Los Chiles to San Carlos

Back at the ticket table, the line formed, I waited, a man took my passport to write my info down on the manifest, and I handed over my 7000 colones for a ticket.

I walked down to the pier to wait for the boat, along with a bunch of Nicaraguans returning home. It was a Sunday, so people were out along the river swimming and picnicking. While I waited, a man exchanged my remaining colones for cordobas. I didn't get a great rate, he took about a 10% commission from the official rate. If you don't want to exchange there, you will be assaulted by moneychangers exiting immigration at San Carlos. There were also money changers waiting for the bus in Los Chiles.

Preparations to depart began around 2:30pm, and were disorganized and took a good 45 minutes, as the large baggage needed to be loaded first, passed down a steep staircase to the boat. I kept my backpack with me. Finally we boarded, and were off by 3:30pm. The ride was really nice. We pulled over at the Nicaraugan post along the river, soldiers boarded, and did a cursory check of our bags. I had my passport ready but wasn
asked to show it. The ayudante for the boat handed out immigration forms. We landed at San Carlos, I waited 20 minutes in line, paid my $12, and exited to the street.

I couldn't find my chosen hotel using the map I'd ripped out of my Footprint guide(their maps are confusingly labeled) so I followed some Germans into a hotel, Hosepedaje Pena. I asked for a room, and I thought he said "900" for the night, which was more that I wanted to pay, but it was only one night. I handed him 1000 and asked for change. He laughed and said, no "noventa" 90. $3. I said okay and he led me to my room. I saw a man through his open door, flopped on his bed, clothes strewn everything. A woman was hanging out laundry to dry, her two small children running around the balcony. He opened the door to my room, and I saw three beds. I asked him if this was a private room and he said yes. I put my stuff down and tested the beds. The first bed had a spring frame and sagged to the floor when I sat down, the 2nd had a paper thin mattress, and was on slats. It felt like laying on the ground. The 3rd was just a spring frame, no mattress.

I went to find the bathroom. It was back downstairs, there were two toilets. One had a seat, the other didn't. When I pulled the handle, it didn't flush, and I realized the big blue barrel sitting outside with the scoop was flushing water. It was also washing water, as the sinks were dry. And it was clearly showering water, as when I tested those they were dry as well. Oh well, it was only a night, and it was $3.

I went back out, watched the sunset over Lake Nicaragua from the Malecon, and sat down to have a couple beers at a comedor. A drunk man asked me to buy him a beer and I declined. He took it well. Mostly I just didn't want to give him a reason to sit down and drunk talk to me. I went to dinner at El Granadino. It was a bit pricey $8 entrees, but paying $3 for my hotel made me feel like splurging, and the food was fine, and it had a fine view of Rio San Juan.

My room was loud, and there was no fan, or functioning electrical outlet. The windows were storm windows, like barn doors, and when I tried to open one to let in some air, it fell on my head, as it had been just loosley nailed shut. There was a bar nearby, that was open till 2am, so I went in and out of sleep listening to laughter and voices. The place was clean, they were scrubbing the toilets and showers the next morning when I went down, but one night was enough for me.

I went looking for another hotel, and found Hotel Carelhys just a block away for $11.50/night. I took it. though I was still showering and flushing from a bucket, as water pressure must just be an issue in San Carlos, But it had a fan, and a decent bed, Wifi, and it was quiet. I explored San Carlos. It was a culture shock coming from Costa Rica. It felt like a Central American town, like I remembered from Guatemala, with the chaotic market and attached bus terminal.

I had to wait until the next day at 2pm for my ferry. I had arrived on Sunday for the Tuesday ferry, wanting to be safe in case there were issues getting across the border.

I ate at sodas the rest of my time there. Soda La Forteleza and the one next door. They were comparable in price and food. You could walk away with a meal and a couple beers for $5.

I never found a proper grocery store, just the market for fruit and veg, and lots of the little bodegas and people selling snacks and coke out of their living rooms, so common in Central America.

The poverty compared to Costa Rica was evident. There were a lot of drunks wandering the Malecon. I never felt unsafe, even at night, but on the day of my departure, when I finally found a liquor store to buy something to make the 11 hour ferry ride a bit more tolerable, I sat for an hour on the Malecon with the black plastic bag, my backpack left in my room so I didn't have to lug it around, and felt uncomfortable as those same drunks walked by and their eyes latched on to that bag and slowed their pace. I felt like I had a naked woman sitting next to me, but I know if I did, those guys would still have been more interested in the bottle.

San Carlos was interesting, and port/border town, but definitely didn't need a whole extra day. I wanted to go to El Castillo on that extra day, but the early fast boat left at 6am, and I needed to find a new hotel.

I'll right up the ferry ride and Ometepe in another TR.

Great Report, thanks for sharing, things will get much nicer once you get to Ometepe...

I feel your pain.

Thanks so much! Between your and jonmw's Trip Reports, crossing from Los Chiles to San Carlos is now thoroughly covered! It will be interesting to see if this entire river crossing becomes obsolete. The new bridge has been completed, and just waiting for all the inaugural hoo-haw before officially opening. Traffic will funnel back into San Carlos on the Nica side, but the bridge is far enough down river that I've no idea how this might reshape things on the CR side.

I got a smile thinking about Goldilocks and the 3 Bears when reading your description of the 3 beds. The douse-and-bathe/flush is standard in lesser developed CA areas, even in rainy season, and is certainly better than places that have no water pressure or other options during any season.

Great report - thank you! I did this same trip in 2010 and this detailed write-up would have been extremely helpful :)

Nice work. But you should've had a tramp party on the Malecon. Got some music going on your phone, practiced your Spanish. Good times.