. Plumeria (Frangipani) is native to Central America but I was amazed to see huge trees growing on the ancient lava beds and seemingly not on the normal soil. At the crater rim the sulphur smell is so heavy that it is hard to breathe. There we met a local tour guide who told us about a good birding spot on the way to Managua. After the volcano visit we drove to this private reserve (Montinelli) for some birding and it turned out very nice, even in the middle of the day, with the Painted Bunting as the birding highlight of the trip for us.
We arrived in Managua late afternoon - and again, were totally amazed by the roads and the very modern city, however, just another city, nothing special about it. The small well run boutique hotel in a very quiet area we booked here was just perfect. Walking distance to the main shopping area as well as the Intercontinental Hotel where we would celebrate the New Year. The dinner on the 31st and following party was superb.
The following day we drove north to another historical capital, the city of Leon, 93 km north of Managua. Again perfect roads running straight for long distances through a countryside of low acasia trees, huge sorghum and sugar cane fields and few people, much like driving north through Botswana.
Leon was a bit of a disappointment, run down, not pretty and quite obviously a very poor area. Some beautiful churches (many in need of some work) and not much else.
Heading back home and to our last stop, two days at San Juan del Sur, apparently the most popular seaside resort town in Nicaragua. Small town made up of the tourism area and a fishing harbour...nada mas. A very typical beach resort town with lots of local and foreign tourists, lots of sun & heat, lots of cold beer...very few birds...
We headed back home and arrived safe on the afternoon of the 4th.
At a glance:
Fuel is about 10% cheaper than CR
Beer (Toña) is a VERY good beer going at 1/2 price from CR ($1 per beer)
Food is cheap and good
Hotel prices are fair, but be careful of the standard.
Tourism infrastructure is basically just starting up so it could be difficult to find a good map, info etc.
Language is Spanish, it will be very difficult to get by without.
The trip? a big yes and for sure we will visit again, specially Granada.
As always, click on the album and enjoy.
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| Nicaragua Dec. 2012 Or watch the video here. |
