The road that we took to get from Liberia in Costa Rica to the border crossing of Peñas Blancas into Nicaragua was Highway 1. Highway 1 is the Pan-American Highway that stretches from Alaska in the US at its northern tip, all the way to Chile or Argentina, depending on whose country you wish to consider the end point. (You can’t technically drive straight through – there is a notable gap between Panama and Columbia.)
This is the second of three posts about our first trip to Nicaragua in September 2021.
What we did notice right away, was the condition of the road in Nicaragua. Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in Latin America, followed only by Haiti. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we didn’t expect these roads – they were so nice! So much better than what we have experienced in Costa Rica! We didn’t see a pothole, and there were actually shoulders on the road! We were amazed!
Our first stop was in a small town for a “local” or “Nico” breakfast, that was included in our tour. (Costa Ricans are called “Ticos” and Nicaraguan locals are called “Nicos”.) Our guide led us into a small restaurant, “La Cuchara” (in English, “The Spoon”) and we sat down.
We found out that a typical Nico breakfast is very similar to a typical Tico breakfast. We were served scrambled eggs with some sliced ham lunch meat mixed in, rice and beans and a corn tortilla. (A Tico breakfast usually doesn’t have the ham lunch meat, does has some soft cheese that is grilled, and maybe plantains.) We didn’t think it was quite as good as the typical breakfasts we could get in Costa Rica, but it was about 9 am (over 4 hours since we’d started this trip) and we were hungry, so we ate almost all of it. John and I ordered coffee – which came out of a machine, was very watery, and pretty much awful. On the plus side, we were able to get bottles of water – a necessity, since the water bottles we had dutifully brought were sitting in the van in Costa Rica. (Sigh.)
We drove on to our next stop for a boat ride in Lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua is the 19th largest lake in the world. We drove parallel to it for quite a while. It has sandy beaches and is so expansive it looks like you are driving along the ocean.
There are two large volcanos in the lake. At one time a volcanic eruption created 365 islands in the lake, an easy number to remember.
As we climbed into the boat, I wished I had my sunscreen, hat and sunglasses. (Sigh.) As Claudio had promised, we’d left the rain behind at the border, and now it was a beautiful sunny day, and we were going for a boat ride. At least the boat did have a canvas cover. We put on our life jackets, as instructed, and the boat started off.
We started out at a leisurely pace, motoring between the small islands. Most of the ones we saw had houses located on them, and some quite nice ones, at that. There was even one with a restaurant/bar! The islands were small so that a house and its small yard covered an island in its entirety.
I wondered how living on a small island like that would be – always needing a boat to get groceries, never being able to walk very far, how do you get fresh water, how does the plumbing work, what do you do about transportation when you get to shore, etc.? John and I have actually seen an episode of HGTV’s “I Bought an Island” where a couple bought one of these islands in Lake Nicaragua, that had not been developed at all. At the time we saw it, before we had even thought of making this trip, we’d decided that kind of island life was NOT for us.
The boat drove slowly up to a very small island that appeared to be completely covered in trees, and housed, not people, but monkeys. The monkeys are used to getting fed by tourists, so climbed on the branches close to the water for a treat. We didn’t feed them but did snap some photos.
Finally, the boat turned toward open water, and started zipping along at a high rate of speed. It was fun, but as my hair started whipping across my face, I really wished I had my hair tie and brush. The hair tie would let me see now, and I knew that I was really going to need the brush after the ride. (Sigh.)
Our next stop was the town of Granada. Our van stopped in front of a large “LOVE” sign, for our obligatory photo op. When you watch those HGTV shows where people go to tropical destinations, they seemingly always have the big letters spelling something, like the name of the town, or in this case, “LOVE.” I always thought those had to be fake. They aren’t. We’ve seen them in multiple towns in Costa Rica, and here was one in Nicaragua!
Claudio explained that we were going to take a horse-drawn carriage ride through town. Following that we had been given the choice of a tour of a cigar or chocolate factory. We don’t smoke cigars, so opted for the chocolate factory. The carriage driver was given the instructions, and Claudio and the van departed.
The horse-drawn carriage was very pretty – all white and decorated with ribbons. The driver was nice and talked to us about the history of Granada, as we clipped-clopped our way through the old Spanish Colonial section of town. It was a bit hard to understand everything he said, but the ride was very enjoyable.
We stopped at the central square to walk around and grab some photos. Many merchants filled the square, some with booths and some strolling with their wares in-hand. We obviously stood out and were approached hopefully by many of them.
Our guide mentioned the Sandinistas and pointed out the Sandinista flag hanging on a flagpole near the square. The Sandinista’s colors are red and black.
As we continued our tour, we started noticing Sandinista red and black painted on many things, including trees and light poles. (Go back and look at the light pole in the center picture from our breakfast stop – can you see the red and black bands on it?) I remember the Iran Contra affair, and because of that, Nicaragua with the Sandinistas seemed like a very scary place to visit. We felt safe in the country, in the tourist areas, with a guide, but these colors were a reminder that the Sandinistas were really everywhere and in control.
We returned to our carriage and after another few minutes, were dropped off at the Chocolate Factory. We entered the building and were reunited with Claudio, albeit briefly. He disappeared again, and we were given a few minutes to look around building, while we waited for our Chocolate Factory tour guide.
The area where we first entered was a shop, where they were selling all things chocolate. We were taken to the back area, where there was a courtyard and walls with art and some interesting chocolate information. For example, who knew there was such a thing as a chocolate suppository?
Finally our guide arrived for our personal tour of the Chocolate Factory, introducing himself as “Pablo Wonka.” He started out by showing us a cacao tree in the courtyard, and then talked about the history of chocolate as he pointed to a picture with the same information tacked to the wall.
Next, we got to the “active participation” part of the tour. Señor Wonka clearly had a set script, that he wasn’t going to deviate from, despite the the makeup of the audience. Probably this would be “fun” for families with younger kids, but it wasn’t fun for the four of us who were a bit more (ahem) mature.
First, Señor Wonka picked one of us to give a nickname to; not sure why, but he started calling Bill “donkey boy”, which, of course, was insulting. To his credit, Bill was a very good sport about it. Then Señor Wonka hovered above a stone tray with some cacao beans and rolling pin and demonstrated how historically the oil was pressed from the beans.
We were then each forced to roll the pin ourselves. This would have been OK, except for the requirement that the rest of us perform a chant, while clapping our hands and banging our knees together. This was awkward and embarrassing. I looked around and saw two ladies sitting at a table, drinking coffee and watching us, bemused. Geesh! Again, small children probably would have loved that – but small children we are not.
After what seemed an eternity, that part ended. We were then led to the front of the Chocolate “Factory” again, where we were allowed to taste chocolate wine (not a fan) and had Señor Wonka give us each an arm massage with a chocolate lotion (not a fan – somewhat creepy).
Mercifully the tour concluded, and we were free to buy chocolate products and tip Señor Wonka. We rather grudgingly gave him a tip, and bought a few chocolate bars, which turned out to be grainy and did not have the best taste. We exited the building, not having seen a factory of any sort during our tour. If we’d paid attention when we entered the building, we would have seen that the sign said “Museo”, which in English is “museum”, not “factory”.
We concluded that the cigar tour probably would have been as much, if not more interesting, and likely wouldn’t have required us to swallow our pride. We were more than ready to move on to the next stop on our tour.
Read our next post about lunch and afternoon sightseeing in Nicaragua – including our favorite stop on the tour.
Remember, it's an adventure. 