We arrive at 5 am in this pleasant harbour town. The security guard of a bank is pretty much the only person awake. He gives us directions to a hotel.
Today, we do a daytrip to El Castillo. El Castillo is downstream of the San Juan river, which links Lago Nicaragua to the Caribbean/ Atlantic ocean. During the 19th century, this river was a popular passageway from the Atlantic to the Pacific - especially during the gold rush. There even were efforts to build a channel to link the Lago Nicaragua to the Pacific - a project which was ultimately achieved though the Panama canal. Since then, Rio San Juan has become very, very quiet. The river is lined with lush, green vegetation. We spot a lot of birds, and once we even see turtles sitting on a branch in the river.
The Spanish built El Castillo to defend the river from pirates of the caribbean who used to sail up the river to attack and plunder Granada. Today the ruins still provide for good views over the river and the surrounding land.More pictures here.
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