Somoto is a quiet town near the Honduran border, and it is on the map because of what was found beside it in 2004: a canyon the Coco river has cut two hundred metres deep through rock that is some of the oldest in Central America, missed by everyone until a Czech survey team walked into it.
The Cañón de Somoto is now a national monument and the trip through it is the best adventure day in northern Nicaragua — you walk in along the riverbed, swim the narrow sections where the walls close to a few metres apart, jump from the rocks if you want to, and float out on an inner tube or in a boat at the bottom. Guides come from the two communities at the canyon mouth and the fee is set by their association.
The town itself is known for rosquillas, a hard corn-and-cheese biscuit sold all over the country in bags stamped "de Somoto".