Adventuras Acuáticas: Capitulo Tres - From El Castillo to Cahuita, Costa Rica

[continued from Capitulo Dos]  The boat again stopped in Boca de Sabalos and, yes, we still very much want to come back to explore this town.  And to see El Castillo again, of course.

But for now, our border run adventure would take us to…

…to… to… (wait for it!) to… okay, nothing too cool just yet.  We just went back to San Carlos for the night.  Check out the Garmin map here.

We noticed on the boat trip back upriver that there was a LOT of debris in the water, especially coming out from the Rio Sabalos.  Our river pilot had to slow down and pick his way through the deadwood a couple of times.  The heavy rain over the past few days had let loose all kinds of detritus! 

The rapida got us back to San Carlos before noon and we walked across town to get checked in at the Hotel Gran Lago, a reservation we had made prior to our trip to El Castillo.  We relaxed in the room a bit, checked the ol' wifi and freshened up prior to heading out for lunch.  We had plans to visit this cool little European place that, by reviews online, seemed promising and a unique change of pace, culinary-wise.  Schnitzel??!  Plus the restaurant is located near the mercado, and you know how we love us some mercado!

Wear insulated gloves when you take energia en sus manos

The market was the usual hustle bustle - we didn't go in, just skirted the edges.  We hit a farmacia for more bug bite anti-itch cream, too.  [Note to Anne and Mike:  I think Bex! is addicted.  We'll talk more when we get back.  I'm thinking intervention.]  We finally arrived at the restaurant - Parador Berlin - only to find it closed and boarded up.  Drats!  We walked back toward the hotel but first stopped at a licoria to buy a bottle of wine from the very surprised proprietress ("What?!  No rum?!").  Still hungry, we figured we'd find a place to eat along the way.  Then we recalled that earlier, at out hotel, while we were checking out the rooftop deck, we heard the magical sound of a cocktail shaker in action.  Right across the street from our hotel is the Hotel Orosco and they have a restaurant on the third floor.  From the roof of our place, we could look right into it.  So we went there for lunch.  

Perusing the menu, I found what I wanted almost immediately, although I only ordered it because the name was funny.  I ordered the Chicken Gordon Blue.  Yes, that is spelled just as it was on the menu.  It was the same dish we'd get in the states under the boring name 'chicken cordon bleu', just with a way better name.  Bex! again ordered pollo jalapeño but it didn't stack up very well to what she'd had in El Castillo.  I admit I was slightly disappointed that the chef didn't come out to check on us and introduce himself as 'Gordon… Gordon Blue.  Damn glad to meet ya!'.

Disclaimer:  This dish is an original culinary creation of Nicaragua and any similarity to other dishes, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The restaurant here is open and airy, with great views.  We played cards (I was still holding a lead, although barely) and enjoyed the fresh air afforded by being up high with all the openness - i.e. no windows.  One thing we noticed from up here was more cannons nearby!  There was a small artillery unit on this hill, sort of a last chance to shoot at any bad guys who made it past El Castillo.  These were aimed at the point where the Rio San Juan begins its journey to the Caribbean.

Now, this here is your standard Type D cannon.  But let me show you the deluxe model...

After lunch we walked to the waterfront to check the boat schedules for getting across the border to Los Chiles, Costa Rica - perhaps the coolest border crossing option in Central America.  Alas, this crossing may go away if Nicaragua and Costa Rica ever get things worked out for the new Puente Santa Fe crossing.  The posted schedule said 11 AM for the next day, which would be perfect.  Errands and food completed, it was time to veg out for a bit.  We went back to the hotel and borrowed a couple of glasses from downstairs, then went up on the roof to take in the breeze, the views and the sunset.  

The rooftop is awesome, although there are no railings of any sort.  Railings are so… USA.  Gawd.  Really, though, I love how the culture in this part of the world is based on 'Don't be stupid'.  I wish the US took this approach instead of, say, removing playground equipment for liability reasons.   But oh well.  The view from the roof was impressive!  We watched the afternoon fishermen returning home and we could see quite a few of the Solentiname Islands from up here.  

My pride still stinging from the 'archipelago' fiasco, I was ever on the lookout for an opportunity to score a win.  I finally realized this victory when I pointed out that way across the lake we could see Isla de Ometepe - our home.  Bex! didn't agree that it was Ometepe, arguing that it couldn't be in that direction.  We debated a bit, discussing the direction we had traveled on the ferry, geometry, how much wine was left, the position of the setting sun, etc. and she finally admitted that I was right.  It was indeed Ometepe.  Score one for me!!  [Bex!'s rebuttal:  Okay, honey.  I'll let you have this one.]  We enjoyed our vino, which  suddenly tasted much sweeter to me.  Mmmm - victory.  And then we hit San Carlos to find dinner.

Ometepe!

Restaurant Kaoma looked neat and had a nice location with good views.  Like most restaurants here, it's up a couple of flights of stairs, allowing for cool views of the malecón (waterfront).  The food was good, nothing outstanding, but certainly tasty.  Their menu also had a Chicken Gordon Blue but I didn't order it.  The thing that made the evening here especially memorable wasn't the food but the Ricardo Arjona music videos they were playing.  This guy is what you'd get if Jack Johnson, Shakira, and sappy-love-ballad era Bryan Adams had a baby.  It was really cool, actually, and we will be downloading some of his music.

Our hopes of falling asleep to crime dramas on AXN didn't pan out.  The TV in the room had crappy reception and only a handful of channels.  But we had AC and hot water, although the pressure was minimal.  I know it sounds a little whiny, but considering where we live, these trips are a chance to spoil ourselves a little - hot water, cable television, etc.  We look forward to these treats; being deprived of them is a tiny letdown.

We had a nice leisurely Sunday morning.  After packing up, we walked the malecón and ate breakfast at a soda on the waterfront next to the dock we'd soon be departing from.  After food, we went to the immigration/customs office and were disappointed to find out that the posted schedule was incorrect.  Our 11 AM departure wasn't actually leaving until 12:30PM.  There was a benefit to the delay - we were still in town when the clerk from the hotel came running over to the customs office.  We had forgotten to return the room key!  Oops!  After that excitement, there was nothing left to do but wait.  We drowned our sorrows in fresh fruit smoothies, playing cards to while away the time.  Eventually, it was time and we got stamped out of Nicaragua and boarded the boat that would take us up the Rio Frio to Los Chiles (see the Garmin map of the day).

Collecting more stamps!

The Rio Frio starts near the middle of the image by the buildings and goes to the left.

Most all of the boats we've been on in Nicaragua have life jackets.  We see them stashed but (thankfully) have never needed to use one, although on a couple of occasions during rough water, I made sure to pre-plan a route to a life jacket and an exit!  We'd never been up the Rio Frio, although we knew it was a smaller river.  It surprised us, then, when the copilot walked down the aisle of the boat, handing out life jackets and telling everyone to put them on.

Um… yikes.

Rough water ahead?  Rapids?  River monsters?  We didn't know, so we followed instructions and donned our chalecos.  As it turned out, the life jackets were only required to be worn juuuust long enough for us to nose up to the Nicaraguan military outpost marking the border with Costa Rica so the pilot could hand off a copy of the passenger list.  Once we were out of sight, the copilot collected all the life jackets and stuffed them into a Hefty bag for storage. Ha!

Los Chiles was much closer than we thought.  We'd read that the river trip takes a couple of hours but we were pulling up to the dock in about an hour.  We heard a large troop of howler monkeys in the trees as the boat docked and kids were swimming in the river, doing cannonballs off the shore.  Everyone lined up at a folding table that was customs for bag inspections.  My honest face got us waved through immediately.  During the boat trip we had chatted with a US expat named 'Bob'.  'Bob' is in quotes because he had to seriously think of his name when I asked the really tough question "What's your name?"  "Um, (think think think) ...Bob."  He had been living in Costa Rica for 10-12 years, I think, and was returning from making his border run.  He seemed burned out on living down here, not excited about much of anything in Central America.  He appeared to be in a rut, much like if he had a drab 9-5 job in the states.  Regardless, he was a big help to us because he had made this run many times.  After customs, we followed him a few blocks into town where we paid a municipal tax; then it was on to immigration for entry stamps into CR.  

To make the jaunt through Los Chiles more interesting, I forgot to mention that it had started raining pretty damn hard as soon as we got off the boat, which added to the urgency to get through lines and onto the next step in the days itinerary.  After waiting for a bit at immigration, we were ready for the bus terminal, which we found out was maybe a kilometer away - and it was coming down harder than ever.  Our new friend, veteran border crosser 'Bob' snagged a taxi and waved us in to share the ride.  He even paid for the short trip to the terminal!  

And, hell, as our travel luck would have it the bus we needed to catch arrived a few minutes later!  We thanked 'Bob' for the travel advice and the taxi ride, bid him safe travels and settled into for the trip to Muelle de San Carlos - or Ciudad Quesada.  One of these towns would be our layover for the day.

[Note:  This is the part of the blog where we would ask our dear friends at the Poás Lodge - Stephan,  Jimmie, Gertie, Don - to just skim down a ways.  We passed within spittin' distance of you guys!  But we were on a mission to see the Caribbean, had limited time - and we hope you can appreciate that!  Don't worry - you're not rid of us forever.  We WILL be back!]

Our backpacks had been stashed below in the under-bus luggage area, so each and every time the bus stopped to pick up/drop off we were watching to make sure our bags didn't get unloaded 'by mistake'.  Hate to be paranoid, but it happens - caution and awareness is always best.  Not knowing how the bus schedules worked on Sundays we decided to stay the night in the first town we would hit, Muelle de San Carlos.  After checking with the driver a few times, he dropped us off at the intersection of highways 32 and 4, which meant about as much to us as it does to you.  We were wondering if it had been such a good idea to get off a perfectly good bus in the middle of nowhere.

At the intersection, there was a grocery store, a gas station/auto shop that also worked on big rigs, a liquor store/minimart and maybe a handful of other businesses.  Hmmm…  We asked a nice young man if there were any hotels nearby and he smiled as he pointed to the logo on his very fancy polo shirt - the Tilijari Resort and Spa.  Yes, he said, the place he worked was close by.  We didn't want to spend a gajillion dollars on one night, so we were scratching our heads as to what to do, when Bex! saw a sign right next to the liquor store that advertised rooms for rent.  Figuring it was worth a shot, the place turned out to be an actual hotel a block off the highway, behind the hustle and bustle, and the rooms were awesome, as was the price.  Plus, the liquor store/minimart was, like, right there!  Perfect!

Which filter makes a truck stop look more glamorous?  #lipstickonapig

The familia Ruma apparently runs this area of Muelle de San Carlos.  Their name was on several of the businesses - the licorera, the hotel, the minimart, the gas station/service center.  After we settled into the room and with dark fast approaching, we thought we'd grab a bite to eat.  We walked north, back the way we'd traveled on the bus and had a decent dinner at Restaurante y Bar La Subasta.  Subasta is Spanish for 'auction' and the upstairs dining room of this restaurant overlooked a bullpen.  There was even stadium-stye seating for the cattle auctions held here.  There was no auction this day, unfortunately.  But the food was good, the meat portions were large, the beer was cold and, as we realized, they were nice enough to serve us even though we kept them a little late after their normal closing time.  We tipped appropriately.

We walked back to the hotel, but hit the store for snacks and alcohol.  It was beer for me; Bex! was very excited that she found this to drink:

A nice change of pace, indeed.

In fact, my beer and her wine tasted so good that we went back to the minimart/liquor store for refills - and so she could do this:

Did I mention that we slept well that night?

Between the after dinner drinks, AC, a nice shower and some TV, we indeed slept very well.  We needed the rest for the travel day we had ahead of us.  Up early the next morning, we dropped the key off at the front desk/check out counter of the liquor store and asked if there was a bus running east.  Nope.  We were told our best bet would be to continue south to Ciudad Quesada, where the larger bus depot was and where we could get where we wanted to get, get it?  We popped into the grocery store for breakfast-type snacks and other junk food to get us through the day.  After a short wait at the bus stop, we were back on the road.

To assist you in following along, our goal today was to travel via bus:

Muelle de San Carlos to Ciudad Quesada;
Ciudad Quesada to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui
Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui to Guapiles;
Guapiles to Puerto Limon;
and finally, Puerto Limon to Cahuita on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

Will our intrepid travelers still be smiling at the end of the day?  Stay tuned!

We gained a fair amount of elevation on the way to Ciudad Quesada.  When we got to the terminal, we saw we had a couple of hours until the next leg of the adventure.  We really had no idea how far we'd get in one day.  It would all depend on bus schedules that were mostly unknown to us as well as the timing of our arrival at one stop and the departure to the next.  As we pieced it together after the trip, we realized we did pretty well.  We couldn't have gotten much further than Muelle de San Carlos or Ciudad Quesada the previous day, anyway.  And given the waning daylight, it was smart to stop early to find a hotel rather than be stuck somewhere unfamiliar at night.  Plus we caught the same bus we would have caught out of Ciudad Quesada anyway, so it was a wash. 

We made Puerto Viejo just fine, except we had another two hour wait.  Too many of those would hinder travel but we had no choice.  Besides, it gave us time to have lunch and stretch our legs.  The trip to Guapiles went pretty quick and things got interesting from here on out.  

The Guapiles terminal was much busier than the others we'd hit this day.  This terminal was a hub, so there are different bus companies heading in all different directions, and they have assigned bays in the terminal.  Their schedules are posted above their respective bank of parking spots.  We walked the length of the depot and discovered that if we hustled we could just make a bus to Puerto Limon leaving in just a few minutes.  Otherwise we had another wait ahead of us.  To conquer, we divided - I got in the ticket line and Bex! scouted the parking area to see exactly which bus was the one we wanted.  She got varying answers - ugh.  But we got tickets and even had time to buy a couple of bottles of water before getting on the bus we needed.  Whew! 

One thing we do well when we travel is make friends.  We met another 'travel angel' on the bus to Puerto Limon.  This is a bustling city, one of the largest on the Caribbean, at about 60,000 people.  It is the home of many produce processing and export companies.  Dole, Del Monte, Chiquita all have facilities here - pineapple, bananas, coffee.  Ships head out from the port to all points on the globe.  Thousands upon thousands of containers are stacked in yards along the roads leading into the city.  It was impressive!

Our bus dropped us at their terminal and we knew from the research we'd done that the bus we needed to get was a few blocks away.  But once we got off the bus, we had no clue which direction to go.  It was dark, the terminal was crazy busy, we were being solicited for all kinds of things - everything from taxi rides to souvenirs to drugs to who knows what else was being shouted.  It was nuts and we were not feeling like we were in a safe enough place to put our bags down and dig out the map.  Then this nice man we had chatted with on the bus walked up to us and told us to follow him closely.  He hurried through the crowds, with us right on his heels.  

Turns out he was headed for the same bus we were, his destination being one of the small villages south of Cahuita.  He blocked traffic, waved us through, held off the riffraff that seemed to be everywhere and led us to the bus terminal we needed.  We got tickets, had enough time to use the restroom and get more water, then got on the bus with our new friend and were on the road after about 10 minutes.  Without his help, we would never have caught this bus, the last for the night heading south.  The fact that this guy stopped on his travels, risked missing his chance to get home just to help us was admirable.  We've had many experiences like this but this man was exceptionally helpful to us.  We couldn't thank him enough, so we'll look for opportunities to pay it forward.

And… we ended up making it all the way to Cahuita in one day!!

[Note:  Okay, Stephan, Jimmie, Gertie, Don - you can start reading again from here]

"And that's how we caught a helicopter ride from Los Chiles all the way to Cahuita."

Here's how the Garmin captured out 5 bus day:  Muelle de San Carlos to Cahuita

We got off the bus in Cahuita and headed into town on foot.  The terminal is a couple of blocks from the main drag.  This is a tiny town, it was late and we had a general idea which way to go.  We got to the main road and walked in the direction we thought we needed to be going to get the hotel we had in mind.  Yeah, this is the part where being travel weary led to bad decision making.  We were both fried from the long day.  We couldn't quite get our bearings, although we did find the town center.  No street signs, no idea which way to go, tired and hungry for real food, not sure what time the town would shut down, we bagged the idea of finding the place we wanted and just picked a place that was, hey, look, right in front of us.  Bad idea.  It was called Sam's Cabinas Safari - or as we called it after the fact, Sam's Crack and Smack Shack.  Ugh.  It would do for the night, but just barely.

We walked back into town and had dinner at Riki's.  There wasn't much open, so choices were limited which was a good thing.  Our ability to make choices was drained.  It was a quiet dinner - we were both road weary.  Full stomachs made falling asleep in our dirty, creepy room a little easier.  

And, hey, we made it!!  All in one day, all the way to the Caribbean!  Tomorrow would be a better day!

[continued in Adventuras Acuáticas:  Capitulo Cuatro]

Adventuras Acuáticas: Capitulo Dos - From San Carlos to El Castillo

[continued from Capitulo Uno]  Taking the fast boat got us to San Carlos with just enough time to hustle down to the other dock in town to catch the boat to…

El Castillo.  Seriously, we made it to the dock just minutes before the boat headed downriver.  Perfect!

Ceci n'est pas our boat - but ours was very similar.

Just a short distance downriver from San Carlos we passed under the huge new Japanese-funded Puente Santa Fe, linking Nicaragua with their 'friends' to the south.  It's interesting that Ortega built this $30 million dollar bridge without full buy in and cooperation of Costa Rica.  The idea is good - the bridge offers another route to the ports in the Caribbean, maybe get some truck traffic off the Pan American highway to the west and hopefully bolster the economy in one of the poorer regions of the country.  

What's that?  I thought we were in the middle of the wild and wooly jungle.

But it only works with cooperation between the two countries and there is a long history of bad blood.  Hell, the exact position of the border itself along the Rio San Juan is constantly in question.  Time will tell.  If and when the bridge is put into use, it may just replace one of the coolest border crossings ever, a border crossing that we would be making in a few days.  More on that later.

As we made our way down the wide slow Rio San Juan, we realized that these boats are just like the one we took to the Solentinames, in that they stop anywhere.  On several occasions, we would cut toward shore, gently nose right up to the bank at some random point and pick up more passengers or drop people off.  The pilot is very good, too.  He nudges the boat right up close and the people moving on/off barely have their feet clear before he reverses the boat to continue on our journey.

Ten hut!  Another boat stopped at this Nicaraguan military dock.

The boat made an official stop in the small town of Boca de Sabalos.  Man, this place looked cool!  Our boat left the Rio San Juan, just barely, heading up the Rio Sabalos no more than 50-75 meters to get to the municipal dock. Again, if we only had more time, we would have loved to stay here a night or two to explore.  Situated where the Rio Sabalos enters the Rio San Juan (boca means 'mouth') this bustling little place looked very interesting.  Just like at the dock in San Carlos, there was military presence here, too.  The soldier asked the pilot about us - we could tell because he gestured and looked right at us.  Just wanted to know where we were from.  It must be my honest face because there was no delay and we were soon leaving.  Good thing they didn't check the wife's passport. (ahem)

Cruisin' río-style

While we were waiting at the dock, people and goods being unloaded, we saw a little skiff, a water taxi, bringing people back and forth across this river.  This costs a few cordobas and adds to the charm of this little river town.  As we checked out Boca de Sabalos from the river, we saw one cool lodge with a neat restaurant and rooms overlooking the river.  We made a mental note for our next trip here.  From what we could see, the town also has a market as well as a few bars and restaurants.    

As we continued downriver, the river narrowed a little and the water was moving a little quicker.  A short time later we arrived in El Castillo.

One if by land, two if by sea.  How many if by river?

We stayed two nights in this cool little river town and would have stayed longer had we known how enjoyable it would be.  We've talked about it since the trip and we agree that the most interesting part of El Castillo was that there are no roads.  No roads = no cars.  Everyone and everything moves by boat.  In fact, we arrived midday and, after checking in at Hotel Tropical and dropping our packs, we walked about town to find lunch.  

With no roads, getting around town was difficult - NOT!  There are nice stone-paved pathways all over town.  The one that runs parallel to the river is wide enough for a horse drawn cart and the side paths are spacious, as well.   Again, we were visiting during the slow season, so we had many invitations from anxious and excited staff at the hotels, restaurants, bars to come in and enjoy.  We continued to explore until we were plenty hungry.  Bex! still wasn't feeling 100% but she was also in need of food, as was I.

We ended up eating at Lara's Planet, which is the restaurant at the hotel of the same name. The place looked pretty new and polished.  It has solar panels on the roof, beautiful tiled floors and a lot of bamboo in the decor - railings, furniture, trim work.  Pretty awesome place, overlooking the river.  

A 'panga', typical transportation in all the river communities.

I mentioned that boats are used for everything.  While we were waiting for our food, we saw a man on the opposite bank get in his panga (a type of long skinny boat), scoot across the river, and tie up.  He was gone a few minutes and came back with a bag of ?? (groceries?) and hopped back in with another guy to head back across the rio.  The second guy was his neighbor, by the looks of it - each heading to neighboring houses.  River life!  'Just jumping in the panga to run a few errands, honey!  Need anything?'  'No, but don't forget to pick up Carlos!'

With no roads in the area, we're not sure where this truck was headed.

We enjoyed watching the boats and people go by for a while, then lunch was served.  And the food was fantastic!  The proprietress was friendly and engaging.  The cuisine leaned toward Italian, so I had the river shrimp pasta and Bex! had a tasty bolognese, each served with a delicious, freshly-made pico de gallo salad with fresh-picked baby spinach.  We knew we were in good hands when the hostess came out of the kitchen to snip herbs from her garden for our dishes - fresh basil garnish!.  And the fresh grated parmesan was a treat.  It was a little spendy but the freshness and authenticity were worth it.  Plus - you know - real cheese.

Cosmopolitan food in a sleepy river town.

After some more time exploring the town, it was chill time at the hotel.  We played cards (I was still leading) and read, watched the boats going up and down the river and generally relaxed.  I walked to a nearby pulperia where I bought a few beers and a soda for my still-not-feeling-great spouse.  The rooms at the Hotel Tropical are all on the second floor and all share a big deck overlooking the river and, even better, the rapids.  It was nice to have the white noise of the water.

It was dinner time but Bex! still wasn't feeling well.  She was a trooper - two boat rides, lots of walking and, darn it, trying really hard to feel better just took it out of her.  It had been a long day.  So I wandered out to find some food while she napped.  When we first arrived, as we got off the boat that brought us to town, the proprietor of a cool looking little bar with a great location and great music playing from the boom box had called to us to visit his establishment.  I had made note of this and so I headed straight there to have a few beers, some food and chat with the locals.  Mingling, having fun and making new friends is something I excel at thankyouverymuch even with my limited Spanish.  Hell, maybe because of my limited Spanish!  I'm not afraid to try and locals appreciate that, actually.  

I walked in and the place looked dead.  I found the owner sleeping in a rocking chair.  He woke up and seated me.  I ordered a beer to start and he said 'Lo siento, pero no tengo cerveza.'  'En serio?!'  'Si.'  Hmmm… no beer, no other customers to chat with.  I said good night, walked around a little, then ended up back at our hotel.  The ground floor of the hotel is home to Restaurante Vanesa, so I ate there.  I had a decent chicken dinner and a couple of beers as I watched boats navigate the river, in the dark with no lights.  Pretty amazing considering the rapids they were cutting through.

A river boat lining up to approach the rapids on the far side of the river.

Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.

Safely on the way to the Caribbean

I checked on my patient when I got back upstairs.  She was doing okay, just resting.  We sat up for a bit, then decided to watch some TV, a luxury when we travel.  Yeah, except the cable was disconnected.  It seems the hotel cuts the service during the low season to save money.  Smart move, but we felt they could have maybe mentioned that.  In fact, we kinda put up with a fair amount of 'low season' inconvenience here.  The doorknob to our room was loose.  In fact, so loose that if I didn't hold it just right when we closed it from the outside, it would just fall off.  The door would be secure but there would be no attached knob to open it!  Also, the water was turned off during the day.  We came to discover that this was village wide, a way to preserve water.  Again, that would be something to mention to the guests, right?  Nope, apparently.  No water meant no toilet flushing, and I got caught in the shower the first day, all soaped up and no water to rinse.  Bex! had to go downstairs to get them to flip some valves and that got me just enough of a trickle to rinse off.  The price was okay, though, which is why we stayed.  If we had planned a longer stay in El Castillo, however, we would have moved to a different place.

As we finished up breakfast the next morning, we saw our Israeli friends, Joseph and Eran.  We called them over and they joined us to have coffee.  We each shared our adventures since we'd last met up in San Carlos.  They were heading all the way downriver to the Caribbean and were trying to figure out which boat would take them.  Our server told them there was one leaving, um, now so they hurried off!  It was great seeing them again!  Joseph owes me ice cream, though.  

We walked down through the other area of town, a section we had not explored the previous day.  More hotels, some restaurant potential for later - and Nene's Tours.  One of the things on our to do list while in town was to ride the Raudal de Diablos - the Devil's Rapids.  The very rapids that run through town and past our hotel, in fact.  We stopped in Nene's to inquire about the possibility of doing the trip this afternoon.  The proprietor stepped out on the porch, yelled across the way to a young man to see if he could take us later.  The guy, Ernesto, told us to wait a sec.  Then he walked over to check the river.  It must have been okay because he said yes and we arranged a time to meet him.

Perhaps a short prayer before hitting the river?

Google street view Guagin painting anonymous mural of El Castillo

After setting up our rafting excursion, we hit the fort.  And what a fort it is!  Wow!  Originally called the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception  it was a vital protector of Lake Nicaragua and Granada, as Spain established their dominance in Central America.  The link (above) takes you to a 1988 article from the New York Times that gives a good description of the history.  The only difference between the 1988 El Castillo described in the article and the El Castillo we experienced is that the town has definitely been discovered.  Granted, it's still far off the beaten path and takes a commitment of time and prior scheduling to get to, but the town has embraced tourism and seemed to be thriving, for the most part.  

As I mentioned before, the Spanish chose this very spot on the river because of the rapids.  Invading British and pirate ships had to unload downriver and very slowly navigate their ships through the rapids, with people pulling ropes from shore.    A perfect spot for a fort with lots of cannons.  It wasn't foolproof, however.  The fort itself was taken a time or two.  So, yes, there is much history here.  We paid the small fee to enter the grounds and visited the tiny museum.  They had many of the original cannons on display as well as a chronological history of the town and the fort.  It was extremely interesting and a good way to work on our Spanish, as we read the posters.

You want me to use this little tiny cannon ball to hit that little tiny ship?

Wait, I thought the British came from that-a-way?!?

The museum is cool but the real attraction, of course, was the fort itself!  Impressive, to say the least.  It's not a huge complex but as you'll see in the pictures, it's situated on a bluff with great views up and down river as well as providing the perfect spot to take pot shots at invading ships.

Rampa de accesa

"Hi, welcome to Taco Bell.  Can I take your order?"

Great views!  Shaggy monster!

A view through one of the many rifle ports

Bex! must be feeling better - she found the room where the soldiers stored their food!

Views up and down river - perfect for spotting marauding British ships

Booby and Beauregard Honeysuckle Hedgehog III - travel buds!

And the other travel buds.  Man, do I need a haircut!

When we left the fort, we passed the local primary school.  We heard drumming as we approached and then saw the kids practicing.  Their drums were made of recycled tubs and cans!  But they had them rigged up around their waists or hanging around the neck and were rehearsing and marching.  It was pretty awesome to see.  [Note:  Ian F - come give lessons!]

You say school, I say escuela

We took the long way around town, visited the house where Horatio Nelson holed up while he planned the British attack on the fort, then skirted the high school.  We ended up taking a path that led us to a bridge that had washed out.  D'oh!  In fact, we had to scamper across the only remaining part of it, a 6"x6" support log.  We got back to the main drag and I decided to get a haircut here.  In our earlier wanderings we had passed a 'barberia' and so, what the hell, right?  Sorry, Samantha at Hair M!  This establishment might not offer hot towels and beers, but it did have pay by the hour video games.

Haircuts, photocopies, and video games - a match menage-a-trois made in heaven.

Pre-cut mug shots

Edwin was great!  We communicated through language and gestures about what I wanted (Bex! helped, of course) and he went to work.  He asked where we were from, then commented that it was funny I was from the US getting my hair cut by a Nicaraguan in El Castillo who was using electric clippers manufactured in the US.  Ha!  

First under the axe - the burns.

Now, a little off the top, please.

Post-cut mug shots.

Gracias, amigo!

After my spiffy new 'do, it was time for lunch.  We went to Borders Cafe, a new-ish place in town and one known for their coffee.  I had a latte and Bex! had a juice.  The manager bragged about how his restaurant recently won an award and how popular they were.  The drinks were great, the food was average.  Neat place, though.  We went back later that day for micheladas, in fact.  As you may recall, a michelada is a beer served in a glass with a salted rim, and mixed with lime juice, sometimes even a little tomato juice, maybe a dash of hot sauce or black pepper.  Poor man's Bloody Mary.  I like them quite a lot.  They are refreshing and drinking plenty of them prevents diseases like this one.  It's like the 'apple a day' theory, only with alcohol.

After a stop back at the room, it was rafting time.  We didn't really know what to expect.  Ernesto was waiting for us.  On the porch at Nene's was our watercraft - a raft that looked maybe a little too small.  Hand made paddles, cut from planks, and - thankfully - real honest-to-goodness life jackets.  As stated, the rapids run right through town.  So we walked along the main path upriver to the municipal dock (the one we had arrived at the previous day), and put in there.  We got plenty of looks walking through town.  We half-expected to see locals lined up along shore to watch the crazy gringos.  

(ring ring)  "Hello?  "Did you hear the news?!  Some gringos are actually going rafting!"  "No way!  Seriously?"  "Yes!  Hurry!  They just went by my place on the way to the dock!"  "Okay, okay.  I'm on the way!"  "Bring beer!"

Our guide, our raft, Bex! with one of the homemade paddles heading to the dock for the first of five runs.  This is the 'main street', by the way.

Ernesto is doing all the work, obviously.

Then we paddled out toward the middle and let the current take us from there.  We ended up making five runs in an hour - cruising through the Raudal de Diablo, making for the bank, walking back up through town to the stares of the locals, launching from the dock, paddling up river to get a good angle and then doing it over again.  Ernesto was great, increasing the excitement level each time until the 4th and 5th runs were right through the heart of the big stuff.  It was fantastic fun and it cost all of $15.  We tipped Ernesto on top of that and walked away with big smiles.  

We were getting tossed pretty good while snapping pics, so I left this picture cock-eyed rather than leveled out.  That would be cheating!

And… back to Borders Cafe for post-rafting micheladas!  We relaxed at the hotel for a bit, checking out the rapids below with a newfound perspective.  With Bex! feeling better and after a full day of adventure and exploring, it was dinner time!  We went to Cafe de Huesped Chinandegano and were not disappointed!  This place had the perfect blend of location (right on the river, of course), service (the owner was extremely friendly, helpful) and food (it was fantastic!).  Bex! had her favorite dish - pollo jalepeño.  I had arroz con pollo and it was dee-lish.  We also found the BEST micheladas in town Central America thus far.  Minimally salted rim, nice blend of lime and tomato juice, hot sauce and a little pepper, all mixed with the Toña.  Perfect blend of umami and beer.  They have rooms here, as well, and it's top choice for our next stay.  At the very least, we will for sure dine here again!

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the rest of the evening on the deck, visiting with some other tourists and listening to the rapids below.  One of the staff asked Bex! to translate between her and a young man who was traveling with his mother.  They were from the US (or maybe Canada?) and were trying to make arrangements for an extended stay after a brief excursion downriver.  Anyway, they didn't speak Sapnish.  And Bex! does!   She rawks. 

We slept well that night, after a big day, a great meal and a few beer cocktails.  The next morning, we ate breakfast and caught the morning rapida back upriver.  The river was clogged with floating debris, mostly wood and logs of various sizes, from El Castillo to Boca de Sabalos.  We're guessing the big rains washed this stuff down river.

River monster!

The boat again stopped in Boca de Sabalos and, yes, we still very much want to come back to explore this town.  And to see El Castillo again, of course.

But for now, our border run adventure would take us to…

[continued in Adventuras Acuáticas:  Capitulo Tres]