El Castillo, Nicaragua - on the Rio San Juan

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After landing at the Managua airport we sauntered down the terminal to a small older building where the Nicaraguan airline company; La Costena, runs flights within the country.  We were able to buy tickets for a flight in an eight seater, departing two hours later to San Carlos, the gateway to the San Juan River.  This river is the outlet from the huge Lake Nicaragua flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Here is the approach to the dirt landing strip.

  

The City of San Carlos at the inlet to the San Juan River.

A riverboat much like the one we rode in.

Ricardo (center) is with his old army squad.  They are returning to the place where their friend died in the contra war in the 80’s to build a monument.

Here are some riverside houses with an internet dish on top.

The pueblo of El Castillo, with the namesake El Castillo on top of the hill (center).

These friends were just below our hotel restaurant deck.

One morning we set out in a canoe-like boat, down river through the fog, at 5:30 in the morning to the Reserva Biologica Indio-Maiz aguas frescas.  This is a pristine jungle area that we walked through for about 4 hours

Here is a fresh jaguar print in the mud from the previous night.

Ok, time for lunch.  As we watch out for the jaguar!

We watched a group of spider monkeys for a while.   They soon tired of us and maneuvered to trees over our heads to pelt us with projectiles.  We were on to their tricks and moved on to thwart their plans.

Other scary creatures tried to frighten us.  And we kept moving.

This is a walking palm.  It shoots out new roots in the direction where more sun is available.  In two years it could move 6 to10 feet in pursuit of a tan. Note Deb’s really cool shoes.

On the way back to El Castillo we can see that the Costa Rican side of the river has been “tamed” and is used for ranches.

The Nicaraguan side of the river has been preserved as undisturbed jungle.

After a grueling day in the jungle a bald white guy swims with the locals.

There are no cars in El Castillo (zero).  Only walking paths around town. The tiendas are along the river and on one side the buildings are on stilts over the river.

We met Jesse & Jill (peace corps), they were fun to chat with.  Jill's tour is over and she prepares for a big farewell party in town.

-PJM