Deep in the most remote corners of Central America, in the largest tropical freshwater lake in America, on the Lake Cicciola, aka Lake Nicaragua, you will find a river that even today, in the 21st century, is one of the most inaccessible areas of the western hemisphere, the River, known as the San Juan River, it is 120 miles (200 km) and is born on the southeast corner of this huge lake. Here you will find the city of San Carlos, the capital of the remote department of Rio San Juan, which functions as a distribution center for all communities that are downriver. Highways end at San Carlos, and from this outpost the only way to travel the river is by boat. The busy dock is the moment when the various boats that go down San Juan come and go. San Carlos is the last chance you will have in this part of Nicaragua to receive cash from your credit or debit cards. There are several banks in the city, and they have an ATM, so make sure you get cash and, if possible, get small bills, as soon as you get to more remote areas in the San Juan River, you will not be able to get cash or get changes from large accounts.
The main communities downstream are Boca de Zabalos, El Castillo and the river deltas, San Juan de Nicaragua, as well as San Juan del Norte and Greytown.
Traveling from San Carlos to San Juan de Nicaragua can be a day trip in a unique long boat that can take up to 60 passengers and a full 12-hour trip. The best way to travel is to split it into two trips, one day from San Carlos to El Castillo and another day from El Castillo to San Juan de Nicaragua. Before embarking on this unique and unforgettable trip, make sure that you fit into the schedule when the speedboat operates.
Let me explain: there are two different types of boats; fast boat and slow or normal boat. The first one takes half the time that a regular boat takes, and it will matter how pleasant your journey will be. The fast boat runs daily between San Carlos and El Castillo, and usually there are usually two daily trips, the last departing at 3:30 in the afternoon. The trip takes about 1 hour, and in Boca de Zabalosa there is a short stop, which is about 2/3 of the route. It will be interesting to you that as soon as you leave, the assistant will drop a list asking you to write down your name, nationality, number and age. This is actually a manifesto, which they will actually transmit to the subjects along the way. For each official stop there is a new passenger manifest that needs to be filled out! A more "tourist" area of the river begins in Boca de Zabalos. This is a region famous for Tarpon fishing and you will pass several lodges and inns that specialize in fishing packages such as the Sabalos Hotel, Sabalos Lodge and Montecristo Lodge. Your boat may even stop there on the way, if there are guests in these boxes.
When you arrive at El Castillo, where you disembark and spend the night, you will see a fortress on top of a hill. This is a historic place where Nicaragua fought several battles to protect its sovereignty. The city is really located around the fortress and is a truly unique community: the only way to get there by boat is no roads or highways leading to it. There are no cars and motorcycles in the city, so this is really a pedestrian city. The community spreads along the river bank, and most hotels and restaurants are also located right on the river. There are several different hotels where you can stay here; the best are Hotel Victoria and Hotel Luna del Rio. You should plan to spend at least one day in El Castillo, which will mean that you need to plan two nights, especially if you arrive at the late boat from San Carlos. There are several restaurants in the city, and you will find that the specialty is river shrimps, huge, tasty shrimps that you definitely need to try. Be sure to visit the fortress and the museum that is located there. You will be surprised to see that Cornelius Vanderbilt had a shipping company whose steam ships traveled along the river and across the lake to a village called La Virgen, located very close to the bypass from the Pan American Highway in the direction of San Juan del Sur.
