Nicaragua- a country that had been occupying our thoughts for some time. Stories of six-hour border crossings, vehicle x-ray machines and a complete ban on drones were not leaving us with much enthusiasm for visiting this territory. And there were the mandatory PCR tests (from one year and over).
But if we were ever going to make it to Ushuaia, then we just needed to embrace the hurdles!
… And that we did! Our drone was already safe and sound in Costa Rica (luckily, we had met a guy in Guatemala who was more than happy to fly our aircraft with his), and the paperwork, inspections, fumigation and insurance were just the usual series of steps to be taken when entering a new country by car. All in all, it went smoothly with our exit, two weeks later, actually taking much longer!
Our first stop was to be Esteli, apparently the richest town in Nicaragua, and believe it or not, a town renowned for its cigars. Little did we know, that as we drove past the many tobacco fields and cigar factories, we would be actually camping out at one that night!
We were on our way to a hotel in town, (we’d given immigration that address so we thought; best to follow through), but upon arrival, were informed that the hotel doesn’t accept campers anymore. Our hunt for a safe place in the centre was proving difficult so we travelled a little further south, ending up at Julio’s place. And what a first stop that was! Julio is a Cuban, running a woodwork factory, where they produce fine boxes for cigars. He has ample space for rigs like ours and welcomes Overlanders with open arms. So much so that he provides them with access to potable water, electricity, and wifi, and all for free. Nothing is expected, no cigar purchases, paid factory tours- nada!
Our time with him was so relaxing, we felt we were visiting a family member; and just as hosts do, he drove us to town, helped us with our groceries, and got us a backstage pass to one of the cigar factories in town- again, at no cost at all.
We were able to use his tools to try and fix our leaking problems (yes, the rainy season’s torrential rain is still finding its way into our camper), and basically just enjoyed listening to tales of long ago in one of his handmade rocking chairs.
We could have spent many more days in Julio’s presence but unfortunately, time was ticking. We only had two weeks to visit this stretch of the ring of fire and we needed to get cracking.
Cerro Negro was our first volcanic highlight. It is the youngest volcano in Central America, having first appeared in April 1850, and the most active in Nicaragua, with 23 eruptions to date. We took the 45-minute ascend to the top, scrambling over boulders and rocks, whilst taking in the contrasting green hills that surround. We had set out that morning for the purpose of sliding down the volcano’s infamous black gravel on sand boards, but were not anticipating such wonder and beauty along the way. The volcano has five craters and as we prepared for the adventure that was to follow, we marveled at the mystical steam rising from below.
Once at the top, we climbed into our very fetching denim boiler suits, and got our goggles and gloves ready. Ready to take on this fast and exhilarating ride down. This ‘black hill’ (Cerro Negro’s meaning in English), was mighty steep, and even though there are tips and tricks to slowing your board down- you’re still in for one rapid descent. Definitely a must for the thrill seekers out there! The three of us did make it to the bottom in one piece and enjoyed a celebratory slice of watermelon in yet another spectacular environment; rich black lava fields.
With a quick shower at base camp (there was a lot of sand to eradicate), we headed out to the region of Leòn. As it was already late in the day, we hadn’t planned on visiting the colonial city just yet. But it wasn’t raining and we knew the golden hour would be upon us soon. So, on a whim, and having just driven past a few iconic lion statues, we parked up in what was called ‘Central Park’, outside a very old-looking cathedral.
It was eerily quiet in the plaza though, and as we tried to search for some more hotspots, we were starting to wonder what all the fuss was about. The roads were a bit dirty, the market stalls were nothing to write home about and well, quite frankly, it just all seemed a bit run down.
That was until a curious lady, who wanted to know all about us, had simply suggested upon our departure that we must check out the central plaza! “Oh, we were not there?” Now that made complete sense! Five minutes later, the sleepy streets faded away into distant memory and a plaza surrounded by brightly coloured churches, chic cafes and restaurants, more lion monuments and filled with vendors selling bubbles and kids toys awaited us. It was lively and buzzing with tourists.
We took the obligatory photos and ate some rather delicious street food which consisted of nicely seasoned pork and chicken straight off the grill and a fried plantain rice dish. If we had spent more time in the area, and were to return to the city, we would definitely make a beeline to this authentic Nicaraguan stall. It was truly scrumptious!
The sun was quickly setting and we were already defying the ‘don’t arrive at camp in the dark’ rule. So we quickly drove west to ‘Rancho los Alpes’.
No, there were no Swiss-looking mountains here- but rather a lovely family who run a horseback riding finca. We clicked immediately with Axel and Ivy, and their daughters, spending most of our two days hanging out on their veranda, sipping on homemade mango and pineapple cocktails and sharing good food together. Richie pulled out the tomahawk and a picaña he’d recently purchased in ‘La Colonia’ supermarket (guys we are now in beef heaven!), and we grilled late into the evening. New friendships had been formed and just the way we like it, ‘MeatAroundTheWorld’ style!
For the next two days, we chose to check out Nicaragua’s Pacific coast, driving to nearby Las Peñitas. The town and the sea were a bit rough and to be honest, we just didn’t get round to exploring the area. The next 38 hours were going to be soaking wet! Rain in the camper, rain flooding the floors of the hostel, rain everywhere! Richie worked on the latest YouTube video whilst tending to the buckets and pans he strategically placed, and Zoe and I hung out with hostel backpackers going a little stir crazy! This was surf territory and there was only so much Jenga these surfers could play. Come Sunday morning we were out of there- we knew we were in the rainy season but this place was a little over the top!
Poor Las Peñitas seemed to be having a bit of a rough weekend because we really didn’t have to go too far until we saw a few patches of blue sky again.
We were off to Managua, the country’s capital, in search of a laundromat to dry all our wet bedding. Let’s hope we could get it done and let’s hope we could keep dry in our final week in Nicaragua.
Until then, thanks for reading, and we’ll ‘meat’ you guys around the world!
