At the end of our last week in Nicaragua, we were eagerly anticipating a visit from special visitors. Paulette, founder of La Mariposa, was planning to travel up to Esteli to spend time with us, and our children were SO excited to see her again! Oscar, one of the La Mariposa drivers, drove her in the truck so we got to see him too! As a surprise they brought along a pinata for the kids, and a truckload of crates and crates full of fresh fruits and vegetables from the La Mariposa gardens–greens and tomatoes and avocados and oranges and mandarinas and pineapples, overflowing our kitchen! Even a special package of fresh eggs from Paulette’s chickens, wrapped in banana leaves as a carton, which I think is the just coolest thing!
We ate lunch together at our home, spent the afternoon chatting, and visited a park and Pizza Hut that evening. But the main event was the following morning! Somoto Canyon had been recommended to us by some other students we met at La Mariposa, and we hoped to see it while we were in Northern Nicaragua, so we invited Paulette and Oscar to join us. It was fun to get to experience a new part of Nicaragua that Paulette and Oscar hadn’t seen before either!
The first part of the Somoto tour is a hike down to the riverbed, and then along the sandy, rocky riverbed, which is completely dry or very shallow pools during the dry season now, to get deeper into the canyon. Denver, Oscar, and our guide all ended up with a kid on their shoulders at one time as legs got tired and sand got in their shoes.
The next stage, when you arrive deep enough into the canton that there is enough water that you can’t walk any further, is to climb into a rowboat to be rowed further in through some beautiful rock formations as the sides of the canyon grow steeper and narrow around you.
The row boats come to a point where the way is completely blocked by large rocks that divide the riverbed into separate lakes. Everyone climbs out of the boat and does some rock climbing up and over the rock formations, which give a greater view down over the river and into the narrow parts of the canyon ahead!
Next comes the really fun stage (which Paulette and Oscar chose to opt out of and wait for us in the shade of a big rock): climbing down into tubes in the water to float into the deepest, most narrow parts of the canyon! The poor guides have to get into the water and swim, pulling the tubes along train style. At the deepest part of the canyon where you can’t go any further, there is a place where they let people climb up to jump into the water from crazy heights on the rock–none of us did, but we watch a couple of other crazy people and our guides do it (Shiny screamed and hid her eyes, I agree with her sentiment!).
Then it’s time to do the tour in reverse, getting towed back through the water to the big rocks, climbing down to the rowboat and and traveling back to the dry riverbed.
The fun part on the way back was that we had reserved horses for the hike back, knowing the kids would be tired, so we finished out the tour with Quinn and Thea on one horse, Paulette on another, and Cheyenne and I riding behind (Denver and Oscar walked).
The tour includes a traditional Nicaraguan lunch at the end, so we had the chance to sit down and share one more meal together before the long drive back and saying goodbye.
Somoto Canyon is a beautiful place, and made for a beautiful day of exploring with friends. Thanks for discovering a new treasure of Nicaragua with us, Paulette and Oscar!
