Matagalpa
2/10, day 16, Saturday. 25 min walk to the terminal. Got on the 6am bus at 5:45. C100. Soon it filled up. 2 person seats sometime have 3 on it. The bus took off before 6am. Long stop in front of Maxi Pali. More came on board. Standing. Venders still come up to sell food. I tried an empanada, still warm, but almost nothing inside, maybe some honey. C5.
Arrived ~8:45 at the Cotran south terminal in Matagalpa. Busy. Next to a market. Endless shops selling everything. Ruben Dario museum is closed on weekends.
Visited Matagalpa Tours office. I had emailed them yesterday. No tour is going. Got info how to get to Cascada Blanca and Peñas Blanca.
I booked an AirBnb here, forgot to notice that the check-in is after 4pm. A bit walk up hill.
Walked to the north terminal, ~1 mile. It's good that my luggage is small.
Only ~2c cooler here (~700m elevation), but it's tolerable even under the sun.
Very busy here too.
Squeezed on to a full bus to La Dalia.
They made me put my backpack next to the driver, so more passengers can squeeze behind me.
It started rolling at 10am.
15km, maybe 30 min later, c25, I was dropped off right in front of the door of Eco Lodge Cascada Blanca. Entrance c100. I was given a ticket and a map.
A series of steps to go down to the wallway behind the waterfall. Each turn has a restaurant or a pavillion.
Behind the waterfall is a large closed cave, like a clam, befitted with benches and swings. Beer caps were nailed on one wet board for traction.
Very few people. Odd, today is a Saturday.
I took a long break catching up my notes, while eating.
Not terribly pretty, but relaxing. Plenty shade. I really like this big tree with orange flowers littering everywhere.
The lodge owns 2 trails on both side of the small Rio Yasica.
Nice to walk around.
Walk the road to the next junction with a road that crosses the river, hoping to see Saldo dl Escondido. There's a home, locked. I took a track to its left, it goes down with a swing bridge over the river. However, here is the top of the waterfall. Can see the water falling. The 2 guys there at the junction told me there's another entrance further up. So I walked there. A bit more than I liked. The home owner asks for c50.
Waited on the same road for the bus to Cascada la Luna. C30 to La Empresa.
This is my favorite. Totally genuine.
A lady who works at the restaurant Mapache next to the waterfall took me on this dirt road towards Rio Caratera, lined with restaurants and lodges
Kids washing clothes above. Fallen flowers flow on the water. No tourists. Just a group of local kids.
I took off my shoes and socks to walk over the water.
Then walked past a pig, and a bit of scramble to go down to the creek below.
Saw a great kiskadee.
When I came back to the main road 5, many middle school kids were waiting for the bus. Me and half of the kids got on the next bus. The rest consider this bus too full. C50 back to Matagalpa.
At the AirBnb, Brenda (from Leon) + Eddy (US retiree) were eating dinner. Eddy offered me some: soup of carrots, tomato, potato, chicken bones, rice. Brenda doesn't speak English. Eddy talks a lot. They've been staying here for months.
2/11, day 17, Sunday.
6am, caught a Jinotega bus as it pulled out of the terminal.
C20 to the bus stop before Selva Negra, another eco lodge.
Started at road ~1270m.
Cut into coffee plantation, hiked up Jovenes trail, crossed on Mosquitas trail, then down on Peter y Helen trail.
Cloud forest. Some very large trees. Mist + rain, No one else. Rugged.
No view. One spot is signed Mirador Matagalpa: just a small gap between trees.
Bird with big white head. Larger than robin.
Heard many birds, saw nothing else.
1530m?
A family of coati?
Down to the hotel and restaurant.
More people. Gaudy paint. A couple of ponds with water lily + geese.
Not worth the visit. Maybe for a family get-together.
Waiting for bus with the locals. Half squeezed into the first bus. I decided to wait for the next. Every 30 min. Bad decision. The next 3 buses passed by without stopping, seems more frequent than 30 min. Saw 2 green red parrots flying by. Some passengers went home. Some took a taxi c300. There was a taxi coming here specifically to pick up passengers. I squeezed on to the next bus, 1 hour later. Also filled to the gill.
In the afternoon, I went to San Ramon.
I no longer remember why. Seems that the coffee production started here, and then spread to other parts of the country.
Nothing much to see. Checked out their colorful cemetery. I was looking for someone's tomb.
Overall, the town is quite dead in mid-day.
At 5pm, I walked up to Mirador Calvario. Too steep of a road to drive on. Walking is fine.
A guy with a gun at the gate. I paid c10. Maybe c10 more for parking.
The road goes all the way to the 3 level lookout.
There're restaurants here opens till 9pm (according to the sign).
Great view. Quite busy due to the easy access (drive up).
What an ugly statue in the town square.
Back to the Airbnb. Brenda and Eddy were eating dinner and watching TV. They have never been to the mirador.
2/12, day 18, Monday.
Visited the free Coffee museum. It's a cafe with some large posters on the wall about coffee.
A couple of old machines. Not bad.
Went to the Casa Cuna Carlos Fonseca Amador before and after the coffee museum, it was always locked.
Back to my AirBnb, checked out before 10am. Took the next bus to Jinotega (every 30m). C40.
Jinotega
Sunny and hot today. I didn't book anything.
Checked out 4 hotels. C400 (the boy doesn't know WiFi password) - c500. Stayed at Hotel Sollentuna Ham.
Nice people, cozy lobby, but not very clean.
Only 1 towel.
There's a bar that I had to step over in order to get into the bathroom.
Free wifi at the central park in Jinotega.
2 meetings. Didn't get any real work done.
2/13, day 19, Tuesday.
Hiked to Peña de la Cruz before 6am. Thick clouds, not much of a sunrise.
1.5 mile, 1000'. Need to walk through the city cemetery first :)
Very nice hike. Didn't see anyone else. Easy: almost all concrete stairs.
Windy at the summit.
Large lookout platform with roof.
Yes, there's a cross on the top rock.
Took a San Rafael bus (C20) to the canal of Apanás, hoping to check out Apanas Lake.
Maybe there's a better location for that. I chose here, because on the map, it seems to be the closest to the lake.
Walk along the fence towards the lake. There's no one else here.
Nothing much to see. The lake is pretty. Saw many cows walking in the shallow water.
Probably should have stopped at a restaurant nearby to try fried guapote (rainbow bass).
Back in my hotel, hoping to take a shower before checking out. Someone had come in, took my towel, the plate and knife I borrowed, as well as my own spoon. Didn't take away any trash. I ate some food, checked out at 10am. Hoping for a bus at 10. The hotel told me it goes every hour.
Estelí
The next Estelí bus is at 1pm! No schedule is posted anywhere. Need to ask. When I came back from the canal, someone said there's an express bus to Estelí at 11:30, but the guy that directs passengers said it doesn't exist.
Bought an empanada for C20. It's filled with rice. Took the 11am bus to San Rafael. Change there. C30. On the way into the town, 12:10, the driver beeped at an Estelí bus. Quite a lot of us filed out of this bus and onto that one. Plenty seats. C50. This bus is blasting some love songs. Way too loud.
Got off the bus at the junction off hwy-1, closer to city center.
Both the north and south terminals are 1 mile south of city center on hwy-1.
Walked to Luna Hostal. Paid for 2 nights ($15x2) + Somoto Canyon tour ($35 for a longer tour).
Nice couryard, but rooms are in bad condition. Hot inside.
Ariel (a guy) at the hostel is very nice, drew me a map in detail how to visit Tisey using buses (6:30 & 13:30, except Wednesday).
2/14, day 20, Wednesday. Somoto Canyon Tour
7:30am bus from the north terminal to the town of Somoto (C46) near the border of Honduras. It takes ~2 hours. On the way, saw a lot of tobacco fields. About 30 medical school students of San Lucas crowded the bus for the first 5 miles.
Chilamate: the orange petals.
A young Canadian couple and me are the only tourists. They also bought the longer tour. They've climbed La Conception, so pretty fit. The pick up arrived late. Drove us to a village next to Somoto Canyon, where the tour operation office is. I'm glad that I'm paying the locals for my tour.
This tour is not for ordinary folks.
First, we were instructed to change to sneakers that are lying outside of their office/restaurant. Keep our socks.
Only water, sunscreen, camera. Nothing else.
Each one donned a life jacket.
It's a scramble, walk, swim, or just float. We had chance to jump in the pools. I only jumped over a low rock. Lost my sunglasses in the process.
Now dry season, narrow canyon looks taller. Very pretty. The swim cools you down a bit, before the sun dry you.
Bats, big spiders, some little black birds, vultures, little fish, a honey comb.
There's even a camp site on a flat gravel with overhang rocks.
Also saw quite a lot of trash, especially near the take-out (closer to the village), cows and their large droppings,
fishermen dozing in the shade.
At the end, we had to take a boat across some shallow placid water, which we could easily swim over.
Well, the boat rowler got some money this way.
Had to walk ~1 mile on some sun baked road to the office, where we were served a very late lunch (3pm) at its porch.
An iguana.
Lunch for the 3 of us: mine is very tough beef. Theirs are chicken. Lemon juice with ice.
We were driven to the bus terminal in an SUV with AC. Arrived 3:35pm, for a 4pm bus.
I walked to the central park of the town before getting on the bus.
On the way, a guy boarded the bus with a large rectangular crate of purple orchid.
They were withering fast.
2/15, day 21, Thursday. A 0 day.
Walked to the market. Bought a pair of swimming trunk. Looking for sunglasses. $2-4.
Saw some murals on the way.
Moved to an Airbnb hosted by Erika, worked.
Checking the temperature. Despite of the elevation, it's still hot here.
But where I'm going to, León is hotter.
2/16, day 22, Friday. Tisey. Bus at 6:30am (the next one is at 1:30pm). The sign says La Cascada. C30.
Got off at the turn to Finca El Jalacate.
An awful rocky road to walk down hill, passing 2 gates.
The countryside is quite pretty.
Chilly now. Coming back up in the sun isn't fun.
C50. The old guy made me sign the thick log book.
Not much to look at. The "artist" carves the big boulder on his property. Lots of benches under tin roofs.
Continued on the main road, soon it is paved. 1 mile later, turn right onto a dusty road to the community Garnacha. Another hot mile.
The first mirador Cerro Apaguajil is short and sweet.
Then an unmanned post (c20 on the sign, seems only on weekends).
Continued into the maintained reserva Tisey with hammocks, swings, benches, and 2 very nice cabañas.
I was asked to pay c30, no sign, no receipt. No tourists.
There's a very good loop (short) trail with a few viewpoints.
A teeny cave (just a hole in the cliff). A short swing bridge.
At one of those viewing platforms, where a fake green chopper sits, I met a guy in an official t-shirt.
He said he does a round in his area every day checking the condition of the trails and such.
Later, while I was walking the dusty road out, he stopped his motorbike, and gave me a ride to the junction of NN45 (Rancho Don Luis), where buses are every 2 hours.
That saves me about 5km.
He wouldn't take any money from me.
I was dropped of around 10:30, when he continued south.
Very deserted bus stops on both sides, at least have roof and (almost collapsed) benches. At 11am, 2 locals showed up. Good sign. The guy at the South Terminal in Estelí told me that there would be a bus at noon. Bus from St Nicolas stopped ~11:20. C25. I was able to return in time for my meeting. Bought a pair of sunglasses. C80.
Working for the rest of the day.
2/17, day 23, Saturday. Erika got up before 7 to take the trash out. Garbage day I guess. I'm leaving early. In front of Terminal Norte, the Managua expreso bus was recruiting passengers. This 7:45 bus is the one I wanted to take. Expected arrival at 10am. My flight is at 2pm. Enough buffer. The only other flight is at 7am.
This is a nice bus. AC, curtains, assigned seats. However, overhead space is narrower. My pack doesn't fit. It's comfortable. I fell asleep. 10am, I got off in front of the airport. Perfect.
