Our accommodation for the next two nights is at San Simian Lodge at Laguna de Apoyo about 20 km from Granada. The 8km diameter lake is actually a volcanic caldera fed from within by geothermal springs. San Simian Lodge comprises 6 simple huts with palm leaf roofs. The en suite toilets and showers are open air with a stone wall for privacy... quite a novelty. Very well maintained gardens blend in to the forest surrounding the volcano caldera and there ar...

Arrived in Granada from Jaigalpa via Managua after two  bus journeys and a 25 minute taxi drive around  the edge of Managua to take us between  bus station. The bus dropped us off right at Parque Central..where we stop for delicious frozen coffee drink.... Our hotel Guardabarranco is a few blocks away in a  quiet street and on arrival, we manage to negotiate an upgrade so that  we get a room which opens right on to the small  pool. The porter,  Fernando...

No roads here so we have a very silent night and a good sleep. Breakfast is served on the decking so we can watch all the small boats and canoes coming and going. Today we take the local passenger boat one hour down river to El Castillo. This is a smart little village considering how remote it is. Access by river boat only. The Spanish built a fort here in 1675 to defend against pirates of the Carribean who were sailing up the river and right across Lake Nicar...

We take a C$30 taxi to the jetty to get boat tickets which cos C$150 each. Breakfast at bus station then head back to the jetty where, although we are staying within the country, two immigration officials take our passports and record the details. An armed member of the civil guard walks along the boat with his rifle, checking that all is in order and making sure everyone had donned their life jacket. 2 hours later and after stopping at several houses alon...

We are ready and waiting for the bus outside our Hotel De Campo at 6am and it arrives 6.50. The cheery driver ( they all are) waves us aboard and the bus, already full, shoogles and rattles out the unsurfaced track 18 km to main highway. Reach Los Chiles in about an hour and get another bus to the border at Tablillas. Choose between the various queues starting off with the one to pay the $7 each departure tax.,,,, we get charged $8.. Join another queue...