MADRIZ

Madriz is a Segovian department founded in 1936 after it was separated from the Department of Nueva Segovia. Its Department Capital is Somoto.

The name of Madriz is in honor of President Jose Madriz, the promoter of its founding. Its first people were the Chorotegas who arrived from the Choluteca and Guasaule Rivers.

Somoto was first named Tepesomoto by the Aztecs because of a mountain close to town where an exotic bird named Xomontli lived. It has three natural resources: the hill Tepesomoto-La Patasta, the Somoto Canyon, and the Coco River- Segovian or Wanki as it is called by the Manyagnas.

Madriz has cool weather, and its capital, Somoto, is known as the “Capital de la Amistad” (The Friendship Capital). It is surrounded by the Somoto Canyon.

It is famous for its traditional rosquillas, petroglyphics, geological formations, savannahs, rivers, crafts, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and its big oak and pine tree forests. The inhabitants live in humble homes made of adobe and straw.

The city of Somoto produces the most delicious rosquillas of Nicaragua. You can find more than a dozen shops that make them at high quality standards. The Rosquillas are a symbol of the city, produced in an artisan way, in traditional ovens made ouf of adobe and white sand and heated by wood.

Somoto is located 216 Kms from the Capital of Managua, the department is made up of the towns of: Palacagüina, Las Sabanas, San Jose de Cusmapa, San Lucas, San Juan del Rio Coco, Telpaneca, Totogalpa and Yalagüina

RUTA DE SANDINO (Sandino’s Route)

Sandino’s Route is a local development project that’s being implemented to recover the historic memoire of a hero, known as General Augusto Cesar Sandino.

It will also provide geographic facts of where Sandino waged his wars with the double intention to provide better living standards to the 14 rural communities involved. Palacaguina: Monument to Miguel Angel Ortez and Guillen. Riito Abajo, Archeological vestige of Rio Arriba. Rio Arriba, in Yalaguina: Birth place of Coronel Santos Lopez, consisting of Cerro Kisuca, Natural Park of Cerrro Sonzapote, The Cave of El Duende, El Cerro Cobre, Esquipulas, Chagüites, Cofradía, Santa Barbara and Ojo de Agua, all forming part of the tourist and historic route.

Ruta del Café (Coffee’s Route)

This route has been developed to improve the development of the local economy and generate new jobs -specifically related to promoting tourism in the region.

SOMOTO

Catholic Church Santiago Apostle

A National Historical Monument, its construction started on September 9, 1661, with a sober, elegant and simple, colonial architecture. Its adobe walls, its Dome of original style, were concluded in 1875. Valuable sacred art pieces such as antique altars, statues, and sacred vases are kept in this church. It was declared a National Historical Monument on Saturday, November 14, 1964 and published in La Gaceta No. 261.

Sanctuary of the Virgin of Cacauli

The Sanctuary to the Virgin Mary is visited on the eighth of each month by faithful devotees from all over the country. It is located in a community of the same name, it also continuously welcomes large groups mainly Hondurans and Salvadorians.

Agave Crafts (Artesanias de Henequen).

Hammocks, carpets, frames, and all types of decorative items are handcrafted with the fiber of the Agave plant -a species similar to Cactus. It is hard and resistant, and its stem is short with thick leaves. The artisans work them in the rural community of Uniles, 5 kms from the city of Somoto.

Museum of the Painted Rock (Museo de Piedra Pintada).

It is located in the Central Park. The collection is from pieces found in the excavation of the archeological site of Calpules and pieces recovered from local families such as: large cups, jars, flutes, ceramics with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic decorations, metals, axes, arrows, and small guns, among many other instruments.

Somoto’s Canyon.

Adventure and contemplative Tourism. Vampire caves, amazing walls of volcanic rock, and geological formations dated between 5 and 13 millions years old.

A majestic beauty houses the Coco River, creating a junction with the Tapali River, traveling through a big area of the department of Madriz, and the Comali River, coming down from Honduras.

It has an approximate extension of 3 Kms of a geological strip of volcanic rock and between 80-250 mts high; in some parts, the strip decreases in width to less than 10 meters. Millions of years of erosion over volcanic rock created the Somoto Canyon, (Canyon of Namancambre in Nahualt Language), and it is only a part of the wonders of the untainted nature that exists in this department.

Archeological Site Aguas Calientes

They are made up of three petroglyphics, located in a radius of more or less 100 mts, near a place of prehispanic settlement, which today makes up the indigenous community of Santa Rosa.

The Hieroglyphics are distributed in different locations, from the rock of about 200 mts long, 70 mts wide and about 5-8 mts high, one can infer that it was a ceremonial indigenous site. At the foot of the rock there is a cave.

Archeological Site Las Pintadas

A site of prehispanic art, where you can see petroglyphics painted and engraved on a large basalt rock.

The community of Icalupe is located nearby surrounded by Nance, Oak and Pine trees.

The tall rock walls have petroglyphics engraved on the top of it, which clearly indicates the worship to King Tonalt, and painted faces anxious to see the sunrise.