Rio San Juan Series, #11 of 11: Finale, Ferry Trip Back Upriver to San Carlos (Nica Nugget #77)

The alarm went off early. 3 am Thursday morning. John E Field and I packed the few things we still had in our hotel room, after having stored the bulk of our gear in our ferry the day before. By 3:30 we were out the door, stumbling about in the dark. The hotel owner was already up and began to turn on some outside lights so we could see and then she rushed up to Eve Kohlman and JoAnne Stoltz’s room to make sure they were awake. Since the ferry seems to always leave at 5 am and since essentially …

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Rio San Juan Series #10 of 11: Layover Day in San Juan de Nicaragua (Nica Nugget #76)

Our layover day in San Juan de Nicaragua came about because JoAnne was going to catch a panga from here up the Caribbean coast to Bluefields and then on out to the Corn Islands to visit friends. The panga to Bluefields only goes one day a week, Wednesdays. Or, I should say only WENT one day a week, back when it was even running, as in past tense. But we didn’t know this until the Tuesday we arrived. The panga Eve, John and I needed to take back upriver to San Carlos, where’d we’d started our river trip six days …

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Rio San Juan Series #9 of 11: Delta House to the Sea and San Juan de Nicaragua (Nica Nugget #75)

Although we would spend two additional days on the river, one as a layover day in San Juan de Nicaragua on a tour of the colonial cemeteries, and the other on a ferry panga churning our way back up river to our origination point at San Carlos, this day would be our finale paddling. We woke up at the Delta House and clambered out of our beds and hammocks, gathering our gear up to go. By this day, our sixth on the river, we had our routine down. In no time at all, we had eaten our breakfast, packed our …

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Rio San Juan Series #8 of 11: Yarlen’s Cousins’ House to Delta House (Nica Nugget #74)

A thick mist hung over the river. Yarlen Diaz’s three male cousins woke with us at daybreak, grabbed their towels and ran down to the river to bathe. While we ate breakfast, they dressed, said their goodbyes and motored down river in their panga to school. By 6:30 am we were also on the water, with the mist thick all around us. We would see the boys’ boat tied up to the bank later, where the Sarapiqui River flows from Costa Rica into the Rio San Juan at Boca de San Carlos, where the boys attend school. Our first stop …

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Rio San Juan Series #7 of 11: Bamboo Camp to Yarlen’s Cousins’ House (Nica Nugget #73)

We slept in hammocks strung from bamboo. We slept under tarps to keep the rain off of us. I think I slept but I’m not sure. Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez cooked a yummy egg breakfast over the open fire and then we packed up. He was leaving us today and Yarlen would guide us the rest of the way. Yarlen was going to have his work cut out for him. It was the start of day four on the river. With three days behind us, time wise, we were exactly half way through our six-days of paddling for this trip. …

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Rio San Juan Series #6 of 11: Jungle Hike Video, El Castillo to Bamboo Island Camp (Nica Nugget #72)

As promised in the Rio San Juan Series #5 of 11: El Castillo to Bamboo Island Camp (Nica Nugget #71), here’s a short video taken during our jungle hike. Here you can experience some of the jungle sounds (although feeling the sticky heat will be left totally up to you)…

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Rio San Juan Series #5 of 11: El Castillo to Bamboo Island Camp (Nica Nugget #71)

Today we saw a red poison dart frog, a green-and-black poison frog, a spider monkey and our first crocodile. Not to mention that we slept in hammocks on a bamboo island created by river debris around the remains of a stern wheeler once wrecked in the rapids. So, let’s begin… The day opened wet and rainy. It was rainy season after all. Lightening though could force us off the river. But we needn’t have worried. We only had eight miles to paddle and we’d be spending two hours hiking in the jungle. Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez was in the stern …

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Rio San Juan Series #4 of 11: Juan’s Videos Sabalos to El Castillo (Nica Nugget #70)

As promised in Nica Nugget #69, here are the two short videos shot along this stretch by our lead guide Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez. The first was taken in the calm stretch before El Castillo, showing JoAnne Stoltz and Eve Kohlman in the canoe, along with Juan’s daughter Andy at the stern, and John E Field and myself in our kayaks. The second was taken at the bottom of the rapid, El Diablo, in El Castillo. For a full description of that day as well as the photo video montage, please see Nica Nugget #69: Rio San Juan Series: #3 …

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Rio San Juan Series #3 of 11: Sábalos to El Castillo (Nica Nugget #69)

Our guide Juan Alberto Aguilar Gomez and his daughter Andy met us at our hotel in Sábalos the following misty morning. They live in El Castillo, ten miles down river, and had come up in Juan’s panga, pulling one of their three-seater fiberglass canoes behind. For the remainder of our river journey – five days and ninety-eight miles to go – instead of staying in their rented double sea kayak, Eve and JoAnne would be paddling this canoe down river, with a guide in the third seat at the stern. John and I would continue in our sea kayaks. Juan’s …

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