Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ively expensive to travel here, as most transportation is by boat. The lowlands are remark-
able for their dry pine savannas and countless wetlands and have four major river systems.
The easiest way in is along the Río San Juan, a Unesco biosphere reserve.
DID THE EARTH MOVE FOR YOU?
Straddling two tectonic plates has had mixed results for Nicaragua. On the one hand, it's pro-
duced the spectacular Maribios chain and the rest of the 40 volcanoes that make up western Ni-
caragua's dramatic skyline, providing geothermal energy, poetic inspiration and hiking opportun-
ities galore.
On the down side, volcanoes have, over the years, blackened skies, changed landscapes and
buried entire villages, not to mention the entire original city of León.
Nicaragua's position between the stationary Caribbean plate and the eastward-moving Cocos
plate (the two are colliding at a rate of about 10cm per year) has produced some other geologic
excitement as well - most of it spelling bad news for the locals.
Tension builds between colliding plates and is released in the form of earthquakes. Nicaragua
gets rocked on a regular basis - the 1972 quake all but flattened Managua, which had already
been hit hard in 1931. In 2000, two major quakes in two days leveled villages in the southwest.
When earthquakes happen at sea they cause tsunamis. Tsunamis were registered in 1854 and
1902, but the biggest one in recent history was in 1992, when waves of up to 10m pummeled the
Pacific coastline, killing 170 people and leaving 130,000 homeless.
Slower (but no less dramatic) plate movement produced the Lago de Nicaragua - the theory
being that the Pacific and Atlantic were once joined, but the upward thrust of earth caused by
plate collision cut them off. Volcanic sedimentation and erosion then created the Pacific and At-
lantic coastlines.
