Esteli Travel Video Guide

Esteli Travel Itinerary

• Maps and flag of Nicaragua
• Esteli travel photos
• Esteli travel forum
• Flights to Esteli
• Hotels in Esteli
• Hostels in Esteli
• Buy the guide book!

At first sight ESTELI , the largest town in the north, can seem downtrodden and poor. It does have its poor barrios , but is an engaging place and a hotbed of political activity. Of all the towns in Nicaragua, in Esteli you can best get a sense of what the country must have been like during the Revolution and glimpse something of the vision that inspired so many people during the 1980s. The town continues to provide fierce support for the Sandinistas, and witnessed violent disturbances following the controversial delay in announcing the results of municipal elections in November 2000, when President Aleman stalled for time in the hope of provoking disturbances which would undermine the FSLN's credibility.

Although the war ended with the failure of the Sandinistas in the election of 1990, Esteli has been the scene of fighting as recently as 1994. In what has become known as the " one-day war ", former Sandinista and Contra soldiers took up arms together to demand better conditions for veterans. At the same time they robbed a bank and their leader, "Pedrito El Hondureno" reportedly disappeared with the loot. The government responded by encircling the veterans in the centre of town with national police, soldiers and helicopter gun ships. About a dozen veterans were killed along with two civilians. A further uprising in 1997 came to nothing.

More recently the town's government has been particularly

successful in attracting overseas aid and Esteli is filled with the offices of international organizations working on projects as diverse as cooperative and organic farming, women's rights and the environment. Esteli is also the site of a US$25 million reforestation project designed to clean up the water supply. In the early 1990s the town provided the location for the Ken Loach movie Carla's Song , the making of which no doubt funnelled a few cordobas into the local economy.

Your Tips For Esteli

• Lago de Nicaragua Travel Videos
  Nicaragua Travel Itinerary
  Standing on the shore and looking out into its expanse, you can imagine the surprise of the Spanish navigators in 1522 when, nearly certain they were heading towards the long dreamed of route to the Pacific, they instead came upon Lago de Nicaragua . - Nicaragua
  

• North Nicaragua Travel Videos
  Nicaragua Travel Itinerary
  Nicaragua's north is really two regions, divided by geography and climate as well as - to an extent - the character of their inhabitants. - Nicaragua
  

• Atlantic coast Nicaragua Travel Videos
  Nicaragua Travel Itinerary
  Nicaragua's Atlantic coast is low-lying, soaked with mangrove swamps behind which loom near-impenetrable jungles - a vast region comprising about half of Nicaragua's total landmass. - Nicaragua
  

• Managua Nicaragua Travel Videos
  Nicaragua Travel Itinerary
  Hotter than an oven and crisscrossed by anonymous highways, there can't be a more tourist-unfriendly capital than MANAGUA . - Nicaragua
  

• Southwest Nicaragua Travel Videos
  Nicaragua Travel Itinerary
  The vast majority of Nicaragua's population lives in the fertile plain that makes up the southwest of the country. - Nicaragua