Places of Interest - Nicaragua

Castle "El Castillo":

A must for history sniffers; a beautiful "Playmobile-like" colonial Spanish castle on top of a hill to scare English pirates. Built in the 17th century when the castle in San Carlos proved to be inadequate and Granada was looted by pirates for many times in a short time. It is not without reason that it was built exactly next to the river rapids. Many heroic adventure stories but this castle has survived more storms. It was used by William Walker in 1857 but also by both parties in the Sandinista - Contra war in the 80’s of the last century. It is now a museum and besides the history lessons you can learn from here you can enjoy the beautiful view over the river, the village and the nearby National Park.

"Indio-Maiz" reserve:

Indio Maiz is one of the most important and largest tropical rainforest parks of Latin America. The national reserve is located on the river "San Juan" but entirely on Nicaragua territory. Because the area belonged to the Somoza family, was difficult to reach and there was still a war raging, this area escaped for destruction and/or development. A multitude of (wild) animals live here like monkeys, caimans, turtles but also (poisonous) snakes, mountain lions and jaguars. You can only explore the area with a tour and you have to pay an entrance fee and register yourself - something you can only achieve by boat. In El Castillo, many companies offer tours so "shop" around and do not take the first provider you encounter.

Almost immediately after Colombus discovered Nicaragua in 1502, the Spaniards started looking for a way to go from the Caribbean (from the Caribbean to the Pacific) over the river "San Juan". A route that was already used by the Aztecs in the 13th century for trade. Some 30 years later the passage was found and partly because of that Granada could grow into a city of great prosperity. That prosperity attracted the attention of other nations (Dutch, French and English pirates) who used the river and the lake to plunder Granada several times. It was decided to build fortifications; a castle in San Carlos and later another one in El Castillo. In 1762 a daughter of a Spanish settler (Rafaella Herrera) fought a heroic battle with English pirates. It seems that she even fired bullets themselves and thus eliminated the captain of the pirates. She also set fire to leaves at night and pushed them with sticks to the pirates. It worked and the pirates fled. 

But in 1780 El Castillo was anyway conquered by the English pirates - nevertheless they had to leave again - malaria was everywhere and the English left and the Spaniards walked back into the fort. In 1821, Nicaragua won its independence but this did not (yet) apply to the entire country. The Jamaican governor demanded "San Juan de Perlas" for the "MIskito" empire and renamed it "Greytown". When the Californian "gold rush" came into being, the route across the San Juan River became the fastest way to get from New York to San Francisco and Greytown grew rapidly in prosperity. People were transhipped in various boats to eventually reach the Pacific Ocean. When the Panama Canal was built in 1914, the city of Greytown collapsed and was also annexed to the rest of Nicaragua. In 1982 it was burnt to the ground by the Sandinists and the remains were destroyed by a hurricane. The current San Juan de Nicaragua was built in 1990 and of Greytown only the cemetery remains.