Nicaragua

We got into Nicaragua a few days ago after spending a night in Tegucigalpa where for multiple hours in the evening it sounded like war outside. Luckily this was all coming from the chaos of the El Salvador vs Honduras soccer game being projected in many of the streets (although in the 60´s these two countries did more or less started a war over a soccer game). There were fireworks constantly going off resembling gunfire, police cars putting their sirens on for goals scored, and regular screams and yells. But, all was well. The city was calm once again in the morning and with chocolate milk and baleadas (tortillas with beans and cheese- Zoe´s favorite that we can´t find in Nica) we headed over the border.

We have spent the last few days hopping between cozy little mountain towns and have been blessed with semi-cool weather for a change. So far we have hit Somoto, Esteli and now Mataglapa. All of them are nestled in valleys and are surrounded by coffee fincas and modest houses and farms with animals roaming.

Somoto greeted us with their renowned rosquillas (cookieish biscuits) and our first taste of obnoxious Nicaraguan men. We escaped the men one day to the nearby canyon though, with a chatty and always smiling older man who was our guide. On our way down the the canyon we started a small collection of crystals and rocks torn up from a river bed. At the entrance of the canyon we hopped along river rocks until we had to swim and tow our stuff in a baby sized inflatable boat. The canyon walls were stunning as plants and vines dangled down everywhere. After gazing, splashing our way down, munching on lunch, and discovering a spider the size of my hand we headed home.

In Esteli we wandered to a waterfall with a women we met in our hotel and swam in the first water in all of central america that I might be able to call cold. While there we watched a few guys rappel down the fall and drop into the pool, which I was quite jealous off. On the way home we caught a pick up and a teenage girl chatted to us most of the way back which was a first.

Today was more or less our first day in Matagalpa. A striking thing hit us immediately yesterday though. We were walking into a park and we spotted a row of four waste bins painted four distinctly different colors provoking the thought ¨why have four separate cans and why different colors?¨ Turns out, they not only have garbage cans here, but they have compost and recycling too! I would go on to call this revolutionary for central america but the cans are not really used and the waste is clearly not sorted. This morning we got up and did some real exploring of the area with a self guided walk pamphlet. There were many directions that talked about fences and rock fields leaving us hoping that we would end up at home tonight, and we did. We walked through the surrounding hills passing many cows, chickens, and roosters. I made many attempts to make friends with them all, as Zoe could contest. We checked out a little pottery workshop in the hill and got some great views of Mataglapa. As for the next few days, we have plans to check out some coffee fincas and a chocolate factory.