weeks late january... hows this trip

[lostwander]

Hello great sight great book...  so many places to see so little time

I only have about  13 nights in Nicaragua.../wish i had months/   so after some deliberation


I'm gonna spend the first  4 nights in the  Masaya  and  Granada area... see Lago de Apoyo,,, Market in Masaya..volacanoes, las isletas. at least 2 nights in Granada...  maybe a night in Catarina then


buses to carazoa/Tola area.

4 or 5 nights.. hang on the beach around there and want to see la Maquina reserve as well   
stay along that coast somewhere between playa maderas  and Carazoa area...  public buses to Chacocente

then Buses back toward matagalpa / Jinotega 

stay around this area for 4 nights or so... hiking / cascadas /  at least a saturday night in matagalpa to hear music ..make my way on the back road toward Boaco  through San Jose del remates.. and back towards the airport to fly out.


This trip leaves out Ometepe and Leon which bums me out but i feel i get
the Urban culture and live music /  the beach / and mountain villages /cloud forest  waterfalls in equal doses and not too many days sitting on buses all day...

any ideas or input greatly appreciated

thanks

[Joshua Berman]

I like that your trip is relaxed and very open to change -- looks like the perfect sketch to just go and see where the bus takes you. Enjoy and let us know if you post any photos or stories. We would be particularly interested to hear about how easy it is to get to Chacocente.

[lostwander]

I will take pictures and post them when i return .. also...  I had a specific question for you
Joshua....  often when i go to Latin America  I  buy a guitar locally and play it during the trip
then give it to an orphanage or young needy musician before I leave..  I usually spend about $75 to 100 US.

do you think if i show up in Masaya (at the luthiers you mention in the book) i could accomplish that.
I was thinking of emailing them ... any thoughts

best regards

[Joshua Berman]

that's the definitely the low end of sergio's guitars, but he does sell cheap pine guitars that could work for you. i would write to him and ask if he has any cheap ones for this purpose. Sergio Zepeda <guitarraszepeda@yahoo.com> -- tell him you are a reader of Moon Nicaragua

[lostwander]

  thanks....  I looked at his website it's really cool.
Paco de Lucia....    unreal 

so I'm not sure where else I could get a decent cheap guitar
that a kid could learn on.... but I want to see the shop anyway
thats why your books so great...

I am bringing some harmonicas too.. i'll give most of them out too before i leave...
I've been lucky enough to get to play the harp with some amazing players in Brazil,
Mexico, argentina and cuba...   do you know any good clubs with local musicians
in nicaragua  ?

best regards
Darren

[Joshua Berman]

sergio is tapped into the current music scene, so he can guide you. definitely some live music in mga and granada

[erik nelson]

I love Ometepe, but don't worry about missing it:  On your itinerary, everything you could see on Ometepec, you'll see somewhere else.
It sounds like you plan on having a good time wherever you go.  That's the right attitude.

[lostwander]

thanks Eric.... I'm sure it will be great..
love to plan a trip like this
the problem with the book is that there are
too many places that look really interesting.

but I think the fun will be to not rush and just wander
around and enjoy what you find.

best regards

[arambigua]

hi lostwander,

to travel to Chacocente is very difficult and there a two options:

From Jinotepe with Minibus to Santa Teresa (about 5km/ 5,50C$), there you have to take a bus with direction "Astilleros" or another village near Chacocente (a little bit further than "La Conquista", better "Comunidad El Escalante"). You have to ask at the "parque" (departure of all the few buses at Santa Teresa) because the public transportation to this places is very rare (one bus daily in each direction and very early!). Than you need a privat transportation, because at Chacocente is NOTHING (!!!) - no hotel, no restaurant, no taxi and it's very difficult to get into the reserve without any help - and you have to speak spain - without spain you're lost at this place, because you have to ask for everything privat people (for some food or a place for your hamaca for the night and so on)!
The second option is to travel over Rivas to Beaches of Tola - Las Salinas or Popoyo/Guasacate. There you also have to take a privat transportation (or from your hotel - but very pricey) to Chacocente (passing "Astilleros").

Please notice that if there has been a rainy day before, it's nearly impossible to go to Chacocente by road from Las Salinas because you have to pass through the river "Río Escalante"!
You also can ask the fishermen at "Astilleros" whether they want to bring you to Chacocente by boat - but it's pricey too!

Have a good trip,
arambigua

[lostwander]

thanks arambigua,

looks like i will plan a couple of days around there and bring some supplies... 
looking at the maps it seems it's only about 3 or 4 miles north of Astillero...
 if i take the dirt rd. across the river... is there any reason I can't walk there   ??

best regards

[arambigua]

hi lostwander,

...I've been walking many times (take enough potable water with you) - although the people say that it is not safe around Astilleros because of the drug traffic. But I think they come by boat (from Costa Rica) for a break and go further on by boat (to Guatamala)...
So it's your decision, but if you are acting with the usual caution nothing bad will happen to you. Sometimes the people offers you to go with them, when they are passing you at the road with their car. So it happened to me sometimes.

Once an amusing story happened to me: I've been walking on the road and a policeman passed me by motor-bike. He stopped immediately and told me that it is very dangerous to walk alone at this place and that bad people will rob me. So he stopped a car of an inhabitant and told him that he have to bring me back to the next village - and he also told to me that I have to do what he said because he is in authority of the security of this place! Well I've been driving with this man a few hundred meters back (around a corner) and told him to let me out and that he have to wait a little bit until the policeman would be further on (so the policeman wouldn't be suspiciously) . I spend him a couple of Cordobas and we say goodbye with a little laughter! 

Que te vaya muy bien,
arambigua

[lostwander]

well I think I can stay away from bothering any drug traffickers....  as far as walking on the inland rd.
across the river they shouldn't have much reason to be in there ... other than that... are people hanging around to rob you ??....   I've never had  much of a problem wandering around rural parts of central america in the daytime...   any advice greatly appreciated