About 34 kilometers south of Granada, Zapatera is an extinct volcano surrounded by Isla el Muerto and a dozen or so other islets, all of which comprise 45 square kilometers of land; the whole complex is home for some 500 residents.

Zapatera is a natural wonder, rising 629 meters above sea level. Its virgin forest is rife with myriad wildlife such as parrots, toucans, herons, and other waterfowl, plus white-tailed deer, and an alleged population of jaguars no one ever seems to see.

These islands were enormously important to the Nahuatl, who used them primarily as a vast burial ground and sacrifice spot. The sites of La Punta de las Figuras and Zonzapote are particularly rich in artifacts and have a network of caves that have never been researched. Also seek out the petroglyphs carved into the bedrock beaches of Isla el Muerto.

An impressive selection of Zapatera’s formidable stone idols is on display in the Convento San Francisco, but the islands’ remaining archaeological treasures remain relatively unstudied and unprotected and (naturally) continue to disappear.

Officially declared a national park by the Sandinistas in 1983, the Zapatera Archipelago has never been adequately protected or funded. MARENA’s thousand-page management plan document is just that—a document—while in reality, only one park ranger visits the islands a couple of times per month. It’s no surprise then that inhabitants and visitors litter, loot the archaeological patrimony, hunt, and cut down trees for timber.