A Trip To El Almendro, Nicaragua

Pura Vida Travels - A Guide To Travel In Latin America

After putting in a week of work it was time to get out and enjoy Nicaragua. I wanted to see some places that I hadn't seen before and since we had a car we were free to go where we pleased. My wife suggested that we take a trip to the town of El Almendro since she has family there and she's never been there before. When I looked up El Almendro on the map, this is what I saw...

You will notice one thing is conspicuously missing and that is any mention of a road existing that goes to the town of El Almendro. My wifes aunt assured me, however, that there was indeed a road and there was nothing to worry about. With that assurance we set out for the 2 1/2 hour drive from Managua to Acoyapa.

Resevoir Outside Managua	Resevoir Outside Managua	Resevoir Outside Managua
Heading For The Hills	Imagine That, A Baby	New Outfit For Greber
Mmmmmm, Pollo	The Backyard	The Neighbors Are Having A Party

We spent a bit of time visiting the family in Acoyapa and then headed out for our adventure to El Almendro. While it looks like it's not that far from Acoyapa to El Almendro on the map in reality it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive. Basically you take the road from Acoyapa towards El Rama and then take the road to Nueva Guinea. Both of these roads are pretty good except for the rather strange road work going on. On the road to Nueva Guinea it's one lane for several miles due to road work and of course there aren't any flagmen stopping traffic. To keep people from driving on the lane they are working on they put rocks in the highway. I don't believe I've ever been on a one-lane road before where the oncoming traffic was going 60 MPH but I found one in Nicaragua. It's basically a high speed game of chicken.

Nicaraguan Detour	Plenty Of Horse Parking	San Francisco, Nicaragua
Nicaragua Road Closure	Nicaragua Road Closure	Road To El Almendro

After driving for a few hours we finally came to a dirt road and I was told that this was the "highway" to El Almendro. Calling this stretch of dirt and rock a "road" is a stretch. Calling it a "highway" is just plain comical. You need to remember that I was driving a Toyota Yaris with 5 people in it. The only other vehicles that I saw on this road were 4 wheel drives, motorcycles, and horses. Over the next few days the torture that I inflicted on that poor Yaris gave me a much greater respect for Toyota products.

The drive to El Almendro on the dirt road takes about an hour and a half but it seems like a day and a half. The scenery, however, is incredibly beautiful. It's amazing how much more tropical Nicaragua gets the further south that you go.

Road To El Almendro	Watch Out For Horses	Welcome To El Almendro
The Road Continues	And Continues	And Continues
Local Home	Nice Hut	I Wish I Had A Horse
Bad Cow	Ox At Work	Local Home
Does This Road Ever End

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