Rivas and Hacienda Amayo, Nicaragua
Andres Niño, the first European to navigate the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua, entered the bay of San Juan del Sur in 1523 while looking for a possible passage to Lake Nicaragua or the Caribbean, but San Juan del Sur remained a sleepy fishing village until recently. During the California Gold Rush, thousands of North Americans, anxious to reach California, found the shortest route to be through Nicaragua. It is estimated that some 84,880 passengers passed through San Juan del Sur en route to California, and some 75,000 on their way to New York.
Here we were, then, disembarking in the same place where all these thousands of adventures took place in the past with gold on their minds, but our expectations were completely different: we were looking for the famous Nicaraguan hospitality, and we found it right from the moment we stepped on the dock and we were welcomed by our guides.
We boarded little buses, each one with Nicaraguan guides that gave us lots of information about their country on our way to the colonial city of Rivas. We visited a small museum located in an old Spanish colonial house where we were able to appreciate some pre-Hispanic stone and pottery artifacts found in the region.
Here we received a nice surprise: we were welcomed by a delightful group of pre-school children dancing regional dances of the country. In the end as we should have expected, we were asked by our hosts to dance along and some of us did. We had fun, and most importantly, the children did too.
After this charming moment we started a city tour, not on buses, but on two-seat modified bicycles called “pepanos.” This is one of the original vehicles that the inhabitants of Rivas use as taxis.
Leaving Rivas and after a very short drive on our buses, we arrived to the Hacienda Amayo, our home for the afternoon and the Barrios family, the owners, were our hosts. The hacienda is very well located: facing Lake Nicaragua and the island of Ometepe with two wonderful volcanoes, perfectly cone-shaped, Concepcion and Maderas.
A splendid lunch was followed by a baseball game between the local children’s team and our young passengers aboard. We retired early, glowing with contentment and satisfaction.
Andres Niño, the first European to navigate the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua, entered the bay of San Juan del Sur in 1523 while looking for a possible passage to Lake Nicaragua or the Caribbean, but San Juan del Sur remained a sleepy fishing village until recently. During the California Gold Rush, thousands of North Americans, anxious to reach California, found the shortest route to be through Nicaragua. It is estimated that some 84,880 passengers passed through San Juan del Sur en route to California, and some 75,000 on their way to New York.
Here we were, then, disembarking in the same place where all these thousands of adventures took place in the past with gold on their minds, but our expectations were completely different: we were looking for the famous Nicaraguan hospitality, and we found it right from the moment we stepped on the dock and we were welcomed by our guides.
We boarded little buses, each one with Nicaraguan guides that gave us lots of information about their country on our way to the colonial city of Rivas. We visited a small museum located in an old Spanish colonial house where we were able to appreciate some pre-Hispanic stone and pottery artifacts found in the region.
Here we received a nice surprise: we were welcomed by a delightful group of pre-school children dancing regional dances of the country. In the end as we should have expected, we were asked by our hosts to dance along and some of us did. We had fun, and most importantly, the children did too.
After this charming moment we started a city tour, not on buses, but on two-seat modified bicycles called “pepanos.” This is one of the original vehicles that the inhabitants of Rivas use as taxis.
Leaving Rivas and after a very short drive on our buses, we arrived to the Hacienda Amayo, our home for the afternoon and the Barrios family, the owners, were our hosts. The hacienda is very well located: facing Lake Nicaragua and the island of Ometepe with two wonderful volcanoes, perfectly cone-shaped, Concepcion and Maderas.
A splendid lunch was followed by a baseball game between the local children’s team and our young passengers aboard. We retired early, glowing with contentment and satisfaction.
