Travel and Tourism in Nicaragua

Ometepe Island

To understand why Ometepe Island provokes the most lyrical descriptions in Nicaraguan travel writing, it helps to stand on the ferry deck as the island comes into view across the water. The two volcanoes, Concepcion to the north and Maderas to the south, rise from the surface of Lake Nicaragua with such clean symmetry that the island looks like an illustration from a mythology textbook. Concepcion, the active volcano at 1610 meters, is a near-perfect cone, perpetually capped with gases and occasionally with flowing lava. Maderas, at 1394 meters, is dormant and covered in dense cloud forest, its summit crater holding a small lake that can only be reached by a demanding hike through jungle and mud. The two volcanoes are connected by a narrow isthmus of lowland terrain that makes the island's shape recognizable from the air: a figure-eight, a double cone, an island that looks as though two mountains simply decided to share a piece of land.

Ometepe is reached most commonly by ferry from the port of San Jorge near the town of Rivas on the Pacific side of Nicaragua. The crossing takes approximately an hour to the main landing at Moyogalpa on the northern volcano, or longer to the smaller village of San Jose del Sur. A less frequent ferry service also connects from Granada in about four hours. The ferry rides themselves are pleasurable; the lake can be rough when winds are up, but on calm days the approach to Ometepe with the two volcanoes growing on the horizon is among the great arrival experiences in Central American travel.

The island has been inhabited continuously since at least 2000 BCE, and the pre-Columbian peoples who lived here left an extraordinary legacy of petroglyphs, stone carved images and symbols that appear on boulders throughout the island. There are estimated to be over 1700 individual petroglyphs on Ometepe, representing humans, animals, spirals, and geometric designs whose exact meanings are not fully understood but whose presence establishes a long and rich tradition of human habitation and artistic expression. The Finca Magdalena, a working organic coffee cooperative on the lower slopes of Maderas, has a particularly accessible collection of petroglyphs on boulders in its grounds, and visiting this cooperative, which also offers rustic accommodation, is one of the standard experiences of a stay on Ometepe.

The hike to the summit of Concepcion is one of the most demanding volcano hikes in Nicaragua, typically requiring eight to ten hours for the round trip from the base and involving steep, loose, sometimes slippery terrain through changing vegetation zones. The volcano is active, and eruptions occasionally require temporary trail closures. Guides are mandatory for both summit hikes, a regulation that serves both safety and the local economy. The summit, when reached in clear weather, offers views across the entire lake, to the Rivas peninsula, to the far shore visible on clear days, and back down over the island itself, where the agricultural patchwork of the lowlands and the dark green cloud forest of Maderas create a vivid landscape.

Maderas presents a different kind of hiking experience: less exposed and dramatic than Concepcion but physically demanding in a different way. The trail to the summit of Maderas passes through increasingly dense forest as elevation increases, from dry forest at the base through moist forest in the middle slopes to the dense cloud forest of the upper elevations, where epiphytes cover every branch and the air is perpetually damp. The crater lake at the summit is small but sits in a primordial setting surrounded by old-growth forest, and the descent can be extremely muddy, requiring patience and appropriate footwear. The wildlife of Maderas is exceptional: howler monkeys are heard from the base of the mountain and seen with some regularity, as are spider monkeys and mantled howlers. Motmots, toucans, parrots, and numerous other bird species inhabit the forest, and the lower slopes of Maderas are particularly good for birdwatching.

Ojo de Agua is one of the most popular non-volcanic attractions on Ometepe: a natural freshwater swimming spring that bubbles up from underground into a large pool surrounded by trees, creating a swimming environment of unusual clarity and coolness. The water is clean, the temperature refreshing in the tropical heat, and the setting beautiful enough that the site is popular with both islanders and visitors. It represents the kind of attraction that requires no infrastructure beyond a path and some basic facilities, and the absence of heavy development makes it more enjoyable than many similar sites in more developed tourist regions.

Charco Verde, a lagoon and protected area on the southwestern side of Concepcion volcano, is surrounded by mythology in the local tradition. It is said to be the home of a spirit called El Chico Largo, a shape-shifting entity associated with the island's indigenous tradition. Whatever one makes of the mythology, the lagoon is a genuinely beautiful spot, its dark water fringed with trees where howler monkeys sleep in the heat of the day and where the evening light turns the water extraordinary colors. A small reserve around the lagoon protects the shoreline vegetation and the wildlife that depends on it.

Organic coffee farming is an important part of Ometepe's economy, and several of the cooperatives on the island welcome visitors for tours that explain the coffee growing process from plant to cup. The combination of rich volcanic soil, moderate altitude, and the lake's moderating influence on temperature produces a distinctive coffee that has found markets in specialty roasters in Europe and North America. Visiting the cooperatives and drinking the island's own coffee in the landscape where it was grown is one of those travel experiences that cannot be replicated in any other way.

Olive ridley sea turtles nest on the beaches on the southern end of Ometepe, and fresh water turtles are abundant in the lagoons. River turtles bask on logs in the channels between the volcanoes, and the freshwater ecosystem of the island is rich with reptiles, amphibians, and fish species found nowhere else. Ometepe represents one of those ecosystems where physical isolation, in this case the island's separation from the mainland by the lake, has produced a degree of biological uniqueness that gives the careful naturalist abundant rewards.

The Corn Islands

Off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, about seventy kilometers from the mainland, two small islands rise from the Caribbean Sea in a setting that is closer in character to the English-speaking Caribbean of Jamaica and Belize than to the Spanish-speaking Pacific majority of Nicaragua. Big Corn Island and Little Corn Island are separated from each other by about fifteen kilometers of open Caribbean water, and though they share a general character, they are in many respects quite different places.

Big Corn Island, the larger and more developed of the two, is reached by daily flights from Managua, about an hour in a small propeller aircraft, or occasionally by boat from Bluefields, a journey that is not recommended in rough weather. The island has a paved road that circles it, modest beach hotels and guesthouses concentrated primarily on the southwestern end where the main village of Brig Bay is located, a few restaurants serving the Caribbean staples of fresh fish, lobster, rice and beans cooked in coconut milk, and the generally relaxed atmosphere of a small island where everyone knows everyone. Big Corn has a reef system on its eastern side that provides reasonable snorkeling and diving, with coral, tropical fish, spotted eagle rays, and occasional nurse sharks visible in the clear Caribbean water. Dive operators on the island offer guided dives and certification courses.

The history of the Corn Islands is intertwined with the British colonial presence on the Mosquito Coast and with the Garifuna community, whose ancestors were brought to the Caribbean coast as African slaves and intermarried with indigenous peoples to create a distinct culture and language. The Creole English spoken on the Corn Islands and along the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua is a variety of English with African, indigenous, and Spanish influences that sounds familiar to a speaker of standard English in some respects and completely opaque in others. Spanish is spoken and understood, particularly by younger residents and those working in tourism, but on the Corn Islands the working language of daily life is Creole English, and this fact gives the islands a distinct atmosphere that underlines how different the Caribbean coast is from the rest of Nicaragua.

Little Corn Island, reached from Big Corn by a thirty-minute panga boat ride across open water that can be genuinely rough and wet, is one of the most authentic and unspoiled island destinations in the Caribbean. The island has no cars, no roads, and no significant infrastructure beyond the network of walking paths that connect the fishing village on the western side to the small collection of guesthouses, restaurants, and dive operations spread around the rest of the island. Everything is transported on foot or by handcart, and the absence of motor vehicles creates a silence broken only by birds, wind, generator hum in the evening, and the sound of the reef. The diving and snorkeling around Little Corn is generally considered better than around Big Corn, with more intact coral, clearer water, and more marine life including sea turtles, sharks, and large pelagic fish visible in the passes between the reef systems.

Accommodation on Little Corn ranges from extremely basic rooms in local houses to small eco-lodges and boutique guesthouses that have been developed by foreign owners over the past two decades, catering to travelers who want the authentic island experience with slightly more comfort than a hammock and a mosquito net. The food on Little Corn centers on what is caught and what is grown: lobster, barracuda, snapper, and jack are staples of the diet, prepared in the Caribbean style with coconut milk, lime, and the local seasoning tradition. Rum punch, coconut water, and cold beer constitute the beverage options at most establishments.

Sport fishing around the Corn Islands and the Caribbean coast banks is excellent by Caribbean standards, with marlin, sailfish, wahoo, mahi-mahi, and various tuna species present in the offshore waters. Fishing charters operate from Big Corn Island and can be arranged through the larger hotels or directly through local boat captains at the dock. The reef fishing for snapper and jack provides a different and equally satisfying experience for those more interested in catching dinner than records, and most boats will clean and prepare the catch for cooking back at the accommodation. Lobster season on the Corn Islands runs from approximately June through January, and lobster caught during season and prepared simply, grilled or steamed, is one of the genuine pleasures of the Caribbean coast. Outside lobster season, fish and conch are the primary seafood offerings.

The Corn Islands are popular enough that they can feel crowded during peak vacation periods, particularly around Christmas and Semana Santa, when Nicaraguan and Costa Rican urban families arrive in significant numbers. Outside these peak periods the islands retain a tranquility that makes them genuinely restorative as a travel destination. The light in the early morning over the Caribbean is extraordinary, the kind of light that makes amateur photographers produce their best work without trying, and the combination of warm clear water, unhurried pace, and the Creole Caribbean cultural character makes the Corn Islands a destination that travelers tend to remember with particular fondness.