Somoto: A pleasant swim through a Canyon

Our main motive for visiting Somoto was to explore the newly discovered (2003) and renowned Nicaraguan canyon.  We hired a guide for the day and with an early start endeavoured to explore the entire length of the canyon from water level as well as from up above.

Julita decided that wading and swimming down the Rio Coco was not her thing and chose to stay behind.  So Paulina and I, along with another French backpacker set out at 7am and began
with a pleasant hike through a valley and alongside the river.  Within a few hours the landscape began to change, the mountains began to close in on us, and the canyon began to form.

We expected something akin to the Saklikent Gorge in Turkey but were left disappointed.  Yes, for about a 2km stretch, the canyon narrowed down drastically with steep walls on either side of us, and while floating and swimming through it was fun, it did not make much of an impression on us.  Once we came out the other end, a rowboat took us to the opposite valley where we proceeded to hike up to viewpoints high above the canyon.  Once again, we were left wishing for more.

To a certain extent we attribute our disappointment to the fact that we visited this canyon during the dry season.  The water levels were relatively low and the landscape was barren, grey and boring.  We had seen postcards of the canyon depicting lush greenery and assume that during the rainy season this place would be much more picturesque.  In the end, it was a pleasant enough 7 hour excursion that involved a bit of hiking, swimming, jumping and climbing.  We couldn’t really complain.