General Tourism

Ecuador is starting a tourism promotion campaign using stickers. That is, stickers on bananas.

It sounds like a good idea but it just isn't going to work on coffee beans from Nicaragua. From the story in Gadling:

More and more often, ads are showing up in unlikely places. Soon, grocery store shoppers will find a tiny ad promoting tourism to Ecuador in a curious place: on each of the 24 million tons of bananas that are exported from the country each year.

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/places-to-visit-while-they-re-still-cheap-...

We have previously talked about the idea of developing marijuana tourism in Nicaragua. The biggest issue was, as expected, how the US would respond to doing it. Well, with the law changes in the states of Colorado and Washington, it may be worth revisiting the issue.

An article in Activist Post talks about how the pot tourism idea is evolving in Colorado. (Visiting the article is worth it just for the graphic.) It offers a new data point.

not good news...

http://www.confidencial.com.ni/articulo/10001/la-delincuencia-acecha-al-...

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Raiders sow fear in Little Corn Island Crime threatens to Paradise

Business owners alarmed by increasing aggravated robberies, demanding police presence

Wilfredo Miranda Aburto | 01/26/2013

The constant assault alarmed owners of Little Corn Island Hotel.

I, along with a couple friends will be back in Esteli during the week of Jan 13 to do our usual visiting of various tabacaleras. I would like to see and/or do some non-cigar related things. Anyone have any tips for me? Also, where is the Chinese restaurant in Esteli? I'd like to see what Nicaraguan-Chinese food is like...

Greetings NL'ers:

I have a client who wants to tour around the Matagalpa area. I know how to get to Selva Negra and that's about it. Our guest wants to look at some real estate, maybe tour a farm, etc.

This is for a day tour from ~10 am to 4 pm on a weekday in mid-January.

I would like to subcontract a local guide who knows Matagalpa and environs very well and of course who has a moderate cost. Spanish speaking is fine, I'll translate. Also will provide the vehicle/driver too if needed.

Does anyone have recent experience driving from Guatemala City to the Flores/Tikal area? Wondering about quality of the roads(I have heard they are good), time, which route, and general safety. Thanks in advance.

An interesting article titled A Delicate Balance | Nicaragua talks about Nicaragua's promotion of high-end tourism. Whether or not it will succeed we don't yet know but there is certainly more going on than I had realized.

Yes I rated this wonderful resort 5/5 stars---even though my review may start off a bit rough, always best to finish strong!! http://www.redwoodbeachresort.com/

I found this resort via a few Nica forums I partake in, and majority gave it glowing reviews, so we decided; why not give it a try!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/travel/36-hours-in-managua-nicaragu...

Several months ago four friends from Canada came down to visit me for two weeks. All of them are dedicated birders who have been on birding vacations all around the world and asked me whether I could line them up with a sidetrip. I'm not a birder so I had to do some research and eventually came up with a sidetrip of 5 days split between two privately-owned locations north of Matagalpa; Reserva Silvestre Privada el Jaguar, and Selva Negra.

off the mark (CR compared to Nicaragua)

http://thecostaricanews.com/costa-rica-tourist-arrivals-increase-7-4/130...

Some NicaLiving members are content with just living out a quiet retirement in Nicaragua. Others have plans for investment, or existing investments, that would benefit from an increase in tourism and retirement to Nicaragua.

Nicaragua clearly has more to offer than CR, both from a tourism perspective, and as a retirement destination. People are curious about new and different things. They will put up with some warts if the overall experience is positive.

We did Chocoyero today(Aug 19 2012), thought I would throw down a few (maybe) helpful items. • 45 minutes from Stop & Go on Masaya highway (which is 8.5 km Masaya Highway) • 4x4 not called for, just a vehicle with some clearance. Last 5km is hard packed, some cobble stone pavement. Some muddy parts, but not deep or wide. If your tires have a lot of tread, you should be fine. • They offer 2 main tours, a 20 minute short tour and a longer 1.5 hr tour(we did it in 1hr 15min at a slow pace)

I am not sure why I received a link to this Ecuador travel information but I did. I get a lot of SPAM and was about to trash this until I saw the prices. The idea of multiple days (two for one tour, three for the other), transportation, food, a guide and lodging included with prices under $125 total got my attention.

Photos and commentary of my sister's and my tour of Nicaragua in early 2012, including a visit to San Jose, Costa Rica.

http://www.woodsmall.com/Karens-Trip-to-Nicaragua-2012.ppt