The Frio river flows north out of Costa Rica into Lake Nicaragua. This river drains a large wetland area known as Cano Negro National Wildlife Refuge. This is a great starting point for a trip into Nicaragua as it is only about 150 kms. from the international airport in Costa Rica, albiet on very windy and hilly roads. As well, there is an infrastructure in place for border formalities in Los Chiles, Costa Rica right on the Rio Frio and San Carlos, Nicaragua right on the lakefront of Lake Nicaragua. Quite surprising considering how remote both communities are! Especially surprising is the fact that there are no roads that connect these 2 countries on the east side of Lake Nicaragua at all! All congress between the nations is solely along the Rio Frio.
Diana and I flew into Costa Rica a few days before Don and Viki to get our food supplies. As always, one of Di's favourite activities is buying from the street vendors.
We met up with Di's brother at a car rental agency. From there we headed off for a 4 day tour of northern Costa Rica going in the general direction of Cano Negro and the Rio Frio. One of our stops was in the laid back tourist town of La Fortuna. This enterprising town has created an eo-friendly vibe around the surrounding lush forests, waterfalls, hot springs (they are truly fantstic) as well as the dominant feature, Arenal Volcano. This "live" volcano is one of 10 strung across the north of the country.
As well as driving us to our put-in at Cano Negro, Don and Viki hosted a couple of very enjoyable dinners in La Fortuna. These open air venues were quite as charming as our hosts.
During pre-dinner drinks a street vendor ambled by blowing a tune on a flute supposedly drilled from rock which came from the volcano. Diana couldn't resist. For $4 it even came with an introductory lesson!
The Hotel de Campo in Cano Negro was a very pleasant surprise. The Swiss proprietor has planted his large property on the lagoon with a variety of fruit trees that are attracting regular visits from many beautiful birds. He sets up feeding platforms with cut oranges pinned to them for the birds right in front of the attractive duplex-style bungalows. Here's a photo of 2 male and 1 female red-legged honeycreeper.
A clay -coloured robin with a blue-gray tanager as well as a scarlet-rumped tanager.
Of course all this is set around a gorgeous swimming pool amidst the otherworldly roar of the howler monkeys. Paradise on earth!
Don and Viki headed off to the Pacific resorts and we
spent a leisurely day packing and making up the canoe. During the day I
went walking around Laguna Cano Negro and discovered that the Rio Frio
was actually not accessible from our lodging due to low water levels in
the lagoon. Fortunately the hotel owner kindly offered to drive the
canoe and our gear the final kilometer to the river when we checked out
next morning. It turns out he rents canoes to other river enthusiasts
and often has to do the same thing. I rode in the quad with the gear while Diana rode with a couple from Holland with a rental car who were going out on a tour of the river. This side channel was a very easy put-in. Sitting in the background are the different boats that are used to take tourists out into the waterways to view the wildlife. As you can see we had great weather for our start.
These two happy camper are once again glad to be on a river.
This photo shows the leisurely pace of the Rio Frio. Fallen trees and deadheads appeared often but were very easy to avoid.
Egrets, herons and storks were abundant. Crocodiles and lizards were as well. This green spiny lizard was nervous but sat long enough to get this photo.
Our first camp was quite ideal. I suggested that we don't put the fly over the tent for the night the weather was so nice. Diana didn't agree as she thought the clouds on the horizon looked threatening. As if!! Unsurprisingly we had a strong downpour in the night and the universe kept revolving as it should.
As we neared Los Chiles we began to see more of the larger tourist boats cruising along. They were very respectful of our smaller canoe and slowed to a crawl. These boats held anywhere from 1 to 2 dozen eco-tourists and looked like they having good success finding the exotic birds, monkeys and other wildlife available. We later learned that most of these tours originated out of La Fortuna. Buses were being used to transport the tourists up to Los Chiles for their river trips.
This is a photo of the dock at Los Chiles. The people you see sitting under the roof are Nicaraguans (Nicas) waiting for the ferry boat to bring them home. Nearly all of them are bringing home enormous bags and packages filled with various goods that are just plain unavailable in their region.
This next photo shows the area in front of the main hotel/bar in Los Chiles. The buses are waiting for the tourists to take them back to La Fortuna as the standard of rooms here is quite low. The buses are brand new European made Scandia buses that are extremely comfortable. The photo is taken leaving the immigration building (cinder block) and down at the end of the road is the dock. Of course there is your standard church, park and a few stores but you don't come here for the town!
The exit stamp was done in a few minutes so we were back on the river in an hour.
Camp 2 was a high bank just shy of the Nicaraguan border. A Nica family on horseback rode by before night fall. Diana gave the small girl who was riding with her mother a homemade cookie and we all bade each other a "buenas noches".
Early next morning we paddled up to the immigration wharf in San Carlos, Nicaragua. After being directed to the appropriate immigration wicket we thought that we would be again back on the river right away. However the official there was not happy with us for having an exit stamp that said we left Costa Rica yesterday. We were made to wait an hour while he processed a whole boatload of travelers and then pay the $2 fine. Just before pushing off 2 armed military soldiers appeared at the dock to tell us that we needed a boat permit called a zarpe and that the port captain, who issued it was somewhere down that way. What else can you do but say "si" and go looking?
San Carlos itself is very poor and run-down. It's sole purpose seems to be a place to process Nicas into Costa Rica and back bringing goods to sell. The schoolgirl in the foreground is one of the lucky ones as less than half of the school age children in the region attend any school at all.
The rio San Juan has a prominent place in the history of both the new world and the old. The city of Granada, on lake Nicaragua, was founded in the early 16th century as a staging point for the removal of the Inca gold and silver treasures. When a sufficient amount was collected, ships would transport them down the rio San Juan, to Havana and then to Spain. When Havana became able to defend itself with a fortress, the bolder pirates of the day traveled up the San Juan and attacked Granada. Captains Henry Morgan and William Dampier were 2 such pirates.
The rio San Juan is wide where lake Nicaragua drains into it and tends to get a strong wind out of the east in the afternoon. With our delays in San Carlos we were now meeting that wind.
Our zarpe was valid for the remainder of the day only but it took us 2 days to get to the destination written on it. The fee of $1.20 just made the process of aquiring it that much more exasperating.
We found a good camp on an island in the San Juan and paddled up to a fishing lodge in the village of Sabalos the next day. We were able to rent a bamboo treehouse for a couple of nights there. It was the same treehouse we rented 7 years earlier. That's the canoe and our gear under the treehouse. We paddled right up to it!
The hammock on the balcony was especially relaxing. One of the staff at the lodge showed us some photos of a tarpon he caught 3 years ago. The photo showed the fish hanging from a tree, the tail brushing the ground. The fisherman, standing beside the fish could not reach his hand to the tip of the head with his arm fully extended upwards. He said it weighed 150 kgs.
After a rest of a couple of days we set off with a new zarpe for the village of El Castillo. Here is where the San Juan river history comes to life. These are the remains of a fortress which was built in 1675 in direct response to the pirate attacks on Granada.
Despite this fortress, attacks on Granada continued. William Dampier pillaged and burned Granada in 1685 rowing small boats 200 kms. up the San Juan and a further 200 kms. across lake Nicaragua all under the cover of darkness.
One of the most documented acts of courage of the day occurred here on the morning of July 26 1762. On that morning over 2000 men of a combined British and Miskito Indian force attacked the fortress. At the time Great Britain was at war with Spain. The British goal was to control the San Juan river, Granada and the relatively easy access to the Pacific and thereby dividing the Spanish colonies in the New World. The fortress was defended by about 100 men who's commander had died only 11 days earlier. The second in command was preparing to surrender the fortress when Rafaela Herrera, the 19 year old daughter of the original commander stopped him and made an inspiring speech to the garrison questioning their honour to their country and families. As the story goes she fired the first rounds of defense from the cannon killing the British commander. After a bloody night of attack and heavy losses the British forces retreated to a seige tactic which they abandoned 6 days later.
Another illustration of the importance of this river to global control occurred in 1780. Again a British expedition led by one Captain Horatio Nelson attacked the fort. This time the British force of 200 men defeated the 230 men in the fort, Captain Nelson leading a night foray up the hill behind the fort. The hill upon which the fortress sits is still called "Lomas de Nelson".
These rapids sit right below the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception as it was called.
This shade tree sits just beyond the waterfront on the right. Anyone waiting for the next ferry boat collects here. This is El Castillo central. This is where we found the "port captain" to get our 3rd zarpe. He filled this one out to our final destination point on the Caribbean. However once again it was valid for only the reminder of the day and we expected to take 3-4 more days!
The town of El Castillo has no road access so it is not only car free but also motorbike free. It's rare to find an environment free of motorized vehicles anywhere. Inconvenient perhaps but refreshing too. The wagon beside the tree acts as the local delivery truck. This small hotel provides rooms for the occasional independent travelers that stop here.
There is another set of rapids a couple of hours downriver called Machuca. Slightly less turbulent than those at El Castillo but still requiring care. After a day including the 2 sets of rapids and 2 military check points we made a fine camp on a sand spit. We slept well knowing the tough section of the river was behind us now.
The next day we were looking for a favourite island where we camped on our earlier trip here. When we rounded a bend in the river we both recognized it at the same time and of course stopped and camped there again. It was just as idyllic as we remembered though perhaps the monkeys and birds were even more plentiful. This gray-headed tanager as well as yellow-tailed orioles and scarlet-rumped tanagers entertained us during their evening activity. A pair of red and green macaws flew overhead making their usual racket. The eerie call of the oropendolas was also present. Everyday since leaving Cano Negro we would hear the roar of the howler monkeys in the distance; here they were closer and the island seemed to be surrounded by several troops. The wooded island gave us seclusion from the river so we felt like we had 'Eden' to ourselves.
Here's one of the slower ferry boats which run up and down the river between San Carlos and San Juan de Nicaragua on the Caribbean coast. It carries mostly locals going to get supplies but curious independent travelers also. This boat takes about 9 hours to make the trip while a faster one takes 6.
Our next night was in a cabin at the mouth of the Sarapiqui river in this lovely garden setting. We cannot recommend the beds but we had a decent steak dinner in the restaurant.
The port captain at the Sarapiqui issued us our 4th zarpe, again valid only for the day. We still had 60 kms. to go to our destination!
Overall the skies were blue and the sun not nearly as intense as it was in Brazil. We had a short rain squall at some time most days. Our rain ponchos were always close to hand so we weren't soaked through. The sun usually came through right afterwards and we would be dry in minutes.
This welcoming homestead was not typical. The cared for thatch roof, fencing, tended lawn and gardens as well as the dock show unusual wealth. This part of the river divides Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We are looking at the Costa Rican side here. Roads and power lines were more common compared to 7 years ago.
The Nicaragua riverfront is changing also but only through the efforts of overseas charities. Basic housing and school rooms are being built in some communities but conditions are very rudimentary and roads non-existent.
The river split, with the larger Rio Colorado heading south into Costa Rica. We continued on the quieter San Juan. The river returned to a more serene nature similar to the Rio Frio. It was a pleasant paddle of about 50 kms. to our final camp. Many villages and homesteads lined the shores with women frequently occupied with doing laundry by the riverside. All of the dwellings we passed seemed to have lots of children. Unfortunately due to the large crocodiles we saw no one in the water... ever!
We made a very welcomed camp with the sound of the Caribbean surf lulling us to sleep. The last morning dawned clear for our finishing 10 kms. The river widened into large shallow lagoons that did not have markers. We found our way by watching the passage of a couple of motorboats headed upriver.
Diana took some photos of the waterfront of San Juan de Nicaragua and it turned out this is the place we stayed for $20 a night. The unpainted wooden door to the right was our room. It was actually well-run, clean and comfortable ...... much better than this view would imply.
San Juan de Nicaragua is extremely remote. There is no road connection to the rest of the country at all. We found a very strong bicycle culture as the pathways are concrete and flat. This is what the main street looks like in a town with no cars.
The Spanish called this place San Juan del Norte and built a garrison here in 1541. The English and Spanish fought over this access route to the Pacific for 300 years. In 1849 the town, controlled by the British at the time began a rapid growth. It became the eastern terminus of an American transportation company owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt. It's operation carried thousands of travelers each month from the docks of New York and New Orleans to San Fransisco and on to the gold rush in the Yukon Territory of Canada. Steamships were employed then smaller boats were used to go up the San Juan river and across Lake Nicaragua. Mule trains and stagecoaches took over across the isthmus and back to steamships in the Pacific. Around this time the town was renamed Greytown after the Governor of Jamaica Charles Edward Grey.
In 1857 Vanderbilt ceased operation in exchange for a stipend from two rival steamship companies that were operating similar routes across Panama! Greytown wallowed and remained a backwater port until it was burned to the ground during the Sandanista/Contra struggles in 1984. San Juan de Nicaragua was built 6 kms. away from that site.
Currently a Chinese entrepreneur has been given permission to build a canal across Nicaragua. His team are finalizing the route and raising capital. At present the San Juan river will not be part of those plans. Perhaps Nicaragua may get it's chance to play a larger part in global economic development again!
Diana is picking up some bread for our lunches on the boat ride back up the river tomorrow. As chance would have it, the fast ferry which only runs twice a week is leaving at 5:00 in the morning.
That's a bit of what the San Juan river of Nicaragua looked like to us in 2014. We hope you enjoyed the photos and commentary! Hasta luego.....
