Nicaragua, english

Nicaragua welcomes us rather difficultly; there are some 20 kilometers of dirt road then 60 additional km before we arrive in a city. It is still a country which has been tested and which is marked deeply. It is therefore not recommended to visit the capital, Managua, without being accompanied by someone experienced. We have therefore bypassed the town. Granada is located on the shores of Lake Nicaragua and is small and welcoming. The centre has beautiful old buildings which make the city look good but if you venture to market you see the true face of this place.
From Granada we take the ferry to Altagracia province on Isla Ometepe, which is the only thing you have to do in Nicaragua. Please note this is not a large ferry, a little complicated, your best travel to San Jorge. A single paved road made Island tour. A few alternate routes go to points of interest. One of them is to reach the 2 volcanoes to camp and do a bit of trekking. After about 10 kilometres on the "trail" we left the volcanoes and camped by the lake on the ground of a restaurant. Not a bad thing eventually because there was a flood during the night that took a friends tent away at the foot of a volcano. The next day we found a completely slashed road on more than one kilometre. The earth and rocks in quantity.... And with their hands or armed with shovels the people began to attempt to clean the debris from the road. Almost ridiculous. 2 days later mechanical shovels there have been sent to do the job.
The following destination, small village popular for surfers. We have been charmed by San Juan Del Sur, relax and not expensive. We have stayed at the hotel LA ESTRELLA very affordable and with a view of the sea. For those who want to surf must still go a few km more but a lot of shuttles are available every day and it is absolutely worth it. The water is crystal clear! We met the local rum FLEUR DE CAÑA. A little too good maybe!
Small tip, attention! Father’s day is very emphasized in Central America. We waited four hours in order to pass the customs when normally it takes about 5 minutes.

RETURN PATH

It’s not always pleasant to return on the same steps of the route. In fact it removes the challenge whether or not it will happen. Fortunately there are still a few km that are new for us on the way back through this country. It fell on a beautiful hotel, a man discussed with us at a service station offering a cycling price for a room. Very nice location, it was altogether in a botanical garden (EcoHotel El Jardin in Diriamba)