Fritanga/Mexifusion

Nicaragua might just have the best street food in Latin America. Fritanga, you can find in virtually any city here, loosely translates as "cheap food." It's usually chicken or beef, grilled on a bbq and served with salad, fried plantain and tortilla. When we rolled into Estelí from San Salvador, we had worked up quite an appetite, treating ourselves to some genuine Mexican-made tacos. The secret, behind Tacos Mario's Mexicanos is that they use Quesillo, a salty type of not-quite-matured Nicaraguan cheese that makes the marinated beef and chicken burst with flavor in every bite.

The next night, we decided to take a walk. You can't really expect to find a fritanga joint as easily as to stumble on to one. Most are away from touristy centers and are almost always run out of people's houses. After a few minutes, we followed our nose to a remote side of town and were treated to some of the freshest chicken I've ever had. There's something so delicious, simple and natural about fritanga, we are making it a daily routine. And at $3-4 a plate, it's by far the most economic option here.

Nica Lodging On The Cheap

So far Elizabeth and I have avoided paying more than $20 a night in anywhere that we've stayed in Nicaragua. The expectations are obviously a bit lower here in Nicaragua (no hot showers etc) but you really can't beat the value, here's the rundown of each of the private rooms that we stayed in:


El Chelero Hostel, Granada ($12 shared bathroom $18 private bath/night): great value, especially when you consider the lack of cheap eats in Granada. Pros: Central location, nice and helpful staff. Cons: A bit dingy and with the bare, I mean bare minimum of things you'd expect at a hostel (sometimes you have to take a bucket shower, if you don't know what that is, you probably won't like Nicaragua)

Santa Cruz Hostel, Ometepe Island ($16/night for cabin w/ private bath): This was an awesome find, we had initially set out for Little Morgan's, which had fantastic reviews, but was unfortunately full when we arrived. Pros: Cheap bike rental & breakfast and nice rooms. Cannot stress how awesome the staff was, the hostel itself really nicely laid out as well. Cons: none really.

Joxis Hotel, San Juan Del Sur ($18/night w/private bath) We've naturally bargained on all of our lodging options but San Juan showed us the most price inflation of anywhere in the country. What started off as $26 a night we got down to 18 after promising not to use the AC. Pros: nice top balcony, good location, Cons: a bit dirty, overpriced food and some rowdy guests that had late night prositutes (yes hotel staff, you SHOULD control that).

Lazy Bones Hostel, León ($20/night with shared bath) Again, not only our first, but second options were full when we arrived. Lazy bones was a nice alternative and with the best mattresses we've had the pleasure of sleeping on. Pros: Real swimming pool to beat the León heat, cheap breakfast and the cleanest hostel we've been in. Also had amazing cheap BBQ down the street for only 45 Cordobas. Cons: a little pricey, especially for the 3 privates where you have to walk 100 yards and down a spiral staircase for the bathroom, staff had attitude as well. The first private we had was right next to a bathroom, luck of the draw I guess.

I'm back at Chelero in Granada right now, I should also add that they were nice enough to hang on to our larger bags while we traveled the country two weeks.

Iguana Soup

Our new friend from León, Anri had made a comment about Iguana Soup being good for hangovers. Though we weren't in need of hangover recovery we wanted to give it a go. 60 Cordobas ($2.50) got us a huge bowl of soup with plaintains and potatoes and surprise, surprise a crab hanging off the side of the bowl. The iguana meat was the bottom torso and was a fairly good-sized lizard.

The taste wasn't too distant from chicken, although it was definitely gamier. I'd say it's like if chicken had more of a venison flavor, not bad. My only regret was not bringing the camera....

On Moto Wipeouts and Volcano Boarding in León

When I tried to bargain down the price of our Volcano boarding trip, Anry, the manager of Mas Adventures smiled and said "I know 28 dollars is a lot for Nicaragua but trust me, it goes to a good place." He then described how Mas Adventures supports a local community that has seen tons of tour buses fly by but little in their own economic benefit. But what really surprised me was when he suggested we borrow his motorcycle to catch the sunset from nearby viewpoint. "You know how to drive a motorcycleright?" He watched Betty safely drive us around the block before giving us directions to the viewpoint.

We drove through the outskirts of León before hitting a dirt path that curved through the jungle. All of a sudden, we were climbing up a gravelly slope and the next thing we knew, the bike was going down. I jumped off the back as the bike began to list but Betty, like a dedicated skipper, went down with the ship. She had cuts on her feet and leg but was otherwise ok. We walked around the former military barracks that had been used to oppress and torture members of both the Somoza and Sandinista oppositions.

The following day we went Volcano boarding, which was a bit harder than snowboarding or surfing. The trip also involved a visit to an Iguana Ranch (these were Soup Iguanas!) and a nice hike up the volcano. 

Florida by way of Havana and Estelí

I came to Estelí with two objectives: to see a cigar factory and to score a box of the favorite torpedo cigars I had discovered the last time I was in Nica. I was surprised arriving in Estelí to see so many tourists walking about. It wasn't a touristy place with much touristy infrastructure or things to do. There was a cigar factory tour offered at our hostel but we were more interested in the free tour we saw listed on WikiTravel.

We showed up at the factory, which was an unmarked building on the edge of town. The attendant seemed surprised to see us and when I asked about the tour, she fetched a sharply dressed manager. When he found we spoke Spanish, he lit up and led us around a few rooms, showing us the various stages of cigar making. To conclude he took us to the drying room and handed us two of the freshest cigars I've ever smelled ("they are almost done!"). When I inquired about buying a particular box of cigars he called up an associate ("He's Cuban, he knows everyone!") who arrived with a cigar in hand. Although it was 2pm, 95 degrees and humid as hell, we lit up our own cigars and got down to business with Arturo. But as it is in Latin America, we got the pleasure of getting to know our present company first.

Arturo had stayed in Cuba after the Revolution of '59 but soon found that his business of exporting cigars was obsolete after the Communist Party took control of the tobacco industry. He moved to Estelí with many other Cuban tobacco workers because the soil and climate was similar to back home. Ironically, it was twenty years later that the Sandinista Communists took over much of the tobacco production in Estelí, once again, putting Arturo out of a job. He moved to Florida where he had some family and had only recently returned to Estelí because "the medical care here is so much better, and free!" He captivated us with the specifics of his Cuban escape ("we just all got on a boat any way we could, swimming, whatever!") and subsequent adventures, but when he got into talking about his ex-wives, I took the opportunity to get back to business. 

When I asked him about getting a box of the J.L Salazar Reserva Torpedo, he gave me the same response every Nicaraguan had given me before: "You don't want a box of Padron's?" He made a couple calls while we finished our stogies. "Good to go." Hit lit a brand new cigar ("I smoke three maybe, four a day") and took us down some backstreets until we reached a communal housing area for cigar factory workers. We met our man, who didn't bargain much but still gave me a good deal on a box of my favorite cigars. $60 for a box of 25 cigars is an ok deal in Nicaragua but it's a steal when you factor in getting to spend an afternoon with a guy like Arturo.