Anyone traveling to Nicaragua

[Rebecca Ore]

There are new restrictions on bringing in professional camera gear.   CT-4-2023 Ingreso de Binoculares y camáras.pdf (dga.gob.ni).   I'm rather amused that my a6000 isn't on the list but my a7 and later models both of APSC (two Sony models) and pretty much all full frame recent Sony cameras are.  Scroll down for the list.   Also, no night vision binoculars and no drones.   I have the import documents and invoices for what I have.

 

I noticed that Reuters photographs in Nicaragua released relatively recently, more balanced photographs that show weapons on both sides.   In 2018, their Alamy photos were extremely slanted against the FSLN government.

 

My favorite shooting combination is my a6000 and a Sony/Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 lens (equivalent angle of view 35mm plus on full frame), so I'm good.

 

My understanding is that people can apply for permission to bring in professional cameras, but run the PDF through Google Translate if you're not fluent in Spanish.

 

The country wants to bring back the tourists, so yeah.  In Leon, I met a woman photographer who had hired two Nicaraguan assistants.  She had several large Canon cameras.

 

I understand why the government is doing this after 2018's events and how slanted the coverage was in international media, but yeah.  

[John Mitchell]

I couldn't access the government website via your link but interesting news. Can't say that I have any plans to revisit Nicaragua. Kinda glad I went when I did.

[sooth]

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Edited October 19, 2023 by sooth

[John Mitchell]

These rules certainly won't do much for tourism, but they must be putting together an impressive collection of confiscated camera gear at the airport and border crossings. Hmmm... I wonder in whose closets all those expensive toys will end up... 🤔

 

Apparently, you can only bring one approved camera and a telephoto lens. However, I imagine that even those would be risky. I remember crossing the Nicaraguan border by bus from Costa Rica in 1998, and they went through all my camera gear, asking me weird questions. My Spanish is passable. However, I had a lot of trouble explaining what I might use my monopod for. I ended up telling the border agent that it doubled as a hiking stick.

[Rebecca Ore]

2 hours ago, sooth said:

They have been banning cameras and drones from entering the country since at least last year. https://stabmag.com/news/psa-surf-filmers-not-welcome-in-nicaragua/

 

Today's news is just an official notice that they are banning cameras.

 

They've been banning drones for a while, probably since one gringo was going to do an overflight mapping of the proposed canal site.  He was also going to document the people along the route.   Surfers seem to have made the biggest fuss, just as surfers in Costa Rica made the biggest fuss over restrictions during Covid.   A friend told me about the surfers' complaint about the rules here.  

 

My reading of this is you can apply to bring in professional gear. 

 

The other thing is the tax law was not as described and the main people complaining were businesses that would have had their rates raised.  Ortega withdrew the law about a week or two after the riots began (peaceful unarmed student demonstrators wasn't what I saw).   A minimally revised version of the law was passed the next year with concessions to very small businesses.  The trade off was retirees got somewhat less money but more medical benefits.  The big companies had wanted to do away with the Christmas bonuses (an extra month's salary which everyone pays to employees).

 

Reuters could have not poisoned the situation if they'd released all the photos they took of weaponry on both sides during spring and early summer of 2018, rather than in the last year or so (I check Nicaragua 2018 from time to time). 

 

Anti-FSLN propaganda that in some cases I know was based on lies has shown up in a British audiology magazine, the surfer magazine, and other places (using fake captions for photos not taken in Nicaragua).  FSLN tends to lie less.

 

My cynical take on this is that with the rising economy, the old families decided Nicaragua was worth looting again, and none of this on either side was about anything other than power and money, with the population fed some serious propaganda to get the average person quite upset. 

 

The US has been trying to kill tourism here, not that this law is helping, but reading the Spanish, you can bring in some of these things if you preregister and non-night-vision binoculars if you register at the airport coming in.

 

My a6000 isn't on the list, but my favorite lens for it is.  I took photos of both sides during the mess.  Never questioned by cops over it.  Showed them to a friend who works as an administrative assistant for the local police office.  

 

Check ahead of time to find out the rules for bringing in professional gear.  That's basically what the Spanish says.   (We used to have a very free press here until the Chamorros tried to overthrow Ortega again, by the way). 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Rebecca Ore
spelling

[Rebecca Ore]

6 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

These rules certainly won't do much for tourism, but they must be putting together an impressive collection of confiscated camera gear at the airport and border crossings. Hmmm... I wonder in whose closets all those expensive toys will end up... 🤔

 

Apparently, you can only bring one approved camera and a telephoto lens. However, I imagine that even those would be risky. I remember crossing the Nicaraguan border by bus from Costa Rica in 1998, and they went through all my camera gear, asking me weird questions. My Spanish is passable. However, I had a lot of trouble explaining what I might use my monopod for. I ended up telling the border agent that it doubled as a hiking stick.

 

Basically, from reading the Spanish more carefully, and not my embassy's take on it, you can apply ahead for permission to bring in even professional camera gear.  If Reuters hadn't sided so strongly with the opposition, and had posted the photos of opposition arms then that I've seen in Alamy's collection recently, maybe the government wouldn't be so edgy, but most of the press came down to play a side because "OMG, it's complete chaos with no heroes and no clear complete bad guys" is harder to sell than making a morality story out of doing a billion dollars worth of damage to the country's highways and roads and public buildings "non-violently"  to get Ortega to resign and never run for office again, and to have his children barred from running for office.

 

1998 was under the Neoliberals when journalists were suspected more of being FSLN sympathizers.   FSLN didn't return to power until 2006. 

 

The list of professional lenses is on the last pages of the PDF.   I may have to trade Luis another lens to get my adapted Yashinon lens back.  My a6000 isn't on the list of professional cameras, but my a7 is.   However, I'm a resident, not a tourists, and these have been in Nicaragua for a while.   I might have to bring the customs paperwork to go anywhere and come back with them.

 

Drones have been banned here for quite a while, though both sides were flying them in 2018.  That shouldn't have been news to anyone.   The trouble with some people is assuming that the rules of poor countries should never apply to them.   I've seen a  lot of this attitude over the 12 years I've lived here, especially with gringos who are sure they can run a hotel or restaurant better than the Nicaraguans.   None in Jinotega other than the Florentine Italians have succeeded.   When someone decides that the rule of bringing in pro gear are optional for them, I want to spank them.

 

 

 

 

 

[John Mitchell]

4 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

Basically, from reading the Spanish more carefully, and not my embassy's take on it, you can apply ahead for permission to bring in even professional camera gear.  If Reuters hadn't sided so strongly with the opposition, and had posted the photos of opposition arms then that I've seen in Alamy's collection recently, maybe the government wouldn't be so edgy, but most of the press came down to play a side because "OMG, it's complete chaos with no heroes and no clear complete bad guys" is harder to sell than making a morality story out of doing a billion dollars worth of damage to the country's highways and roads and public buildings "non-violently"  to get Ortega to resign and never run for office again, and to have his children barred from running for office.

 

1998 was under the Neoliberals when journalists were suspected more of being FSLN sympathizers.   FSLN didn't return to power until 2006. 

 

The list of professional lenses is on the last pages of the PDF.   I may have to trade Luis another lens to get my adapted Yashinon lens back.  My a6000 isn't on the list of professional cameras, but my a7 is.   However, I'm a resident, not a tourists, and these have been in Nicaragua for a while.   I might have to bring the customs paperwork to go anywhere and come back with them.

 

Drones have been banned here for quite a while, though both sides were flying them in 2018.  That shouldn't have been news to anyone.   The trouble with some people is assuming that the rules of poor countries should never apply to them.   I've seen a  lot of this attitude over the 12 years I've lived here, especially with gringos who are sure they can run a hotel or restaurant better than the Nicaraguans.   None in Jinotega other than the Florentine Italians have succeeded.   When someone decides that the rule of bringing in pro gear are optional for them, I want to spank them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was back in Nicaragua in 2008 and again in 2010. The country seemed very polarized, pro/anti Ortega. I of course avoided politics, especially since I was a "guest" of the Nica tourism board. The new rules banning "pro gear" seem very naive to me. These days, all visitors need to capture publishable videos and photos is a decent smartphone.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by John Mitchell

[Rebecca Ore]

25 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I was back in Nicaragua in 2008 and again in 2010. The country seemed very polarized, pro/anti Ortega. I of course avoided politics, especially since I was a "guest" of the Nica tourism board. The new rules banning "pro gear" seem very naive to me. These days, all visitors need to capture publishable videos and photos is a decent smartphone.

 

 

 

 

They're not banning it, just insisting that you register it and ask permission to be there with it, and probably will require that you take it with you when you leave.  

 

The canal stuff came up after I arrived in 2010, and a number of people were desperate to stop it because if it went through and did half of what was projected, Ortega would be one of Nicaragua's best presidents.   A friend of mine said that as long as the poor can vote, they're going to vote FSLN. 

 

What's heartening here now is all the businesses that are being built or being expanded, and the houses that are being rehabbed.  Jinotega is much improved over what I moved to (both my past houses have been rehabbed).  The mess in 2018 and Covid caused some economic regression, but not back to 2010.

 

From the perspective of the richer Nicaraguans, Ortega wastes too much money on services for the poor.  And is obviously grooming his son with Murillo to take over after him.  The Chamorros have had something like six presidents, and were grooming the last Chamorro president's daughter to take on the role.   So, nepotism on all sides.

 

For cell phones, you have to get close.  They're more concerned with telephoto lenses.  Some tripods are considered pro gear.  B. Most people in Nicaragua have a cell phone. In my ward, I knew of only one woman who didn't have a smart phone.  Her mom did.

 

 I do think Reuters wrecked it for photo journalists by being so obviously one sided even though their photographers had taken photos of opposition weapons, too, but didn't release them until after the government retook control.  I was able to photograph both sides and asked permission before taking photos.   Didn't get any action ones, or one of the arrest I witnessed.

 

At this point, the US narrative of high crime in Nicaragua and poor access to medical care is just an attempt to crash the tourism industry.   It's still worth it to be careful, but most of the crime here is petty and non-violent.

 

Surfers don't appear to realize that photographing coast lines can be used by foreign governments planning invasions.  Or they know and think invading Nicaragua would just be groovy.   People have smuggled drones in and used them without local police taking notice, and some local photographers built a drone.  There are height maximums for flying.

 

I did find it odd that the Sony APSC 30mm macro lens was considered professional.   It's quite a near sighted lens, really not good as a general lens. 

 

 

[Phil]

11 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

At this point, the US narrative of high crime in Nicaragua and poor access to medical care is just an attempt to crash the tourism industry.   It's still worth it to be careful, but most of the crime here is petty and non-violent.

 

 

Rebecca - are in Leon?   My granddaughter-in-law's father's family is from Leon.  They were all there for a Christmas visit just this past month.  They did not bring any camera gear with them other than cellphones.

 

While my extended family were there on their Christmas visit to Leon I became curious and watched a number of YouTube videos on the Leon area to attempt to get more perspective on the area.   Intrigued by the chicken buses used for local transportation! 

 

For what it's worth - I've seen recent  reports in the US media that Nicaraguan migrants have been comprising an increasingly larger percentage of illegal US border crossing contacts.

 

Things must be harder there for many Nicaraguans than the YT videos would appear to indicate if so many are trying to migrate to US illegally. 

 

 

[Rebecca Ore]

28 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Rebecca - are in Leon?   My granddaughter-in-law's father's family is from Leon.  They were all there for a Christmas visit just this past month.  They did not bring any camera gear with them other than cellphones.

 

I'm in Jinotega.  I like Leon from the trip I took there, but it's too hot for me.   Jinotega is at 1,000 meters and actually gets chilly at times.

 

28 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

While my extended family were there on their Christmas visit to Leon I became curious and watched a number of YouTube videos on the Leon area to attempt to get more perspective on the area.   Intrigued by the chicken buses used for local transportation! 

 

For what it's worth - I've seen recent  reports in the US media that Nicaraguan migrants have been comprising an increasingly larger percentage of illegal US border crossing contacts.

 

Things must be harder there for many Nicaraguans than the YT videos would appear to indicate if so many are trying to migrate to US illegally. 

 

 

 

The reality has always been that the minimum wages here per day were less than the minimum wages per hour in the US.  Most Nicaraguans who go north have enough money to pay coyotes ($4K and up).   Biden, at one point, said that no Cubans, Nicaraguans, or Venezuelans would be deported back to their home countries.  People who went to the US were being told by ICE to work off the books while waiting for their asylum hearings.   Now the rules changed and anyone wanting asylum must apply at the US embassy in Managua, pay $500 or $600 for the application for permanent residence, pass security checks, and have the money for a plane fare.   I understand from some Twitter posts that the number of Nicaraguans headed north plummeted.

 

Cost of living here is not particularly cheaper than the US.   Food except for beef is about the same.  Electronics are more expensive.  Cars are more expensive.  Cameras bought here are more expensive, but customs, taxes, and importing make the costs similar.  Housing can be cheaper (mine is) and labor is cheaper.  Gas is considerably more expensive, but cabs and buses get a subsidy.  Medical costs are cheaper, but pharmaceuticals can be about the same or cheaper or not available.   INSS, the government single payer insurance, covers meds; the absolutely free system only covers meds in the hospital, plus samples if available.  Labor is much cheaper.  

 

Cuba and Venezuela appear to be in worse shape economically.   Nicaragua is actually not in the top three quarters for poverty in Central America and the Caribbean, according to the World Bank.  The government didn't have lockdowns during Covid or mandatory masking and vaccinations.  Private businesses could require masks, and all banks and many others did.  Population is young and slightly less than half work in agriculture.   Government has programs for small businesses which are quite smart (and also intended to bring more people into the national health and retirement insurance program (INSS). 

 

Except for a few people, most of the Nicaraguans leaving now are doing it because programmers  here (and in El Salvador) get $6 an hour and know they'd get more elsewhere.  Best local studio photographer is now in the US.   The guy who ran Mondo Digital (computers and cell phones and stuff) is in the US.  My Kazakhstan born vet left Nicaragua for the US before 2018. 

 

The rich here like being as rich as any rich anywhere.  The way to do that is not pay anyone else all that well.   Left/right doesn't matter in that, though the left does have social safety nets in place. 

 

The YouTube videos are generally promoting tourism, which really hasn't recovered in terms of international tourists.  I think the main issue is people with skills (computer repair, programmers, etc.) knowing how much more they'd make in the US.  People who did work in tourism tend to go to Costa Rica, but I know one woman who is now in the US.  Some areas, all the males between 18 and 30 have gone to the US and are sending remittances back home from what I heard.  Not so much here in Jinotega. 

 

US needed cheap labor and got it.  Some people are getting less than the minimum wage from what I've heard. 

[Phil]

37 minutes ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

I'm in Jinotega.  I like Leon from the trip I took there, but it's too hot for me.   Jinotega is at 1,000 meters and actually gets chilly at times.

 

 

Yeah - Leon does get hot from what I was told by family.  Something like just 850 mi. north of equator and close to sea level. 

 

Some of the YouTube videos interestingly seemed to be touting real estate around Leon.

 

Something that struck me was the number of volcanoes close to Leon - 5-6 within 25 mi or so I think.  At least one active I recall.  I know Managua was decimated by earthquake not that long ago - so it's obviously a geologically active region.

Edited January 28, 2023 by Phil

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

 

Yeah - Leon does get hot from what I was told by family.  Something like just 850 mi. north of equator and close to sea level. 

 

Some of the YouTube videos interestingly seemed to be touting real estate around Leon.

 

Something that struck me was the number of volcanoes close to Leon - 5-6 within 25 mi or so I think.  At least one active I recall.  I know Managua was decimated by earthquake not that long ago - so it's obviously a geologically active region.

 

I found Leon to be a very interesting city. If you ever decide to visit, avoid the rainy season, and of course leave all that "pro gear" at home. As Rebecca noted, Nicaragua is not an especially dangerous country, at least not in my (limited) experience. Can't speak for the volcanoes, but the people are friendly and welcoming.

Edited January 28, 2023 by John Mitchell

[Rebecca Ore]

3 hours ago, Phil said:

 

Yeah - Leon does get hot from what I was told by family.  Something like just 850 mi. north of equator and close to sea level. 

 

Some of the YouTube videos interestingly seemed to be touting real estate around Leon.

 

Something that struck me was the number of volcanoes close to Leon - 5-6 within 25 mi or so I think.  At least one active I recall.  I know Managua was decimated by earthquake not that long ago - so it's obviously a geologically active region.

 

Most Nicaraguan volcanoes are more decorative than dangerous, except possibly the one near Managua that has exploded violently every 2,000 years or so and is currently over due.  Leon Viejo (the first city) was destroyed by Momotombo, which recently started erupting (couple of years ago, see my photo for date).  The earthquakes come at regular intervals, and a couple have been very nasty.   And Cerro Negro dumped two feet of ash on Leon before I moved here.   Nicaraguans may be very fatalistic for a reason.   Cerro Negro has volcano sledding and surfing on loose ash as a tourist attraction.  Jinotega is pretty removed from the sub-induction zone, so we can feel a bit of a distant earthquake but don't get damage.

 

Leon apparently has geothermic heated ground water, too. 

[Rebecca Ore]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I found Leon to be a very interesting city. If you ever decide to visit, avoid the rainy season, and of course leave all that "pro gear" at home. As Rebecca noted, Nicaragua is not an especially dangerous country, at least not in my (limited) experience. Can't speak for the volcanoes, but the people are friendly and welcoming.

 

Nicaragua doesn't have much violent crime other than some people in the hinterlands settling old political scores, but petty crime is ubiquitous.   We were warning a new resident to watch out for five year old girls.   He thought we were joking.  Then realized we weren't.   I had a five year old girl try to talk her way into my house by claiming to be a friend of my dog.   NYC or San Francisco level street smarts are enough to avoid the usual types of street crime here.   Don't put phones or wallets in back pants pockets.  Picking pockets is a misdemeanor here.   People here aren't yet jaded by tourism and retirees, so many are flattered that we find their country charming.   Some of the younger adults and teens think we're just nuts to move here, though.   They want to end up in Miami.

 

You can always buy basic models of Canon and Nikon DSLRs at Radio Shacks here.   Sony Store closed, unfortunately.  Best weather tends to be January and February.  The rainy season can be cooler, too.   Avoid April (hottest month) and October (wettest month).

 

For Leon, you do want A/C at night in your hotel room.  Dress to be cool during the day and have lunch somewhere with A/C.  Some interesting restaurants there, though not the variety that Managua has.  For Managua, there are amazing parts and hideous parts.  Worth it, in my opinion, but not without a driver who knows the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rebecca Ore]

Apparently, the law was retracted the next day, but the drone ban is still probably in force.  INTUR, the national tourism agency, probably pitched a fit since they're really working to revive tourism in Nicaragua.  Check with MINREX (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) or INTUR to make sure of what's going on.

 

Governmental Nicaragua is probably more like a family with quarrels than like a larger country's bureaucracy.   Also Murillo isn't Ortega.  And ADUANA (customs ministry) isn't like INTUR. 

 

Reuters is still calling hand-held mortaros homemade weapons in its Alamy photos for 2018.   This is probably untrue.  And my courtyard had mortar fired rocks landing from the street over three ground floor rooms and the upstairs room over the kitchen, so they're might have the same range as black-powder fired tear gas launchers.  They're wounding weapons rather than killing weapons, but at least one person in 2018 was killed by one and possibly a second person. 

 

Nicaraguan law does change depending on whether Daniel is in town or in Cuba for medical treatments.

 

One of my own 2018 photos shows up first in the search for "Nicaragua civil unrest 2018"

 

 

 

[John Mitchell]

Not surprising. It sounded like a silly law that would have been tedious and difficult to enforce. It would also have hit tourism hard. Visitors don't want those kinds of hassles. My impression was that the people at INTUR didn't   get along well with the Ortega government.  

Edited January 31, 2023 by John Mitchell

[Rebecca Ore]

5 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

Not surprising. It sounded like a silly law that would have been tedious and difficult to enforce. It would also have hit tourism hard. Visitors don't want those kinds of hassles. My impression was that the people at INTUR didn't   get along well with the Ortega government.  

 

The foreign residents generally say, "That's a Murillo thing" or "That's a Daniel thing" when there are changes in policy or laws.   Ortega tends to be more flexible than average for Latin American presidents and commandantes.  He even met with a Tennessee senator's dictator relocation specialist in 2018, and did some rather impressive sideways moves, like pulling the cops back into their barracks while the opposition mobs continued to wreck streets.   The Bishops were supposed to stop the road blocks but didn't, so the opposition folks messing up travel and shopping got to look like the bad guys until the community vigilantes started acting against them.  The rocks in my courtyard actually came from pro-Ortega "hand made" mortaros as they were moving out of my block to go reinforce a different street problem.  Kids were playing revolution/counter revolution with binoculars and mortaros.   One part of town was occupied by the FSLN kids; the other part was occupied by the opposition kids.   They left adults pretty much alone.  I had no trouble walking through both areas, most of the time.  Cab drivers used WAZE to navigate around the roadblocks. 

 

My experience with INTUR was in applying for residency.   The FSLN government had cracked down so hard on taking bribes that the staff in the INTUR office for applying for pensioner residency would not recommend lawyers or restaurants.   Aduana also was  cleaned up compared to earlier reports.  The traffic cops were still a problem when I moved here.   Not being able to take incentive money to throw business to the right people might have made some INTUR people less friendly to the FSLN government.  All government employees have to belong to the FSLN, so that also might have meant that people who were hired under the Neo-Liberals had to join or leave.   FSLN policy was to encourage tourist use of homestays with farm families and staying in Nicaraguan-owned smaller hotels.  In 12 years of living here I've met one kid who did a farm stay, but a fair number of people will stay at Nicaraguan-owned smaller hotels.  Hotels and hostels must be registered with INTUR and must record passport info for foreign visitors, and must pay INTUR (over $100 US a year annually if I'm remembering correctly).  INTUR does hotel inspections from time to time.  The areas INTUR promoted tended to be Granada and San Juan del Sur, so yeah, other parts felt INTUR was a  waste of money for them.

 

Granada was rebuilt in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century on old foundations left after the Americans burned it.  San Juan del Sur?  No interest.   Leon has genuinely old buildings and great beaches 10 miles away from the city.   That INTUR didn't like the FSLN government may say more about INTUR than the government.  

[John Mitchell]

On the two press trips that I was invited on (2008 and 2010), Leon, Leon Viejo, Managua, Isla de Ometepe, coffee fincas (including Selva Negra near your neck of the woods), and even the Corn Islands were on the itineraries, so at that time INTUR seemed interested in promoting not just popular places like Granada and San Juan del Sur.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by John Mitchell

[Rebecca Ore]

15 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

On the two press trips that I was invited on (2008 and 2010), Leon, Leon Viejo, Managua, Isla de Ometepe, coffee fincas (including Selva Negra near your neck of the woods), and even the Corn Islands were on the itineraries, so at that time INTUR seemed interested in promoting not just popular places like Granada and San Juan del Sur.

 

 

Many, if not all, of those had foreign investors.  Selva Negra was owned by people another German ID'ed as being very far right Germans.  Luxembourg put serious money into promoting a coffee fincas circuit. 

 

The complaint in Jinotega, Matagalpa, and Esteli was that they were paying Intur to promote San Juan del Sur (one US TV ad).   I've been to Boaco and Waslala, not San Juan del Sur.  I didn't get Granada, but I saw Leon first (and stayed in a Nicaraguan owned hotel).

 

Boaco is one of the most visually interesting places in Nicaragua.   I feel a bond with people who also appreciate it.   I've also recommended that people go to Ometepe, and one couple stayed longer than they'd planned.  Great place for two or three species of monkeys, birds, and some mountain hiking, plus the best archeological museum I've been to in Nicaragua.   Still haven't been to San Carlos at the bottom of Lago Colcibolca or to the Solentiname Archipelago (boats from San Carlos for that).

[John Mitchell]

2 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

Many, if not all, of those had foreign investors.  Selva Negra was owned by people another German ID'ed as being very far right Germans.  Luxembourg put serious money into promoting a coffee fincas circuit. 

 

The complaint in Jinotega, Matagalpa, and Esteli was that they were paying Intur to promote San Juan del Sur (one US TV ad).   I've been to Boaco and Waslala, not San Juan del Sur.  I didn't get Granada, but I saw Leon first (and stayed in a Nicaraguan owned hotel).

 

Boaco is one of the most visually interesting places in Nicaragua.   I feel a bond with people who also appreciate it.   I've also recommended that people go to Ometepe, and one couple stayed longer than they'd planned.  Great place for two or three species of monkeys, birds, and some mountain hiking, plus the best archeological museum I've been to in Nicaragua.   Still haven't been to San Carlos at the bottom of Lago Colcibolca or to the Solentiname Archipelago (boats from San Carlos for that).

 

Selva Negra certainly is an unusual place -- a little patch of Bavaria in the cloud forest. I visited San Juan del Sur on my own in 1998. It was still a somewhat sleepy little resort town back then. Nothing special really. I too would have liked to visit Solentiname, but there's little chance of that now. Ernesto Cardinal was an interesting poet. I have a couple of his books. But then everyone seems (or seemed) to be a poet in Nicaragua...

[Rebecca Ore]

17 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

Selva Negra certainly is an unusual place -- a little patch of Bavaria in the cloud forest.

 

Yes, the word my German friend used was about the Bavarian connection and associations.  Somoza also received the gift of a small tank from Mussolini.