Hotel Review: Hotel Los Arcos

by Tom Johansmeyer on


If you’re going to Esteli, Nicaragua, it’s probably for the cigars. The town is charming, if a bit rundown, but it’s proximity to the fields and factories of some of the world’s premier cigar manufacturers is undoubtedly the main attraction. So, be reasonable in your expectations when choosing a hotel. I spent three nights at Hotel Los Arcos on a visit to the Pepin Garcia cigar operation, and don’t have any complaints. It isn’t a luxury property (and doesn’t bill itself as such), but you will be clean and comfortable during your stay.

Hotel Los Arcos is one of the few hotels I’ve visited in the past few years that actually use keys – real metal keys. Turn it to enter your room, and the experience will vary. Some rooms have two single beds, while others deliver two full-sized. There are a handful of suites with balconies and a bit of extra elbow room, though no guestroom is cramped. The beds and bathrooms are clean but worn, though both would seem better with a bit more of an effort to decorate.

%Gallery-84834%If you’re accustomed to amenities, brace yourself. The rooms do have desks and televisions, but alarm clocks and phones are absent. Also, the desks aren’t near any power outlets. The lack of internet access will drive business travelers to the brink of insanity. There is a faint wireless signal, I was told, but you’ll only find it in a few places (the restaurant is a hotspot). The only alternative is to use one of the two ancient desktops at the top of the stairs to the second floor. They are slow (and in Spanish), so it may take you a moment to adapt.

The bar can get lively, depending on how many people are staying at the hotel, and there is sufficient variety on the shelves. Grab a drink to take with you to your table, however, as you’ll be waiting for a while. The service is in line with the norm in Nicaragua, but guests used to life at a faster pace may become frustrated. Meal quality varies. Breakfast, which consists of a small buffet, is a bit disappointing – far variety, presentation and taste. Dinner is much better, though guests should not expect culinary masterpieces.

Where Hotel Los Arcos succeeds is in its outdoor spaces. A courtyard adorned with a colorful mural offers plenty of seating, and there’s more on the roof, which offers views of Esteli and the mountains beyond it. If you’re traveling with a group, this is a plus, since you’ll have places where you can gather and hang out for a while. Also, I’m told the laundry service does a great job.

Hotel Los Arcos gets the job done. You’ll be clean and comfortable, and the accommodations are better than you’ll find at many of the places you’ll drive by n route. For cigar trips especially, you can’ go wrong with Los Arcos.

Photo of the Day (8-26-09)

by Jamie Rhein on

Anyone who has traveled in a developing country may notice how this photo by TR Ryan captures perfectly the ingredients of every day village life. See it as a check list, if you will. Chickens? check. Goat? check. Plastic cup? check. Flip flops and bare feet? check and check. A bit of old rusty corrugate serving as a partial wall? check. Bicycle? check. It almost doesn’t matter in which country the scene is set. The ingredients will be the same.

If Dutch painter Jan Vermeer were alive today, he’d turn this shot into a painting. Instead of the woman pouring milk into a bowl, as his subject does in, “The Kitchen Maid,” he would encapsulate in oil and canvas the life of this woman where she lives in Villa Esperanza, Nicaragua ensuring that her children get a meal.

If you have captured a story in a photograph, send it our way at Gadling’s Flickr photo pool. It may be chosen as a Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (6.21.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Passports? Check. Beautiful historical monuments? Yes. Alright, let’s travel! The previous phrase is what went through my mind when I looked at Flickr user darren.murph’s photo from Nicaragua. There’s something really amusing about how they’re flaunting their passports around. Couple that with the beautiful church in the background and it makes for an arresting, yet humorous shot.

Have any travel photos you would like to share with the world? Why not add them to our Gadling group on Flickr? We might just pick one of yours as our Photo of the Day.

7 Eco-adventures that may be hazardous to your health

by Kraig Becker on

Many adventure travelers like to mix a sense of danger into their travels. It’s not enough to just go somewhere and experience the culture and explore the landscapes. For some, they have to feel the rush of adrenaline while they risk life and limb for their next great thrill. Fortunately, Treehugger has just the list of travel experiences for them, offering up 7 eco-adventures that could get you killed.

As you can probably guess, there are some wild suggestions on the list. For instance, they recommend volcano boarding in Nicaragua, something we wrote about awhile back. For an entirely different thrill, Treehugger recommends heading to Bolivia and taking a mountain bike for a spin down the Highway of Death, a particularly nasty stretch of road that we spotlighted back in March.

Some of the experiences are relatively quick, and over in a short time, like BASE jumping off of a Himalayan peak, while others demand much more of a commitment. For example, climbing Annapurna, a 26,545 foot mountain in Nepal, which would require weeks to climb, months to train for, and years to gain enough experience to even try.

The other suggestions on the list are equally intense and offer their own level of challenge and fear. But for someone looking to add new experiences to their life list, perhaps you’ll find something here that will inspire your next adventure.

Volcano Boarding: Sledding Down An Active Volcano

by Kraig Becker on

The New York TImes has the scoop on a new sport that can trace its origins back to the slopes of Cerro Negro, a 2388 foot tall volcano in western Nicaragua. The new extreme sport is called Volcano Boarding, and participants use a small piece of plywood to rocket down the side of a sometimes active volcano, reaching speeds of up to 50 mph.

The article credits Darryn Webb, an Australian tour guide working in Nicaragua, with coming up with the idea behind volcano boarding. Webb grew up in Queensland, where he learned to sandboard, which is a bit like snowboarding on sand dunes. Back in 2005, when he first set eyes on Cerro Negro, he immeditely began plotting a new way to go down its slopes.

Webb says they tried a variety of different concepts when looking for their “sled”, including boogie boards, mattresses, and even a minibar fridge (!), before eventually going with their current design, which is little more than reinforced plywood with formica on the underside to increase speed. Boarders don a jumpsuit and goggle designed to protect them should they become separated from their rides, and begin the arduous 45 minute climb to the summit, carrying their board.The ride down is, as you would expect, unlike anything else. The writer reports of high speeds, but also a very bumpy and noisy run, in which rocks, dust and ash flew everywhere. Controlling your speed is a challenge to say the least, and when using a technique for slowing down that was shown to her by an instructor, she ended up crashing out of control. But once the ride was over, she wanted to go again, which says a lot for the experience as well.

For extreme sports junkies, hurling down the side of a mountain isn’t nearly extreme enough of course, so the lure of an active volcano makes it all the more exciting. Cerro Negro is young, geologically speaking, and still very active. Since 1850, the volcano has erupted 20 times, and I suppose there are some who come to ride its slopes who have visions of outrunning lava flows as they go. So far, that hasn’t happened, but then again, this is a new sport.