Lounging in Nicaragua: 5 Best Ways to Spend a Day Doing Nothing
Photo by: Matthew Chamberlain
Sometimes taking the road less traveled can be damn exhausting. In Nicaragua, where you break a sweat just trying to inhale oxygen, we won’t blame you if you need a breather from volcano climbing and epic jungle treks. Check out OTP’s 5 Best Ways to Spend the Day Lounging in Nicaragua when you’re ready to soothe your bruised bones.
Ometepe is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world. The island is best known for two wild volcanoes—Concepcion and Maderas—which draw tourists in gaggles. To get there, take a ferry (running several times a day) to Moyogalpa, the island’s main port, from the town of San Jorge. You will be hustled when you debark the boat by swarms of vulture-like cab drivers vying for your fare, so just take the first taxi available to avoid the cock fight. Since pretty much anyone can be a cab driver if they’ve got a car, these taxis are not licensed anywhere, usually lack seat belts and put rolling down the window way out of the realm of possibility. Relaxing right? A little shady cab ride never hurt anyone so suck it up and head directly to the Finca Magdelina, located in the care and crime-free teeny tiny town at the base of the Maderas volcano. This organic coffee farm has rooms for a chill $2.50 USD a night. Take a couple days to lounge in the beautiful garden and watch the clouds roll by.
Photo by: stefanie.johnstone
Warm and sandy, San Juan del Sur is an eclectic break from hard and dirty wildlife livin’ and a welcome escape from the rice and beans diet. Sure, the latest Survivor was shot nearby, but don’t let the media bullshit scare you away. Just an hour (and only 35 cordobas, regardless of how many passengers) bus ride from the bustling Rivas market, San Juan del Sur is a surfer’s paradise with plenty of waves. If you’re still stuck on the jungle life, this beachy place has plenty of spider monkeys doin’ their thing (watch your step to avoid being pelted with poo). This mash-up of a place has an Irish bar to help you wash out the taste of Tona with an otherwise impossible-to-find Guinness. Should you need a full-blown boozery, The Pier is a local favorite for its laid-back, hammock-loving atmosphere. No matter where you end up, fresh seafood, cheap drinks and a beautiful beach will soothe all your traveling sorrows.
Granada is your one-way ticket from filthy vagabond to Mother Culture. This is an old colonial town, brimming with art and history and refuses to mark up for its touristic value… prices are staunchly Nicaraguan, making a three-course meal about $15 dollars. Museums, movie theaters and live music, are all yours for less than two or three bucks. In the morning, grab some coffee, coca-cola or Mate and head to the park for some free live entertainment. Take a long weekend and feel proud of getting cultured for pennies.
No supermarket, no ATM, no stoplights: no hassles, no worries. This little fishing town offers absolutely nothing but beautifully quiet beaches and a trippy mangrove forest. Just two hours outside of the capital, Managua, and thirty minutes from Leon, this is the best place to soak in the simple, traditional, small-town Nicaraguan vibes. If you’ve got some energy to toss around, head to the nearby hot springs, or give a local a few bucks to go out on his fishing boat. Where rum and tranquility reign, you don’t need much direction to enjoy yourself. Find a nice shady palm and some Flor de Cana; everything will be more than all right.
Photo by: mapgirl
A bit north of San Jan del Sur, Chacocente houses an indigenous population of Ridley sea turtles, who refuse to lay their eggs just anywhere. Chacocente is one of the only places in the world you’ll find these picky little brats and if you can get up early enough, you can spy on them laying their eggs. It’s like the Discovery Channel and if you’re really lucky, you can watch a slimy, juicy one break from its shell and run like crazy to the ocean.
Check into backpacker rehab and swing around in a hammock for a while; your calloused Hobbit-feet will thank you.
In search of the miraculous
Tweet This
Share on Facebook
Digg This
Save to delicious
Stumble it
RSS Feed
Doing nothing sounds so good right now! Particularly if it was only for the cost of a shady cab ride and $2.50!
Those turtles are so sweet. I bet that’s really amazing.
Interesting article. Always wonderful to hear of traveller’s impressions of Nicaragua. *Grenada is an island in the Windward group of the Caribbean. Granada is a wonderful, colonial city in Nicaragua. Nice photo by Out of the Blue.