Solentiname Islands

Solentiname is a scatter of islands at the southern end of Lake Nicaragua where, from the 1960s, a parish community began painting - and produced a distinctive primitivist school of bright, detailed canvases of birds, lake life and jungle that became known internationally. Alongside the painting came balsa-wood carving of birds and fish in the same vivid palette. Families still work in both traditions across the islands, selling from their homes and small workshops. The setting does the rest: herons and parrots everywhere, dugout canoes, petroglyphs on some islands and almost no infrastructure.

History

The archipelago has four larger islands of volcanic origin, Mancarroncito, Mancarrón, San Fernando and La Venada, and some 32 smaller ones, and is a National Monument. Its name is most often explained as the Nahuatl Celentinametl, "place of many guests", though some read it as "covey of quail" (Wikipedia, Solentiname Islands).

What to look for

• Painting workshops - family studios producing the primitivist canvases.
• Balsa bird carving - the islands' other craft tradition.
• Petroglyphs - pre-Columbian carvings on several islands.
• Birdlife and canoe trips - herons, parrots and quiet lake channels.

When to go

The dry season from December to April gives the calmest lake crossings and the most reliable boat schedules. Lake Nicaragua can get genuinely choppy in windy months, which makes small-boat travel uncomfortable. The islands are hot and humid year round.

Good to know

Access is a commitment - a flight or a very long bus to San Carlos, then a boat that runs on a limited schedule. Accommodation is a handful of simple lodges and homestays with intermittent power. Buying art directly from families is the point and prices are fair; some galleries elsewhere resell at multiples. Mosquitoes are constant, and the region carries malaria risk.

Nearby

San Carlos, the Rio San Juan toward the Caribbean and the Los Guatuzos wildlife refuge.