Nicaragua

[midtown 3345]

Just added Nicaragua to my short list. Anyone been?

 

I might try to jam this in this summer. Solo perhaps. A day or two in Managua then down to San Juan del Sur.

 

Anything else?

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

Granada is a really cool colonial town worth visiting. We did a lake tour that was a fun day as well.

[Enemy07 288]

I dated a girl from there. She was mad that I could not pronounce her country properly. I told her to go back to her country. Never made it past 2nd base.

[Hornbeliever 712]

Leon and Granada are cool.  Hiking volcanoes near Leon and hooking up with Germans there (lot of europeans) is recommended.

[South Austin 52463]

 

[bonnieblue 542]

Echoing the Granada rec. gorgeous colonial town. Stay at the Tribal Hotel, awesome little boutique started by a former 80s NYC club/restaurant guy (I want to say maybe involved with acme or Indochine). There was one great restaurant I’ll have to think on, but most other food was not awesome. Numu looks good though

I would also hit up San Juan del Sur for some surfing. Great swells, warm water, fun town, bad food from what I recall. Maderas Village was fun if that’s still around.

[midtown 3345]

This trip is booked.  Into MGA on Monday Oct 30 and out on Sunday Nov 5

Volacano surfing at Cerro Negro with a stop in Leon.  Ometepe. San Juan del Surf

Some of this looks day tripable  SHould I bus or get a driver down to San Juan or rent a car.  

Edited September 28, 2023 by midtown

[huge 3793]

I went with 2 other guys in 2008.  Flew into Managua, rented a car and got out of there. Managua at the time was the most 3rd world place I had ever been.  Like wagons pulled by donkeys primitive.   Rented a 4 wheel drive SUV because the road down to San Juan del Sur was washed out and generally shitty.  

Beer was $2

Surf was great.

Caught a massive Rooster fish.

House was 3 bedroom with a pool for $350 a night.

 

Would go back.  It's like Costa Rica's much cheaper cousin.

[rage-a-holic 4382]

5 hours ago, huge said:

I went with 2 other guys in 2008.  Flew into Managua, rented a car and got out of there. Managua at the time was the most 3rd world place I had ever been.  Like wagons pulled by donkeys primitive.   Rented a 4 wheel drive SUV because the road down to San Juan del Sur was washed out and generally shitty.  

Beer was $2

Surf was great.

Caught a massive Rooster fish.

House was 3 bedroom with a pool for $350 a night.

 

Would go back.  It's like Costa Rica's much cheaper cousin.

A 3 bedroom house with pool...in 2008...in Nicaragua....for $350 USD/night?

Unless it was a fucking mansion, "much cheaper" is a ridiculous claim.

I can rent an oceanfront 3 bedroom house with pool in Cozumel right now for less than $350/night.

[TornACL 7698]

Lol yeah I rented a house in the hills near SJDS with three different "bedroom" cabanas around a pool overlooking the Pacific for under $200 a night. Rental SUV was delivered to our house the first morning for $40 a day, straight cash homie. They didn't even want the cash up front. Said to leave it in the house when we leave.

Guy showed me the car in Spanish I couldn't understand, opened the glove box and showed the registration and said por policia. I got that part.

Nicaragua is great. Beaches were totally abandoned. We'd find a great beach and there would be like four people total there. People were friendly. They were usually amazed we were American. They expect ever gringo is Canadian. There were lots of Canadians.

[huge 3793]

9 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

A 3 bedroom house with pool...in 2008...in Nicaragua....for $350 USD/night?

Unless it was a fucking mansion, "much cheaper" is a ridiculous claim.

I can rent an oceanfront 3 bedroom house with pool in Cozumel right now for less than $350/night.

I went to Los Suenos in 2015 and everything cost double what I paid in Nicaragua.  Cozumel sucks.

[rage-a-holic 4382]

5 hours ago, huge said:

I went to Los Suenos in 2015 and everything cost double what I paid in Nicaragua.  Cozumel sucks.

wow, congrats

Paying $350/night for a 3 bedroom Nicaraguan house rental in 2008 was fucktarded, regardless of how you try to spin it.

[huge 3793]

27 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

wow, congrats

Paying $350/night for a 3 bedroom Nicaraguan house rental in 2008 was fucktarded, regardless of how you try to spin it.

While we are at it would you like to share your Nica experiences?

[WhatTheBuck 28776]

On 9/28/2023 at 11:44 AM, midtown said:

This trip is booked.  Into MGA on Monday Oct 30 and out on Sunday Nov 5

Volacano surfing at Cerro Negro with a stop in Leon.  Ometepe. San Juan del Surf

Some of this looks day tripable  SHould I bus or get a driver down to San Juan or rent a car.  

Are you a cigar smoker? My favorite cigars are Nicaraguan. If I were going, I’d plan a visit to either Oliva or La Aroma de Cuba. I’ll bet that would be pretty cool. 

Edited September 30, 2023 by WhatTheBuck

[bonnieblue 542]

On 9/28/2023 at 10:44 AM, midtown said:

This trip is booked.  Into MGA on Monday Oct 30 and out on Sunday Nov 5

Volacano surfing at Cerro Negro with a stop in Leon.  Ometepe. San Juan del Surf

Some of this looks day tripable  SHould I bus or get a driver down to San Juan or rent a car.  

If you’re staying in the hills outside of SJDS you will definitely want a 4x4 car (or driver who has one). We took a taxi from town one time and they could only make it up half way and then we had to walk uphill under the jungle canopy in the dark back to our place. It was not ideal.

Back when we went there was an awesome sailing cruise outside of SJDS that takes you to a gorgeous pristine beach a bit down the coast. Would highly recommend

[justhookit 4191]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:38 PM, huge said:

While we are at it would you like to share your Nica experiences?

Yeah, same time frame in CR with some friends we rented a 6 bedroom Villa that was about 1000 a night. Three bedroom in SJDS for 350 was a good deal, especially if it had a view. On the other hand anything in Los Suenos is ridiculously expensive it’s the most expensive place in CR. Headed there tomorrow and managed to find a condo for 150 a night which is a steal even in the off-season.

[midtown 3345]

On 9/30/2023 at 7:34 AM, WhatTheBuck said:

Are you a cigar smoker? My favorite cigars are Nicaraguan. If I were going, I’d plan a visit to either Oliva or La Aroma de Cuba. I’ll bet that would be pretty cool. 

Not a huge cigar somker. Maybe once a month but I do love this idea.  Looking into it.  Thanks.

Olivia is my prefered brand.  I also emailed La Aroma and they said no tours but Ill keep digging.  Viator doesn't really show anything about cigars but I googled and found a few spots that I could check out. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by midtown

[midtown 3345]

So I was going to do two nights in Managua and do a couple of day tours from there. I get in at 1230 so I have time for a night time tour to Masaya. Then one night in Ometepe and then three in San Juan del Sur

I'm thinking now I leave from Managua after one night then to Leon for a night maybe two?  I'd axe a night in San Juan and as well to add that second night night to Leon.  Kind of want to volacano slide and all the tours for that seem to be out of Leon.  I can also consider reversing order.  Land and go straight to Leon.  I have to end up back in Managua anyway but my flight home isn't until 230 so I was just going to leave San Juan early.
To summarize
1 Managua
2 Leon
1 Ometepe
2 San Juan
I have some resersvations set but everything is changable at this point.  Anyone want to weigh in? 

[huge 3793]

On 10/1/2023 at 9:07 AM, justhookit said:

Yeah, same time frame in CR with some friends we rented a 6 bedroom Villa that was about 1000 a night. Three bedroom in SJDS for 350 was a good deal, especially if it had a view. On the other hand anything in Los Suenos is ridiculously expensive it’s the most expensive place in CR. Headed there tomorrow and managed to find a condo for 150 a night which is a steal even in the off-season.

It had a view

[midtown 3345]

Back from Nicaragua

I should have taken a taxi directly out of Managua. Pretty much nothing there.

Granada is cool.
Ometepe might be my new favorite place in the world. Ometepe seems like a place you could hide out if you were running from the law.

San Juan is a good spot as well.  I actually stayed in Maderas which is about 20 mins into town.  It's pretty quiet but close to Playa Maderas where I took some surfing lessons.  Was a pain to get into town for fishing on Saturday.   And the roads around Maderas are dirt and then mud. 

It was supposed to rain all week but other than evening thunderstorms since its' rainy season the weather was fantastic.  Mosquitos are a big time issue and the govt fumagates like crazy. It smells like diesel exhuast all the time

Things are cheaper than CR but not exactly dirt cheap. Beers are a tad over a dollar.  Credit card use is few and far so lots of cash but there are ATMs even in little Ometepe.  You can get local or they will actually spit out USD

People are really nice and I felt completely safe

Nicaragua is going after the digital nomad business.

They are building a Freeway from Costa Rica to El Salvador. The say it will be done next year but lol. That's ilke saying 35 will be done tomorrow

This is now a top 10 country for me.  I'll definitely go back.  As someone said about it's still got some massive infrastructure issues.   Lost power a few times but usually not for long. 






 

Edited November 7, 2023 by midtown