Monteverde was our first stop in Costa Rica. Getting to Monteverde is a bit inconvenient, coming from Nicaragua. The public bus option includes a trip to San José to catch the connection to Monteverde, which you could do on the same day if you start really early. We went for option #2, more expensive, but faster: We took a local bus from the Costa Rican side of the border to Liberia, spent almost three hours there, and took a pre-booked shuttle van that dropped us off at our hostel in Santa Elena.

Pension Santa Elena in Monteverde region’s main town Santa Elena was a friendly and relaxed hostel packed with young (mostly US and German) backpackers. We even got to enjoy one of their Saturday night live music sets they have during the weeks coming up to Christmas: A keyboard, a sax and a wonderful female singer performing Christmas songs (including Stille Nacht and Oh Tannenbaum in German!) put us into something like a Christmas spirit while we were having burritos, guacamole, chips and local Imperial beer for dinner.

We had only one day in Monteverde which spent doing a canopy tour in the protected cloud forest reserve. Monteverde is considered the best region in Central America to do canopy tours, which basically means ziplining on cables suspended on trees across the firest or high above the tree tops. We went with 100% Aventura, who feature the longest zipline in Latin America (> 1.5 kilometers!) and the Tarzan Swing—a free fall for almost three (looooong) seconds before you start to swing back and forth. You can call us Tarzan and Tarzan now!

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Isla de Ometepe is the world’s largest volcanic island in a freshwater lake, located in Lake Nicaragua. Its main attractions are the two volcanoes Concepción and Maderas, which are called volcán de fuego and volcán de agua, respectiveley, because Concepción is an active volcano with small to medium ash explosions and eruptions every 50 years, while in Maderas’ crater, a lagoon has formed. Climbing the volcanoes should only be done with a qualified guide—it has happened in the past that people got lost (in lack of designated trails) and even died.

Getting to Ometepe was not difficult at all: From Granada, we took a shuttle to San Jorge, where the ferries leave, and then set over to Moyogalpa, one of Ometepe’s two main towns. The ferry took about 1h 15m to get to Moyogalpa.

Obviously, we had to climb a volcano. At 6:45 in the morning, we met with our young, competent guide Ezekiel who would be taking us safely up and down the volcano Concepción, with an elevation of 1600 m the taller one of the two. We started our hike at 50 m above sea level. The first section of the hike was pretty flat, but quickly turned into a strenuous uphill path through amazing plantain and banana plantations, later cutting through a beautiful humid and dense rainforest, home to miko and congo (or howler) monkeys and other animals. At about 1000 m, vegetation stops and there is nothing but rock, stone and blackish sand.

The view from the 1000 m mirador (viewpoint) was amazing: we overlooked the island, Lake Nicaragua and spotted more volcanoes and the city of Granada on the lake’s shore. The top of the volcano, however, was covered in a thick cloud that at 10:30 already began to descend towards the mirador, where we rested and had a snack in the sunshine after the strenuous first three hours of hiking. Although we knew that the chances of seeing the crater in these cloudy conditions were low, we decided to continue our hike towards the top.

Climbing up on rocks and sand was really hard, and we imagined it would be even harder on the way down. Plus, the view was very limited in the clouds. Given the bad conditions and the difficult ascent, we turned around at 1400 m, only 200 vertical meters below the crater.

But on our way down, we were compensated with spotting many, many monkeys (and them spotting us—at one point, they literally circled us) and beautiful blue, yellow and orange butterflies.

We reached the foot of the volcano by 3:15 in the afternoon, almost eight hours after we had started from there. We were pretty exhausted, but very happy and impressed by Concepción’s range of vegetation and its biodiversity.

There was still time to visit Punta Jesus María, a narrow sandbank from which we had a great panoramic view of Isla Ometepe with its two volcanoes. And we also had our well-deserved beer, a coconut to drink and delicious papaya juice to recover from the hike. A tuk-tuk (one of the island’s tricycle taxis) took us back to Moyogalpa.

We stayed for two nights at the Corner House Bed & Breakfast right on Moyogalpa’s main street leading uphill from the port. Highly recommended! (You just have to use the complementary earplugs when the street party outside gets too loud.)

Goodbye, Nicaragua!

On December 12, we started our return to the mainland very early, because we had to cross the border to Costa Rica and make it in time to Liberia to catch our shuttle to Santa Elena.

Nicaragua was such a great place! Tourism is just about to take off and is being highly pushed by the government. But for now, the country seems to be quite pristine (and chaotic). It has a lot to offer, although we preferred the rural areas and nature sights to most of its cities (with the exception of Granada). We never felt unsafe or ripped off. The infrastructure might not be the best, but finding and taking transportation was easy (and it certainly helps if you know some Spanish).

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Oh, Granada! We really liked this colorful, buzzing, charming city. Despite being more touristy and international than the other places we’ve visited so far, Granada still boasts very authentic flair: the busy market and street life, locals hanging out in rocking chairs at the front doors of their houses, and wild traffic.

We also included some work days at the fantastic Garden Café. Great fresh lemonade for $1 a glass!

Over the past ten days, our daily rhythm had become synchronized with the sun: We got up early (ocassinally with the cocoricoo of roosters) and used to call it a night early. However, we couldn’t help but enjoy Granada’s Calzada, a broad pedestrian street lined with bars, restaurants and hospedajes, where the Happy Hour seems to start mid-afternoon and goes on and on and on…

Laguna de Apoyo

We took a day-trip to Laguna de Apoyo, a freshwater lake in the crater of an imploded volcano. We spent the day kayaking, swimming, floating in rubber rings and sunbathing at the Hostel Paradiso at the shore of the Laguna. From the lake, hardly any houses are in sight and there’s no real village around the lake, just trees over trees and nature. Along with a cold Toña and a chilled Sangria, this place actually came pretty close to paradise.

A couple of hours later, our shuttle dropped us off at la Calzada just in time for Happy Hour.

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Seventy kilometers off Nicaragua’s mainland coast and only an hour-long flight away from Managua, Corn Island was a more than welcome distraction from dusty, hot and chaotic Nica cities.

Big Corn’s landing strip almost covered one fourth of the island, and on our paseo by bike across the island, we witnessed that the kids playing soccer on the small triangle of lawn right before the landingstrip didn’t even stop their match when one of the three daily planes was landing. Since we only stayed at Big Corn for two nights, we didn’t go to Big Corn’s smaller sister island Little Corn, which you can only reach by a (sometimes rough) boat trip.

The island really had a Carribean feel, with significantly more people of African descent than the mainland, reggae music (we even heard Jingle Bells reggae-style playing in a church), everything going at a slower pace, and simple tin-roofed huts alternating with colorful houses and hotels. Plus, Big Corn offered amazing flora and fauna: A dog getting in close combat with an aggressive crab is far from being unusual here.

We stayed in a charming priavte cabana with thatched roof at Paraiso Beach, a tiny village of a few cabins, a small terrace restaurant and hammocks suspended between palm trees, in Big Corn’s main community Brig Bay. Flowers spread out on our bed were welcoming us at our arrival. It was paradise, indeed!

On bikes, we explored the whole island within two hours. We rode on white beaches, along the landing strip, stopped for a cold Toña beer and a double-shot of Nicaragua’s famous Flor the Caña rum on the rocks (slow pace, as you know). The rest of the day, we were chillaxing in hammocks, reading, blogging and taking in the abundant green vegetation around us.

Eventually, we had to get back to the mainland. The flight to Corn Island with La Costeña was not a problem at all, but the return to Managua promised to be… exciting. When the officers at the sole check-in counter in the smallest airport we’ve ever seen (which looked more like a regional bus terminal) asked us to step on the scale they had previously used to weigh our checked luggage, it became pretty clear that this time, we would go with a substantially smaller plane. We were handed out reusable plastic “boarding passes” that only said “Managua”. After Simone counted ten other people in the waiting room, she immediatly hit the bar for a beer. In the end, the flight was not too bad. Yes, there might have been a few tears and nervousness in the beginning after climbing into the tiny, tiny plane, but after a few minutes in the air, Simone had to admit that sitting basically in the fourth row of the cockpit was actually pretty cool.

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León is the second largest city in Nicaragua (with a mere 200,000 inhabitants) and the liberal center of the country (whereas conservative regimes used to pick Granada as the capital).

It was also one center of the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), a revolutionary group fighting Somoza’s (US-backed) dictatorship in the 60s and 70s. They continued the movement of Sandino, who had already fought the US occupation of the country in the early 20th century.

The Museo de la Revolución, right across the beautiful white cathedral, is the former headquarters of the FSLN, now rather a ruin than the beautiful colonial building it used to be. What makes it really special is that tours through the museum are guided by veterans of the fight against the Somoza dictatorship. It was impressive to hear first-hand accounts of the fight for freedom. Our guide also took us to the rooftop of the building (probably not TÜV-tested).

We stayed at la Casona Colonial, a historic colonial house furnished with antiques and run by a very nice old señora.

On our way to and from León, we passed by volcano Momotombo, which was actually erupting for the first time since 1905.

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Initially, Matagalpa was not on our list of places to visit in Nicaragua. Until Jan found out that Matteo, one of his Erasmus friends he spent a semester in Stockholm with, was currently living there. Matteo does his Swiss civil service as a civil engineer at Odesar, a Nicaraguan NGO.

Little Erasmus reunion with Matteo.

We stayed at the Hostel La Buena Onda, which we can highly recommend.

Matagalpa is probably most known for being located on the coffee route, along which you find some of the country’s most beautiful coffee plantations. Other than that, Matagalpa is a fairly average Nica city. There is, however, something to watch out for: the large and deep uncovered “manholes” next to the curbside of almost every single street corner in the city. They’re there for the water that floods the streets during the rainy season from April to October. However, you have to be careful not to be washed down such a hole yourself.

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We followed the recommendation by Simone’s friend Ulla, who had volunteered for six months in Granada, to do a tour in Somoto Canyon. All we needed to do was to “call Henry Soriano” as both Ulla and our travel guidebook Footprint said.

We were picked up at the Somoto bus terminal by Brian Thackeray, a British novelist and supporter of Henry Soriano’s tourism project Somoto Canyon Tours.

Only about ten years ago, the canyon was discovered as a potential tourist attraction, and the region is now about to develop sustainable nature tourism, transforming the canyon into a protected area, hopefully soon with the support of UNESCO. All of the proceedings from the tours are directly benefitting the community, without middle men or tour operators being involved. The project provides work for the whole family and many young men of the village who are trained to be guides in the canyon. Part of the guides’ training are English classes, so there’s also an added value for the guides, even if they decide to start a different job later. It’s really a win-win-win situation for you, them and the environment.

Brian took us on a late-afternoon hike to the miradores overlooking the end of the canyon that we would explore the next day.

We stayed over night in a very rustic room with the large Soriano family to leave early in the morning for the six-hour canyon tour with Wintur, our excellent and attentive local guide. The tour consisted of walking, climbing over and on rocks, wading, swimming and floating through the river in the canyon, everything amidst pristine nature. After climbing down, hiking and flying through canyons, we finally got to swim and take a boat through one as well.

We even got to jump from rocks into the canyon several times, Simone cautiously opting for a maximum height of 2–3 m and Jan going for the 4 m challenge. Finally, we took a boat to reach Henry’s place again, where delicious homemade lunch was served.

Sometimes, great people make great places even more amazing and special. That’s what we felt when we left Somoto after an incredible personal and adventurous experience.

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And so our Central American adventure begins!

Getting off the Aeromexico flight from San Francisco to Managua via Mexico City, we were welcomed by Nicaragua’s capital with heat, dust and dozens of Virgin Maries.

On our way to the Malecón, the lakefront of Lake Xolotlán, we passed altars over altars over altars dedicated to la Virgen. Many of the altars included renditions of paroquial churches or featured scenes of street and community life. In the center of every altar was a statue of the Mother of God, and speakers played loud devotional music. The altars were set up for the festival La Purísima, which is actually celebrated on December 7th in honor of the immaculate conception. On the streets, women from the neighborhoods sold freshly fried chicken and French fries, the national dish vigorón, fruits and drinks.

One of hundreds of altars for Virgin Mary.

Taking taxis to get about, we consistently lost all sense of orientation because there’s no real point of reference. Managua is a city of 2 million people without a real center—the closest thing to a center is Metrocentro, basically a shopping mall, where the historic downtown used to be before the devastating earthquake that hit the city in 1972. In fact, Managua emerged as Nicaragua’s capital only as a compromise between the two rivaling cities León and Granada.

Metrocentro turned out to be quite useful for us in the end, since Jan could get a local SIM card that works in all Central America (Claro que sí) for his daily work-related phone meetings and internet access.

We had our first (and certainly not last) typical Nicaraguan breakfast: Gallo Pinto (rice and beans), scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee. A great way to start your day!

Overall, Managua is not a place you want to spend much time at, so we quickly went on to explore the rest of the country.

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Some of these might be obvious, but still, here are a few tips for your trip to the West (in no particular order).

Dos

1. Travel off-season: November was a great month to travel. It might not be as hot as in summer, but the weather is still pretty nice. Particularly, if you plan on hiking, Fall temperatures are way more pleasant than sweating in the national parks with 30+ °C (90+ °F). Plus, touristy spots are not crowded at all and room rates drop substantially!
2. Go for AirBnB as your coice of accommodation. You’ll often find small apartments for the prize of one hotel room, it’s more homey and individual and you can frequently benefit from the owners’s advise, recommendations and interesting stories (or free bikes, yay!).
3. If you plan on visiting three or more national parks, the Interagency Annual Pass is a good investment. For $80, it gives you access to all national parks for 12 months.
4. Make sure you get on Highway 1 with a full tank when you make your way down to LA on the coast. There aren’t may gas stations, and if there are, they tend to be extremely expensive.
5. These days, there are apps for everything, and many of them make your life on the road easier. We found great places for coffee, lunch or working on Yelp, continuously updated traffic info on Waze, and we used almighty Google Maps for info on routes, distances and public transportation options. Other helpful apps are Uber for a cheaper alternative to cabs, Zipcar for short-time car rentals (the most economic choice for hourly to 2-day rentals), Groupon if you don’t mind spending a little while searching for good deals (attractions, visits, activities, amusement parks, etc.) along your way. (Of course, this list is far from being complete.)
6. Bring a phone charger that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter to avoid running out of battery (and having to find your way without Google Maps navigating for you).
7. Bring an audio cable or other device to be able to put on your own tunes while driving. Distances can be very long if you have to listen to country music or Christian radio stations all the time. We like to listen to Freakonomics Radio podcasts.
8. A general advise: Say Yes! Embrace the unknown and unplanned. It always worked out well for us to try things and have a positive attitude (except for one time, see Don’ts no. 1).

Don’ts

1. Don’t sign up for organized club crawls unless you really like mainstream music, tarted up female clubbers and sugary (albeit free) welcome shots.
2. Taking part in organized group tours in Napa Valley is probably not worth it. It’s certainly cheaper to rent bikes and visit as many wineries as you like and for how long you like individually.
3. Don’t bother to gamble in Vegas. Or, be prepared to lose.

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Most travelers like to watch to their finances, and so do we. In case you’re interested in how much we spent on what, here’s the breakdown:

• $2450 on lodging (hotels, AirBnB)
• $1700 on car rental (one week out of Portland and three weeks out of San Francisco)
• $1050 on dining out
• $270 on gas and tolls
• $240 on various entrance fees (e.g., the annual national park pass)
• $160 on food from supermarkets

Altogether, that’s around $100 per day per person.

Expenses in the U.S. in November.

Traveling the U.S. is not cheap, if you want to stay in decent private rooms and have a car—which you really need to explore most interesting areas. Going off-season certainly helps, though: Hotel rates are much lower and you avoid the crowds.

We’re in the fortunate position not to pay rent and other recurring bills while we’re on the road (except for storage at $100/month), so we can afford some luxury. Otherwise, lodging and dining out would have had some potential to cut costs.

Creating this summary was easy thanks to credit card statements exported to spreadsheets, and Mathematica doing the rest. Some small cash expenses are not taken into account here.

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