Heya! Hoping to do the same trip from ometepe to La fortuna via tanque... just wondering how it went?!

Perfect time to come here....lowland weather is as cool as it gets and rains are few and short. I'd check in a couple weeks and see if the ferry is back...the trip from Granada down is a hoot..overnight and then you get to go back to Ometepe on it as well.

It's kind of the busy season but you can still wait till December early to make reservations where you want to. Scope out the home stays very well...they can be great, but also can be grim.

Yep...port is San Jorge...about 5 minutes cab ride from the Rivas bus terminal...

Makes it quite a trip...San Jorge to MGA..there MGA to Rivas....counting changes in busses in MGA 10 hour trip.

Last ferry to Ometepe is at 5 PM so likely will not catch that one on a 1 day trip.

Sorry for all the bad news...the ferries being out of service really screw things up

I can't help with Mexico but a week or so for Nicaragua and 12 days or so for Guatemala would be great. I would go to the beaches in Costa Rica instead of in Nicaragua and I would also skip SJDS. In Nicaragua focus on the colonial cities and the volcanoes. Ometepe Island (volcanoes, lake beaches, nature reserve, waterfall, natural spring pool, kayaking...). Granada and active volcano Masaya. Leon and volcanoes Cerro Negro and Telica. If you do want a beach go to Las Penitas (or Jiquilillo). In Guatemala you can get away with 5 days for Antigua and Lake Atitlan. You could consider volcano Acatenango overnight (tough but amazing... you should be acclimatized) from Antigua. I would add Xela on the way to San Cristobal for more hiking, volcanoes, hot springs, Maya villages and markets...

Leon: at least two days if you want to see the city and go to one of the volcanoes. You asked about Arenal in another thread. Arenal is a beautiful volcano but so is Concepcion on Ometepe. And near Leon there is volcanoes Cerro Negro and Telica. Close to Leon there is also Las Penitas: a fishing village with a nice beach and a nature reserve.

You can do a day trip to Laguna de Apoyo (you can take a shuttle from Granada or you can take a bus to Catarina for the viewpoint of the lake and then a taxi down to the lake) or stay overnight. You can take a taxi to volcano Masaya or take a tour. Or any bus heading from Granada to Managua can drop you off at the entrance. As the volcano is very active you are only allowed 15 minutes at the crater.

I don't know when you are going but there are protests in Nicaragua and roadblocks. I have heard it is not easy to get around right now, especially by public transport.

Maybe excluding Costa Rica to spend more time in the former 3 countries).

Really the only reason I suggested Costa Rica is because the flights out of San Jose or Liberia are much cheaper than the flights from Managua in Nicaragua. If staying in far south Nicaragua (Ometepe, San Juan del Sur), you can reach the Liberia airport in 3-4 hours, or the San Jose airport in 6-7 hours.

Regarding the guidebook, do you have any recommendation?

Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring, or the Footprint Central America Handbook

Do you have any information/pointers for the intensive Spanish language schools you’ve mentioned at the end of your post?

Poster #3, hopefulist is the expert on Spanish language schools in Guatemala. Myself, I've only used Spanish language schools in Nicaragua.

Sixteen days is a good amount of time but you will still have to choose between some options.

All the places you name are good and the 16 days is enough to do all. . Add one more...the Rio San Juan and you have to make some choices.

The big chunks of time will be Corn Islands..4 days...Pearl Islands 4 days...Ometepe..3 days...Rio San Juan 4-5 days. IMO one of them has to go as the other places ..Leon, Granada/Mombacho, Ometepe need to be a part of this trip as very different than Leon and Granada/Mombacho and the areas around them which are the heart of "Colonial Nicaragua".

Some of this depends on what you want to do most...the Corn Islands are nice but there are lots of places in the Caribbean with great beaches, etc., so if that is not your priority you can skip that. If you do go there then the main reason you might go to Ometepe would be climbing the volcanos.....be aware they are a climbers, climb...take all day up and back and tough slog. You can see the cloud forest one Mombacho with much less stress. I'd trade ometepe for a trip to Rion San Juan.

The shorter parts of the trip...Leon and Granada/Mombacho will have a lot (most) of things typically Nicaraguan. Both the cities are different from one another and deserve a full day or day and a half.....near Leon is Telica a volcano you can do in a day and easier than those on Ometepe..so add a day. Granada has the lake which you should see, Mombacho Volcano where you can be in the cloud forest, see lots of wildlife, coffee operations which will be in full swing that time of year...can stay up there to do all of that in two days as well as see the local area...the White villages, Masaya Market and the Masaya volcano. So don't shortchange these. You need 4-5 days combined to see these and really need to do it.

Rio San juan area is a haul from Managua as the ferry from Granada is not currently running. But if you have a car it's worth the drive (good road) and a couple of days down the river once you get there. If you do corns and Ometepe you probably have to leave this out.

I would want two full days for Los Guatuzos. We had two days and that was enough time for a kayak tour, night tour, boat tour and hike. Of course with a third day you could do more hiking and another boat tour and, like you say, just hope to see more wildlife. But if it were my trip I would add a day to Leon because it is a bit rushed trying to see/enjoy the city, doing the half day Cerro Negro trip and the 1.5 day Telica overnight camping trip in 3 days. Or I would add the day to Granada for Laguna de Apoyo. Or I would add the day to Ometepe for a homestay. Or to Las Penitas for more relaxing.

Of course I don't know how you will be leaving Los Guatuzos. Public boats to San Carlos don't go daily and a private boat could be expensive.

We took the ferry from Ometepe to San Carlos when it was still running. The ferry used to only go Thursdays and Sundays, overnight, and it was an adventure. But you would be going from San Carlos to Ometepe and that used to be Tuesdays and Fridays at 2 pm. But the ferry has not been running for years.

I liked El Castillo. I have not been to Solentiname but if you go you need more than one night as I believe the boat leaves at 3 pm from San Carlos and at 9 am from Solentiname. My favorite place on the Rio San Juan is Los Guatuzos but you need to take a boat there from San Carlos (4 hours) and boats go most days but not daily. I think you need two full days there. If interested check Cabanas Caiman. Lots of wildlife.

The fast boat from El Castillo to San Carlos takes 1.5 hours. The slow boat 3 hours. Life jackets were available on all the boats we took. I seem to remember we all put them on for departure and then they were stored again above our heads. When we went to Los Guatuzos I remember sitting on them.

We took the bus from San Carlos and there were no lunch breaks. We went to Matagalpa but I believe it is 6-7 hours to Managua.

So to get to Ometepe you would indeed have to get back to Managua first and then you might want to stop in Granada first (and active volcano Masaya) before continuing to Ometepe (bus to Rivas, taxi to San Jorge, ferry to Ometepe).

A homestay could be great but it might be better to start with a few nights and see how you like it. I have heard good things about the homestays below but they are probably the ones you already know of. Read reviews online (TripAdvisor). The first one charges per person but all meals are included and the second one charges per room and has breakfast and dinner included. I would also assume they have discounted prices for kids, best to contact them and find out:
http://www.puestadelsol.org/?lan=0
http://www.losramos.org/
Or ask around when you are there.