Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Somoto
POP 37,000 / ELEV 705M
Diminutive Somoto has not always been a shoe-in on the itineraries of visitors to northern
Nicaragua. In fact, until 2003 this was just another sleepy colonial town in the Honduran
shadow famed for its donkeys and
rosquillas
(crusty cornbread rings). Then two Czech
scientists stumbled onto a rift in the rugged, overgrown clay earth outside town and, just
75 million years after these charcoal granite cliffs pierced the earth's surface, Europeans
'discovered' Cañon de Somoto (Somoto Canyon), where the Río Coco is born.
Of course, the locals living nearby have known about it all along and formerly referred
to the site as 'La Estrechura,' while it is said that the area's original inhabitants, the
Chorotegas, referred to the region as Tepezonate (Mountain of Water).
Sights
Iglesia Santiago
This wonderfully understated adobe church fronting the shady parque central was con-
structed in 1661, making it one of the oldest places of worship in Nicaragua.
CHURCH
Outside Town
Monumento Nacional Cañon de Somoto
(admission US$2)
Central America's longest river, the Coco (or Wangki), runs all the way to
the Caribbean, but her first impression may be her most spectacular. Gushing from under-
ground, she has carved solid rock into this 3km-long gorge that drops 160m, and at times
is just a hair under 10m wide.
Protected as Monumento Nacional Cañon de Somoto, the canyon is an unmissable ex-
perience. There are three routes to explore the canyon. You won't always have comfort-
able footing, so reef shoes or sandals help a lot, and you'll have more fun if you're fit.
The full six-hour, 12km circuit will take you to two bat caves well above the rim before
you hike down to the river, boulder hop, swim through (small) rapids and leap off 8m
rocks into deep swimming holes.
The most popular option is the four-hour, 6km classic loop that will get you straight in-
to the canyon, where you'll swim, hike and leap beneath slate-rock faces and jagged
peaks.
PARK
