What are the best things to buy in Nicaragua as opposed to other places?
Mike Cobb - ECI Development
Cigars in Nicaragua are world famous. The rum in Nicaragua wins awards around the world. Both are inexpensive and of excellent quality. A small town at the top of a spectacular crater lake caldera is San Juan del Oriente. The pottery from this town is featured in the Smithsonian shops and in galleries internationally. The pine needle baskets from Estili and Somoto are famous as well. (Dona Elba cigars from Nicargua, pictured.)
Cigars in Nicaragua are world famous. The rum in Nicaragua wins awards around the world. Both are inexpensive and of excellent quality. A small town at the top of a spectacular crater lake caldera is San Juan del Oriente. The pottery from this town is featured in the Smithsonian shops and in galleries internationally. The pine needle baskets from Estili and Somoto are famous as well. (Dona Elba cigars from Nicargua, pictured.)
Posted January 19, 2014
Joe Duchene
Nicaragua's artisans are known for their leather items, such as wallets and purses. You can get a lizard skin wallet, completely handmade for maybe $10 or less. Nicaraguan hammocks are also excellently made. They are more thickly woven than the ones I found in Mexico, and it is very easy to get one custom made for you if you're going to be in the country for a little while. Woodworking is also a very popular craft, and you are likely to see many handmade wooden dishes and...Nicaragua's artisans are known for their leather items, such as wallets and purses. You can get a lizard skin wallet, completely handmade for maybe $10 or less. Nicaraguan hammocks are also excellently made. They are more thickly woven than the ones I found in Mexico, and it is very easy to get one custom made for you if you're going to be in the country for a little while. Woodworking is also a very popular craft, and you are likely to see many handmade wooden dishes and containers. These come very cheap for their quality, and make great gifts or practical home items. I am also very partial to Nicaragua's famous beef. While you won't be taking any home for souvenirs, the quality of the steaks here is truly excellent, and you can get filet mignon for about $4 a pound in the grocery store.
(Hammock bought from Nicaragua, pictured.)
Posted May 5, 2015
Esmerelda Vargas - Schuvar Tours
Nicaragua is excellent with handicrafts and it is very cheap to buy handicrafts here. If you go to the open-air markets, you will find a lot of handicrafts, so you can buy a lot of things for your house. The woods are very good, for example, and you can buy from traditional people who make their own brands or something. They make tables, furniture, etc.; you can find all that. Brands are very expensive. The brands here are very similar to what you will see...
Nicaragua is excellent with handicrafts and it is very cheap to buy handicrafts here. If you go to the open-air markets, you will find a lot of handicrafts, so you can buy a lot of things for your house. The woods are very good, for example, and you can buy from traditional people who make their own brands or something. They make tables, furniture, etc.; you can find all that. Brands are very expensive. The brands here are very similar to what you will see at Macy’s and at Macy’s prices. For example, in the United States, you can find a Polo in Marshall’s for half the price in Macy’s. In Nicaragua, you will find things priced as they are at Macy’s. You cannot find anything that is priced like in Marshall’s.
(Nicaragua folk art painting of a village, pictured.)
Posted May 9, 2015
Jewel Hoff - Tierra de los Suenos
In Nicaragua, you can have boots, hand-made shoes, any leather goods, and they’re very big on pottery. The food is good here in Matagalpa, even though your choices are limited if you’re not in the main cities such as Managua. You’re not going to have 12 brands selling the same item; you may have 2 or 3. So if you like Best Foods mayonnaise, they don’t have it here. They have another brand. You get used to this. For example, I went...
In Nicaragua, you can have boots, hand-made shoes, any leather goods, and they’re very big on pottery. The food is good here in Matagalpa, even though your choices are limited if you’re not in the main cities such as Managua. You’re not going to have 12 brands selling the same item; you may have 2 or 3. So if you like Best Foods mayonnaise, they don’t have it here. They have another brand. You get used to this. For example, I went to the Pricesmart in Managua, and I literally got dizzy. The store was huge and I wasn’t used to it and there are so many kinds of items for the same thing. It can also be stressful when you see many choices; less choice, less stress.
You can get hand-made shoes, hand-made bags, any leather goods inexpensively and of excellent quality. Their leather is very good here. The indigenous people do a lot of weaving here and we have Indian products such as Indian jewelry but not Indian jewelry with turquoise like you have in the US. It’s mostly weaved.
They also make beautiful, handmade furniture here.
(Leather boots in store window in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, pictured.)
Posted October 5, 2015
Barry Oliver - Surfing Nahua
Some of the best things to buy in Nicaragua include construction materials, which are excellent. Nicaragua has very exotic woods and amazing tiles, and excellent artists, painters, sculptors, and pottery towns like San Juan de Oriente (a town fairly close to Granada) offers beautiful art and pottery pieces. The soapstone carvers in San Juan de Oriente are amazing as well, and you could get huge four-foot Buddhas, or 4-foot marlins carved for a couple of hundred bucks. It takes these...Some of the best things to buy in Nicaragua include construction materials, which are excellent. Nicaragua has very exotic woods and amazing tiles, and excellent artists, painters, sculptors, and pottery towns like San Juan de Oriente (a town fairly close to Granada) offers beautiful art and pottery pieces. The soapstone carvers in San Juan de Oriente are amazing as well, and you could get huge four-foot Buddhas, or 4-foot marlins carved for a couple of hundred bucks. It takes these people weeks to finish these amazing artworks. While you’re in Nicaragua, the fruits and vegetables are amazing and fresh. They’ve now got some very good microbreweries. There’s one bar called Erdmann’s that has some of the best beer I’ve ever had, including IPAs and Dark IPAs 55:26 and he’s got a Black Santa over Christmas, which is one of my favorite things to buy in Nicaragua.
My wife and I like to buy some nice wood furniture, yoyos for the kids that are handmade out of wood, and hammocks.
(Interior Casa Corselli in Nicaragua, pictured.)
Posted May 6, 2017