nicaragua

San Juan del Sur (2026)

The lovely Nicaraguan couple who helped me hitchhike from La Virgen to San Juan del Sur (see blog post!) Playa Marsella, a lovely stretch of coast that seemed like it had almost been cordoned off entirely for our (loud!) beach party. Enjoying the scenery at Playa Marsella. I'd basically come over to San Juan purely to experience one more Pacific sunset before heading inland, and here it was. Naturally had to get a pic with it. Love how you can't tell that there's a party with terrible music on full blast and wild drinking games going on off-camera! After sunset, they started a bonfire by the beach. I was probably about seven beers in by this stage, and was happily enjoying the random convos. The night didn't get too much wilder afterwards - we were shuttled back to the hostel around 9pm and, exhausted from the day's exertions, I crashed on my bunk not long after. The main beach at San Juan del Sur, which I hadn't sighted at all upon arrival. It's sadly noticeably dirtier than Playa Marsella (not so visible in shot, though you can see a couple of plastic bottles), and not particularly enchanting a scene. Notice the Jesus statue atop the hill in the background, which gives San Juan a 'baby Rio' sorta vibe. Scenes from San Juan del Sur. The main town centre is fairly developed (paved streets, plenty of bars and restaurants, etc.), but the areas outside the core are considerably less so. Nicaragua was already reminding me a little of Cambodia, so I was enjoying my surroundings very much. I believe there are actually crocodiles in this water at certain times of day. Which is WILD to me, given how people were happily frolicking in it (out of shot), and how it's in such close proximity to some beachside eateries. Guess they must be small crocs. Anyway, this was taken on my way to the chicken bus outta here.

Granada (2026)

It took three buses and a whole lot of stress, but I eventually got myself to Granada, a city whose winsome charms swiftly laid waste to the ill-feelings I was carrying after my journey. Granada's vibrant colours and colonial architecture make it highly photogenic wherever you turn, so expect a lot of these street scenes. Like so! Even when relatively unremarkable, I found the place enchanting. The buildings downtown seem a bit better maintained. Being flanked by a volcano certainly adds to Granada's manifold charms. More Granada street scenes. Outside the city's main market. Not sure what the building sporting all that faded colonial grandeur was, but it was fun to look at. Mercado en Granada This market felt a little dodgy at the time, but I returned the next morning and found that people were absolutely lovely. Though it's very, very loud (lots of stores blasting music through competing loudspeakers). More of that market area. These facades have seen better days, for sure, but it's that knowledge which almost heightens their appeal imo. Catedral Inmaculada Concepción de María, the city's premier cathedral. Plaza Mayor, a little glimpse of the world around the main square. More of that main cathedral. A fun little hive of activity. Some gorgeous, well-maintained architecture surrounding it. Another church which caught my eye, not entirely sure which one tho! :/ Backstreets with volcano. Backstreets with impending sunset! We'd considered going up the tower at the main cathedral for the sunset views, realised that there was a churchl right next to our hostel that supposedly offered better views and subsequently backtracked there only to be told that their church tower closed at 17:30, which meant that we then backtracked again... To the main cathedral, where we got up the tower, but in doing so missed the actual sunset. Smh! Atop the cathedral with the volcano in the background. We'd already befriended another backpacker just by walking between the two churches, so that + the architecture told me that I'd fall hard for this city! Post-sunset views from the cathedral. Note that the main square in front of us there became a hella fun place to be after dark. There was karaoke, people dancing, vendors everywhere. A total vibe! And on a Sunday to boot. After sunset, we went back to our excellent hostel (De Boca En Boca) for welcome drinks, grabbed some dinner, and then drank some more. I think this was taken during a late evening excursion to top up my beer supply? Fun first night. Iglesia La Merced, which was literally right next door to our hostel. THIS was the church whose tower we'd attempted to climb the previous day to no avail. A stunner. Street scenes around the hostel. More street scenes from the old city. Plaza Mayor again. This was a Impossible not to be won over by a city that looks like this, no? Calle La Calzada is probably the most well-groomed street in Granada, possibly all Nicaragua. Not a criticism at all. Couldn't resist snapping the facade of this beautiful hotel. Even the less illustrious and opulent facades are armed with oodles of aesthetic appeal tbh. Guadalupe Church. Wonderful. The scenes outside Guadalupe Church - polychromatic terraced houses, a makeshift marketplace, merely add to its splendour imo. Calle La Calzada from the other end. Buildings perpendicularly opposite to our hostel. Later in the evening we went on a 'hike' around Masaya Volcano National Park. The tour was shambolic and shoddy, but the views were pretty cool. There were several tour groups that were hastily led up here for sunset. Just as we all started getting along with each other, we were hastily led away again... ...to an ACTIVE CRATER! We were promised a lava lake by night. We got a lot of sulfurous smoke and faintly-visible streams of red through the distance for a few minutes before we abruptly shepherded away again. I enjoyed the novelty of it nonetheless, knowing full well that I'd have more experiences with volcano later in the trip. Thanks to the German lady who lined up this shot for me! After the volcano we returned to town, had dinner with new friends, had further drinks with more new friends, and got to bed before midnight cos the next day was gonna require an early start. Here's one last shot of beautiful architecture in Granada before departure.

Ometepe Island (2026)

This was at the end of another 'two hour' journey that swiftly extended itself interminably and turned into a cacophonous nightmare. We paid a taxi driver at Rivas five times more than the normal price - partly due to lack of awareness, and partly due to wanting to get the hell out of the chaos at the Rivas bus terminal. Eventually ended up here: San Jorge ferry terminal. The ferries to Ometepe visible in the distance, with the majestic island forming the backdrop right behind. The hour-long ferry rides to and from Ometepe were the *only* modes of transport that I enjoyed during Nicaragua. Primarily because we decided to sat outside, directly on the narrow decks, instead of in the seated interior (where people were predictably blasting their phones at volume). Of course, the scenery also helped. Ometepe is a visual delight of an island: formed by two volcanoes, Concepcíon (1610m on the left; still active) and Maderas (1395m on the right; dormant). I was transfixed the entire way. We'd booked accommodation several miles away from the Ometepe ferry terminal at Moyogalpa. It required a $20 taxi to get there, and there was absolute carnage at the ferry terminal when the taxi I'd arranged with a persuasive 'el jefe'-type over on the mainland was nowhere to be seen, causing *everyone* to claim to be my phantom driver. Eventually got it sorted and ended up having to detour to drop off a trio of girls with incredibly 'off' vibes who seemed oblivious to unspoken backpacker codes of courtesy and made me genuinely uncomfortable the whole ride. Turns out they were Israelis, so go figure. After yet another painful journey, I finally ended up at the incredibly rustic accommodation. Showers and toilets were super basic and oft-dysfunctional, rooms were similarly simplistic, and we were miles from anywhere. But we had a patch of the lakeside all to ourselves, plenty of hammocks and beers, and THIS incredible view. Should also be said that the family who were running the hostel were very nice. Zero English spoken which made communication entertaining, but they were generally sweet and helpful and I hope their business works out for them. Should really consider upgrading the bathrooms a little tho. So yes, I took the same shot a zillion times during sunset, and we're gonna just ride with it for a bit because I love these images. That post-sunset glow, eh. Properly evening at this point. We ate at the hostel (for there was nowhere else nearby and it had been a tiring travel day - about nine hours door to door), had a few drinks and convos with other guests, and retired fairly early as we'd committed to doing a volcano hike the next morning. Up at 7am for breakfast the next morning, and then walking through the village of Mérida to find the trailhead. Mérida. Eerily reminiscent of parts of Cambodia when I lived there. There were other places on the island that rekindled those memories even more pointedly, but I didn't get a chance to capture them, sadly. Note the pup in this pic btw. We'll come to him later. The trailhead for the Maderas volcano hike, I believe? Basically spent the first hour or so walking through what felt like private farmland. We had to get a guide for the trail (another $25 each iirc). My terrible navigation skills meant that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and the price was a fair one as the only other backpackers we met on this trail were two French girls who'd paid the same for their own guide. Anyway, spoke very little English, but I'm fairly sure we were told that these were Mesoamerican carvings dating back several hundred years? The veracity of that I'm not entirely sure about, but cool if true. This pup was one of many owned by the family that ran our hostel. He was a treasure. Followed us all the way from breakfast to the trailhead and then up the volcano as far as he could go. Our guide seemed unfazed, saying that he'd Concepcíon (the taller volcano farther up the island) the previous day. Pup was clearly into his volcano hiking! Sadly, I don't think he'd been up Maderas before, because there's a section where the trail becomes steep enough to require ropes. He couldn't make it up, and we couldn't figure out a way to get him up safely. We had to proceed and persevere without him, and prayed that he'd still be there on our return hike. His howls and cries of sadness as we left him still haunt me... :( He also *wasn't* there on our way back down, but luckily he's familiar with the island and managed to find his own way back home. And, judging by the cuddles received upon seeing him again, he thankfully didn't hold too much of a grudge about our leaving him. What a champ. We don't deserve dogs. Back to the hike. We chose Maderas over Concepcíon for two reasons: it was considerably nearer, and we assumed it'd offer us views *of* Concepcíon which is objectively the more attractive volcano. Here it is. And here's the 'cloud forest'-style terrain that we had to hike through. This was meant to take 8 hours (round trip). And I STRUGGLED. I'd had a poor night's sleep and wasn't feeling 100% in the morning (another guy in our hostel was meant to join us and pulled out for exactly those reasons) but decided to persevere. I'm a very experienced hiker, but I found myself frequently out of breath and going much slower than usual pace. All sorts of emotions were playing out in my head as a result: mainly distress at my belief that I was ageing out of being a top-tier hiker, but also panic because there was another, considerably more challenging volcano hike that I was intending to do later in the trip, and if I couldn't even hack Maderas at 1400m then was I really cut out for anything anymore? At the summit of Maderas, there's a beautiful crater lake. Sadly, we weren't allowed to go down and explore it for reasons that remain unbeknownst to me, so we sat up top and had snacks with the two French girls I mentioned earlier. Oh, and there was time for a quick photo op as well, natch. Part of the reason why I opted for Maderas over Concepcíon was that I thought you could experience both the crater like and the view of Concepcíon *at the same time* while on the summit. This was not the case, at least not where we stopped. This was the highest point at which the neighbouring volcano was still visible. After so many wildlife #fails in Costa Rica, I'd given up on seeing anything in Nicaragua. Maderas is home to tonnes of howler monkeys, however, and they made their presence very audible. This was the best sighting/capture I managed. Still pretty crap, but if you look very closely you can just about make out the facial features! Remember how I said the hike was projected to take at least 8 hours? Well, we made it back in 6.5. That, despite my feeling like I'd struggled the whole way. In the end, I tentatively drew some confidence from this: I put my struggles down to the poor night's sleep, and figured that if I can go faster than standard pace even at compromised fitness, I'm probably still capable of tough hikes at full fitness. I was hoping as much as analysing, ofc. Some shots of the scrub/desolate farmland that we traversed at the bottom of the trail. One thing that makes tired legs always feel better? Animal friends. Here are some moo-cows, set against Concepcíon in the background. A great snap, if I say so myself. And here is me back at the hostel post-power nap, getting ready for the (lame) pool party that I'd spend too much money on later in the eve. Can't argue with the scenery tho. One last sunset at the hostel before leaving for the party. And here's one last look at the serene Lake Nicaragua from that vantage point. I was loathe to get too far in as this is a known habitat for bull sharks! The next afternoon, I'd check out and head back to the main town of Moyogalpa so that I could be in closer proximity to the ferry terminal the following morning. My travel buddy was on a scooter (and was kind enough to take me one hour up the island to Moyogalpa!), so spent one more night with these scenes. Here's Moyogalpa. I didn't really get a close look at it on the way in to Ometepe due to all the dramas relating to finding the taxi driver. Not that there's really much to see, in all honesty. Another sleepy little town. Seems like it's seen better days: there were a few restaurants and bars that were boarded up. A sign of the dwindling tourist economy, perhaps? The main draw here is the proximity of the mighty Concepcíon in the background everywhere you turn. Triggering chicken bus? Check. Spectacular active volcano? Check. Nicaragua to a tee: the profane and the profound, side by side. Impressed by the amount of paved roads, tbh. Gotta love a good island sunset. Taken while we were trying to navigate our way to a still-functioning restaurant that had veggie options. Taken at the deserted ferry terminal, where I attempted to enquire about timings for the next morning's departures to no avail. And here we are again the next morning. My friend got overcharged for his scooter (and almost ended up missing the ferry as the rental company rep didn't even turn up until about 15 mins before departure). Meanwhile, I was helpfully snapping boats along the waterfront. One last look at the twin peaks of majestic Ometepe from the equally-majestic waters of Lake Nicaragua. Back on the mainland in San Jorge, where this chicken bus promised to take us directly to Managua. It took like, an hour to actually move, but we got there by mid-afternoon. We had to then find a connecting colectivo to León, which was made considerably easier by the fact that we'd befriended a Spanish-speaking American who was heading not just in the same direction, but to the exact same hostel! Arrived in León just after sunset. Dumped bags, grabbed food, walked around the old city a little bit, and then retired in order to get some sleep before what I *thought* was going to be a shuttle to Honduras. (Read more about that drama in the La Unión blog post.) This - the city's iconic cathedral - was the only shot I got while in León. A shame, really, as it seemed like a cool place to hang out, but I had more adventures to contend with. Bonus pic: taken in Potosí, Nicaragua the next morning (after I'd expected to have already been in Honduras). Had been waiting on the boat to El Salvador for an hour at this point, so snapped at the only snap-worthy scenery nearby to momentarily amuse myself. Ugh!

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