One of the key things I wanted to do while in Estelí was visit Don Alberto Gutiérrez, a bit of a recluse who has spent the last 40 years carving all sorts of designs into the stones on his farm in the Tisey-Estanzuela Nature Reserve just outside of town. Once again, I arranged a day trip through Treehuggers, and…
One of Estelí’s claims to fame is that it is the largest cigar producer outside of Cuba. Cigar manufacturing is the biggest employer in the region and the surroundings are filled with tobacco plantations and really cool looking drying and fermenting sheds that are absolutely enormous! So, when I found myself with a free…
One of the really cool things to do in Matagalpa is visit the local chocolate factory (“El Castillo del Cacao” – “The Castle of Cacao”) on the outskirts of town. I actually did this independently (ie not on an organised tour) when I was here in 2013 (hence why this post is a little vaguer than…
I am so thoroughly addicted to “Club Social” biscuits here in Nicaragua (a fairly plain cracker) and turns out they make an excellent substitute to bread when one needs a very early breakfast (ham, cheese and tomato “sandwich”) before heading out for the day’s activities. The early start was to catch the bus from Estelí…
Last time I was in Nicaragua, I visited Matagalpa and ended up at the Finca Esperanza Verde – an ecolodge located about 45 minutes away further up in the mountains. At that time, Vivianne and Andrew had just taken over as owners and Max was a very small bundle of puppy fur. I couldn’t wait to…
There’s something about horse riding that is really special. If there is an opportunity to go horse riding I usually take it, so this morning I headed out with Ayssar (guide) and Rosita (my horse) for a few hours near San Ramón on the southern end of Ometepe. Specifically we went to check out some of the…
Another of our adventures at La Esquina del Lago Jungle River Lodge was to head up the Río Frio to the border with Costa Rica spotting birds and other animals. We left very early in the morning (Jackson was again our guide) with a beautiful mist over the river. The following are just a selection of the…
One of the things Caite and I did at La Esquina del Lago Jungle River Lodge was the Caiman (reptile similar to an alligator) night tour. We headed out in a boat with no running lights (nobody has running lights down here yet they all move around at night) with Jackson on the front with the…
First port of call on the Río San Juan was the La Esquina del Lago Jungle River Lodge for a few days. It’s located in the Los Guatuzos Nature Reserve and although it is one of the key fishing lodges in the area, it also offers some other interesting options as well. The Lodge is just across the river…
For many tourists, volcano boarding down the active volcano Cerro Negro is the biggest drawcard of León in north-west Nicaragua. Think snowboarding, but then replace the snowboard with a slightly larger and more rudimentary slab of timber, replace the snow-capped mountain with the black cinder-cone of one of Central America’s newest volcanoes, and replace the cool briskness of…