We were eating breakfast in our Granada Airbnb, the standard affair of rice, beans, eggs, and plantains, when Victor loudly snickered and put down the book he had been leafing through. It was an old torn-up Nicaraguan guidebook he found on the bookshelf among poetry books by Ruben Dario and a thick Stephen King thriller tome in Spanish.
“I can tell you right now,” he said, “This guidebook was published before 2004. The Somoto Canyon where we are going next is not even in it!”
“Why?” I mumbled, my mouth full of plantains.
“Because that canyon wasn’t even discovered until 2004,” Victor said as if that was the most natural thing in the world.
How does one not “discover” a canyon that was created millions of years ago? Is it a small, easily overlooked canyon? Is it an underground canyon? Is there such a thing as underground canyons? I had a lot of questions. And for once, Wikipedia wasn’t overly helpful. From what I gathered, many generations of locals were aware of the canyon and either didn’t venture too deeply inside or enjoyed its natural beauty in peace, without the influx of tourists ruining their gorgeous backyard.
In 2004, a group of scientists from the Czech Republic and Nicaragua explored the canyon, with geologists performing routine geological mapping, studying natural hazards, and evaluating volcanic activity. And only after that did Somoto Canyon become a major tourist attraction, with local and foreign tourists pouring in, looking to trek, hike, swim, boat, and horse-ride through one of the most incredible natural sites in Nicaragua. The canyon has been declared a national monument and a protected area by the Nicaraguan government and is being maintained and cleaned by government resources.
The local community, so tight-lipped about the canyon for generations, was the first to benefit. Catering to tourists, from providing overnight accommodation with meals to guiding travelers through the canyon, became a major source of income in addition to the usual farming that has been keeping these villages afloat in the past. There are no major hotels or resorts in the area (yet!), and all of the lodgings and meals are provided by local families, which is exactly how we like it. There is also not a lot of information on the Internet about the logistics of Somoto Canyon tours, so we decided to dedicate this post to the minutia of planning and preparing for the tour and hopefully this will be helpful to others who had the same questions we did.
It was late morning by the time we turned onto the unpaved road into Valle de Sonis, a small village closest to the Somoto Canyon, and a young man waved us in, asking if we were here to see Somoto Canyon. We explained that we already had reservations at a local cabaña and he pointed down the road and explained where to go. Our hosts greeted us in Spanish and showed us our room in a cute wooden cabin, with mosquito nets on windows and a private bathroom. The room had everything we needed - fresh linens, electricity to charge our devices, and comfortable beds. They asked if we wanted our lunch before or after the canyon tour and we opted to eat afterward, too full of this morning’s breakfast and too excited to delay our exploration by another minute.
Next, we discussed the canyon tour. We had several options, a 3-hour, 4-hour, or 6-hour tour, which could include a horse ride or a boat ride if we opted for it. The 3-hour tour was mostly an introductory walking tour around the canyon, the 4-hour tour delved deeper into the canyon and included hiking and swimming, while the 6-hour tour incorporated more hiking into the mountains and exploring upper sections of the canyon as well. The horse ride was extra, but regardless of which length of the tour we picked, it would all be the same price. We paid $40 per person for an overnight stay in the cabin, complete with 3 meals, and a canyon tour, and as far as we were concerned, it was an incredible deal. And as far as our hosts were concerned, they were already robbing us blind, so asking for extra fees for a longer tour made no sense.
We mulled it over among ourselves and settled on the middle-of-the-road option, the 4-hour tour. It was already almost 11 am, we were skipping lunch for now, and spending 6 hours in the wilderness didn’t sound like the most responsible idea. Knowing what we know now, we would have done the 4-hour tour that day and then another 6-hour tour the next day… and then possibly another tour the day after… But at the time of planning, we had no idea what to expect and how strenuous the hike would be.
The guide told us to wear shorts and light tennis shoes that we can swim in. I had previously presumed that we would need long hiking pants and heavy hiking shoes (that’s our usual hiking attire around sharp rocks, and served us well in Norway, Oman, and Canada), so we had to scramble to change into something more appropriate. Victor wore shorts and light gym shoes, and I wore light capri pants and hiking shoes but brought swimming shorts and water shoes with me. Now, looking back, I should have done what Victor did and spared myself the chore of having to change multiple times during the hike.
I also packed some rosquilla cookies with me for a quick snack (more about this in the inevitable “Nicaraguan Food” post), several bottles of water, a sun hat, and a small towel. When our guide said that he had a waterproof backpack for us, I decided to bring my camera as well. The guide handed us life jackets and we put them on immediately, so as not to carry them in our hands. We repacked everything into the guide’s backpack and waved goodbye to our hosts.
We walked down the dirt road, past village houses, out into the coffee fields, and a rainforest beyond. As Victor and our guide chatted in Spanish, I took in the stunning views around me and occasionally asked Victor to translate a question or two for me. There were giant blue morpho butterflies with bright light-blue wings fluttering around our heads, constantly causing us to stop and stare.
My phone pinged and a text message announced, “Welcome to Honduras!” I looked around, just in case I have been magically transported to a new place. In a few minutes of walking, our guide pointed out a white building up in the hills and explained that this was a Honduras customs building on the border of Nicaragua and Honduras. Until then, I didn’t realize just how close to the border we were.
After about 45 minutes of hiking, we reached the bottom of the canyon, as evident by a shallow creek of water running through the rocky bottom, surrounded on both sides by lush vegetation.
“And now our tour begins!” the guide announced.
Read all about our adventure in the next post!
