As you fork east out of Managua at the roadside community of San Benito and rumble into Nicaragua's interior, a world very much unlike Nicaragua's other regions unfolds before you. Less volcanic than León, drier than the south, and more open and accessible than the deep mountains of Jinotega and Matagalpa, the cattle-dominated landscape of Boaco and Chontales has a flavor all of its own.

That flavor is cheese. Over 60 percent of Nicaragua's dairy products originate here, mostly along the east side of Lake Cocibolca. Of course there's much more to Nicaragua's cowboy country, but above all else, there is cheese--dozens of varieties of it, not to mention millions of gallons of fresh milk.

Broad cattle farms make up the bulk of Boaco and Chontales, divided into ranches of sometimes thousands of hectares of land. Towns are fewer and farther between than they are on the other side of Lake Cocibolca and in spite of the lengthy coastline, Boaco and Chontales have few fishing communities--there are only a few, accessed at the end of tortuous dirt roads. The emphasis here is on the land.

The cattle ranchers of the east are often well-to-do by Nicaraguan standards, and their wealth is apparent in towns like Juigalpa, a clean and well laid out city. Juigalpa's patron saints celebrations are among the best in Nicaragua, involving elaborate bull riding competitions, horsemanship contests, and festivals. But in true Nicaraguan spirit, even the disadvantaged communities haven't lost their sense of humor. The Boaco town of La Calamidad ("The Calamity") retains its name in spite of two government attempts to rename it to something less frightful. The locals insist that with poor land, little fresh water, and few opportunities for productive farming, their little town is a calamity and should be named accordingly.

Excerpted with Author's permission from Moon Handbooks Nicaragua