It is located in the Pacific region of Nicaragua just 132 km from the capital and 70 kilometers from Honduras in the extreme northwest of the country, it borders the city of León and ends in the wide peninsula of the Cosigüina Volcano next to the Gulf of Fonseca.
The Chinandega department has a dry tropical climate, the summer period extends from November to April and the rainy season from May to October. The department is divided into thirteen municipalities: Chichigalpa, Chinandega departmental capital, Cinco Pinos, Corinto, El Realejo, El Viejo, Posoltega, Puerto Morazán, San Pedro de Potrero Grande, Santo Tomás del Nance, San Francisco del Norte, Somotillo and Villanueva.
It was founded in 1839 and is spread over a beautiful and attractive plain, characterized by spectacular landscapes, rich soils and a large agricultural producer. It has mangrove forests, beautiful beaches, historic towns and churches, and the highest volcano in Nicaragua, El San Cristóbal (1,745 meters), in the Los Maribios volcanic complex. It is located 140 kilometers from the capital Managua.
The origin of the name Chinandega is derived from the Nagrandana word or Nahuatl language "Chinantecal" which means neighbor of Chinantlan, and is in turn from Chinan, which means shed or temporary housing shed and from the particle indicative of the place tlan, that is, Chinandega means "Place of temporary huts or rooms."
art Museum Prevolumbian Chorotega- Nicarao (Enrique B. Mantica Deshon)
The museum is named after Enrique B. Mántica and has more than 1200 archaeological pieces of polychrome and monochrome ceramics, heads, trophies, stones, metals, statuary, oxidian, jade and gold, which make up the Chorotega-Nicarao museum.
The museum has a complete collection, some of which date back 500 years, and exhibits that represent the Paleo-Indian period, 12 years ago, when man was a hunter and megafauna such as mammoths and bison existed. There is also pottery from 3 years before Christ.
Saint Anne Parish
The origins of the Parish of Santa Ana date back to the mission mentioned by the chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo in the third decade of the 16th century.
Bishop Agustín Morel de Santa Cruz, during his pastoral visit to this Parish in 1751, found a well-equipped masonry temple, of which the main altar is preserved, consisting of three bodies with 6 altars in which at that time there were quite exquisite full-length effigies of saints, administered by Franciscan religious.
Parroquia de Guadalupe
In Guadalupe you can find the oldest image of the city, Our Lady of the Conception of Los Remedios, dating back more than two centuries.
Washing of La Silver
Tradition that is celebrated in El Viejo on December 6th, one day before “La Gritería”, a ceremony that revolves around the precious relic of the Virgin of El Viejo, dating back to 1536, given by Saint Teresa of Jesus to the new world. Since then, it has been receiving the honor and glory of a people who recognize it as a celestial protector and advocate.
There is no precise information on the origin of the Lavada de La Plata, but it is known that at some point the treasures accumulated in the offerings made to the miraculous image of María Purísima for the favors received were abundant. Therefore, it is natural that the treasures of silver objects kept by the church periodically needed polishing or cleaning. With so many treasures and so few Franciscan missionaries, it was necessary to call on the Indians and ladinos to help with the cleaning work.
These activities consist of placing the tables in the church atrium to place the silver pieces on them on smooth tables, without varnish or paint and very clean for objects that people bring year after year. On the floor are placed the stones or tenamastes where the clay jewels were perched, under which the intense fire burned constantly stoked by women and men who carried out this task out of devotion to the Virgin Mary and as a traditional promise in families.
Volcano Cosiguina
The Silent Watchman, as he is known because from his box he watches over the Gulf of Fonseca, shared with the republics of Honduras and El Salvador. The Volcano is located in the municipality of El Viejo, about 200 km from the capital. It is suitable for ecological tourism, ecotourism, scientific tourism, adventure tourism, sport hunting, scientific study of ecosystems, its morphology is characterized by cliffs and beaches that border the coasts of the Pacific Ocean.
The Cosigüina Volcano is famous for its eruption on January 20, 1835, one of the three most terrible eruptions of the 4th century. According to scientific calculations, its original cone reached two thousand meters in height and its ashes covered 43 million square kilometers, during the eruption of XNUMX consecutive hours.
Cosigüina Nature Reserve
It is a protected area for the conservation of its biodiversity. It is supported by a warm climate and vegetation where broadleaf forests, dry tropical forests and wetlands are found, and predominant species such as: ceiba, royal cedar, ferns, mangroves, bromeliads and orchids. The wildlife is made up of 77 species of which 46 are birds, such as guisé, white dove and scarlet macaws, 15 species are mammals such as armadillos, spider monkeys and rabbits, 16 species are reptiles such as lizards, paslama turtles and iguanas. The Jobo and Guacamaya trails lead us to the top of the Cosigüina Volcano. The Los Humedales trail is a route between ferns, swamp vegetation and birds.
Hot Springs
It is located in the community of Cosigüina. On the Cosigüina peninsula, there are three small rivers of hot springs that run along the slopes of the volcano of the same name and are known as: San Juan, Batidores and Potosí, flowing into the Gulf of Fonseca. In the wetlands you can see migratory birds from July to December where you can see all kinds of herons. The mangrove systems are also an unmatched attraction.
The Chonco Volcano
Formed by two cones: one very old and another of later formation, it is said that at the bottom of one of its cones there is a lagoon, which has been searched for by researchers, but no one has ever seen it. A volcano that has a parasitic eminence, commonly known as the Teta, it has an approximate height of 1,105 meters.
San Cristobal Volcano
The imposing San Cristóbal Volcano, 1,745 meters above sea level, is the highest in Nicaragua. Its crater has a circumference of 2 km, with a depth ranging between 200 and 260 meters, and shows constant activity with the emission of clouds of smoke and gas. It is the most active volcano in the Los Maribios volcanic complex, located in the east of the department. Known as El Viejo de Chinandega, with a continuously smoking cone. In 1685 it spewed lava and served as a lighthouse for pirates who at that time attacked the Port of El Realejo and the city of León.
It was declared a Natural Reserve by Executive Decree No. 1320 on September 8, 1983, suitable for adventure tourism, bird watching, hiking and mountain biking, as well as for landscape contemplation as it completely dominates the Nicaraguan Pacific plain.
Islets of Cosigüina
They are a consequence of the 1835 eruption, in which part of the Cosigüina crater was fragmented, flying through the air until it plunged into the waters of the Pacific and emerged to become the inaccessible and fantastic islets that we can admire with passivity and benevolence.
Gulf of Fonseca
A coastal formation in the Central American Pacific with a total area of 8,245 km², this area is home to a great diversity of marine, coastal and terrestrial habitats, among which the pine forests, savannas, coastal mountain forests, seasonal lagoons as well as swamps, mangroves and estuaries stand out. This diversity of habitats contributes to maintaining a set of ecosystems that host populations of mammals, resident and migratory birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans, mollusks and other organisms of great biological importance.
Festival of San Pascual Bailón and Dance of the Mantudos
Religious, popular and folkloric manifestation that dates back 136 years when the first images of San Pascual arrived, known as the pascualitos. These images were placed under huatee branches, where the masked men (mantudos) arrived with guitar music, juco sulfaína, only the masked men danced and pilgrims from El Salvador and Honduras came to the candle. The current image dates back to 1955 and is in the Church of El Calvario.
On May 17th there is a religious celebration with a great display of gunpowder, bulls with horns, a giantess with a big-headed dwarf, a greased pole, and the traditional chicha made from black corn is distributed in crates to all the saint's devotees. All the devotees pay their vows and share the saint's relic, which consists of a small piece of Cebo and blessed flowers. On the 18th the Calvary is taken to the church with music by chicheros, dancing by its devotees, bombs and rockets.
Patron Saint Festivities of Santa Ana
Religious festival celebrated from July 10 to 26, where they organize a kermesse, fairs, fishing, a craft market, bullfighting, alboradas, a function and procession with the image of the patron saint, horse parades and carnival for the election of the queen of the municipality, the joyful patron saint festivities of Santa Ana, has the return of the traditional aboriginals with the dance of the Tingo, the Mantudos, the painted ones, the flowered regional carts, the flags and the leather drums that announce the patron saint festivities.
In Chinandega, there are two images of Saint Anne, the pilgrim or the grandmother Saint Anne, who visits all the neighborhoods and regions of the municipality, where the novena is prayed in her honor and breaks with the festivities on July 1st, full of gunpowder, the traditional bull, red flags and drums, this image is kept in the stewardess' house throughout the year.
The image of Saint Anne the titular remains on her throne in the parish that bears her name and only comes out on July 25 and 26 when she is taken down from her throne and travels through the streets and avenues of Chinandega in a solemn procession.
The San Roque Festivities
Catholic religious festival celebrated in the Old City with the harvest festival, an ancestral tradition that consisted of giving the best fruits to the closest or friends, a tradition changed by the Spanish and they dedicated the festivities to San Roque. Various images are venerated such as: Guerrillero, Mestizo, Mulatto, El Literario, Indian, Virgin of the Angels among others.
The Motets
Tradition of gifts that the priests give each other while dancing to the rhythm of the panda spoon, and they also give them to their loved ones or people they like.
Virgin of Hato
The Virgin of Hato is the same Virgin of Conception, she has her hermitage in a small farm with her same name located in the lands that were Santa Rita, department of Chinandega at a distance of approximately 35 km from the city. To differentiate that virgin from the Conception of El Viejo, who was on her throne in the church, people said: The virgin of the Conception who is in Hato Nuevo. From the first days of November, the roads of the hato of the virgin are invaded by people devoted to the Holy Virgin, who go up and down steep slopes and cross immense plains, when the pilgrims arrive they sing and pray in the hermitage.
