Time Flies

Really time does fly when you´re having fun. We can´t believe our trip is more than half over! Also can´t believe how long it has been since we´ve posted an update on our blog. Unfortunately, the farther north we get, the more difficult it has become to access a computer with internet (most places have wifi, but typing lots of stuff on our iphone stinks). Soo... where to begin. Chris left off on our adventures at Rancho Tranquilo on the black sand beaches of Jiliquilo in Northern Nic... which was amazing and relaxing, but also hot. very hot. We were ready to get to the highlands.

We checked out of Tina´s place on Wednesday April 13 and hopped on a bus headed to Chinendega and then onwar to the town of Matalgalpa located in Nicaragua coffee country. We were excited to get out of the heat and ready to hike in the cool highlands in the area.

As usual, our trip took longer than expected. We had to spend about four hours in Chinendega which seems like an eternity in an town thats main attraction is a couple of delapitated churches, a Pizza parlor and a gigantic hot market place that sells knock-off name-brand clothing.

After our long stop over, we finally got on our bus to Matagalpa. The ride was beautiful.... rolling green hills and lush farm land with more white herons and egrets flying around than we had ever seen. Unfortunately, we didn´t arrive in Matalgalpa until around 8;30 at night, which is never fun when you´re in a city with no place to stay. Luckily the bus station was close to the center of town and we were able to find a clean, safe hotel in a nice area for $15. Good deal! We grabbed a bite to eat, and had ourselves a first taste of Flor de Cana rum. Now, we are not rum drinkers, but WOW. Amazing. After our rum night cap, we hit the hay to get ready for our big day of hiking.

We woke up early the next morning and were welcomed by cool mountain air, a bustling and colorful town square, and delicious strong, local coffee. Mmmm... we liked Matagalpa.

We decided to take a chicken bus up the road into the mountains to a German owned coffee plantation, Selva Negra, that had been in the area since 1880... the bus ride was easy and cheap... and entrance to the park was two dollars a piece. We had looked into the same hike that was done with a tour group and they wanted to charge $47!! HA! We paid a total of $4!

The place was surreal. We felt like we had been transported to Europe or a little village in the Rocky Mountains... definitely did not feel like Nicaragua... until we saw the spider monkeys!

We hiked for about two hours and enjoyed a nice picnic lunch at a view point that overlooked the city. When we hiked down we treated ourselves to a like side Tona at the quaint Europe lodge. Perfect day. That night we enjoyed a little too much Flor de Cana and felt that we needed to do another hike to make ourselves feel better. The hiking trail we wanted to go on was apparently not very scenic during the dry season, so we did Selva Negra round two. Just as good as the first time. We made our way down on another local bus and when we got back to town we decided to stroll around, take pictures off life going on as usual in Maltagalpa. It was a really lovely town, and people were always friendly.... funny people in the area were very big on fashion and makeup. Girls always wore make up and everyone wore knock-off brand name clothes like Tommy Hillfiger, Hollister and Abercrombie. Kinda made us feel under-dressed in our grubby backpacker clothes!

We made it an early night our last night in Matagalpa. We were leaving for Esteli early in the morning, and though it was to be an easy trip, things sometimes do not go as planned on travel days.

We got to the bus station right on time at ten to catch our bus on Saturday April 16. It was an easy ride, thankfully. We arrived to dusty, flat hot Esteli right on time at a little afternoon. We walked the mile into town rather than catch a cab, which was pretty unpleasant, but manageable, plus we saved, like TWO bucks. hehe.

We made it to the center of town and found a nice little hotel where we found a room with a private bath for $20. Great deal!

We were not too impressed with Esteli. It was hot. It was dirty and big and did not feel that special, but I guess it is not really fair to judge a place based on one days, so maybe we were missing something. However the entire reason we were in Esteli was to meet up with our awesome Norwegian buddies, Hege and Bjornar. We had not seen them since Costa Rica so we were excited to see what they had been up to in the past couple months.

We met up with them at a local Cuban restaurant that night. We also met their friend Ilva who was a Norwegian preschool teacher who participating in an exchange program that Norway has with Nicaragua. Neat!

We drank beers, ate delicious Cuban food and laughed our faces off. After dinner, our Norse friends invited us over to another Norwegian couple´s house. Andre and Miriam were part of the exchange program as well. We made our way through the dark and a little bit frightening streets of Esteli to the couples welcoming home. The house had an amazing little courtyard and the couple had little candles, were playing music and had a bunch of bottles of wine cracked. The Norwegians know how to have a good time!

We drank good wine, the guys smoked a ridiculous amount of cigars, and most importantly, we learned about the PARTY Swed! Hilarious. I will post pictures soon of Chris wearing the party Swed wig.

We really have not stayed out late EVER on this trip, so when we looked at our watches and saw it was past midnight, Chris and I panicked! We didn´t know how we were getting back to the hotel... well, our awesome Norwegian hosts said they´d gladly call a cab, however... some mentioned Cigar Zone, apparently the hottest red-rope club in all of Nicaragua. Well, for some reason, everyone decided it was a great idea to pile in a cab and head to the club. I was wearing hiking pants, a tee shirt and flip flops, not exactly red rope attire, but we said what the hell, let´s go.

Sooo... we take a 30 minute cab ride to Cigar Zone and it´s decided we have to go VIP style. Chris and I realize we have a total of 20 dollars and it cost 10 dollars each just to get in! Everyone pitched in for us and said we could pay them back. Let me tell you, they do VIP right in Esteli. We had a big bottle of rum, some sode and limes, our own private area with a view of the dance floor, and the guys could smoke cigars to their hearts content.

It only took a little ron for us to get out on the dance floor and make asses of ourselves.. funny enough no one gave us a second look even though they were dressed to the nines, like anyone else at a red rope club.

We managed to stay out until 4 a.m., which is completely out of character for us, but it was worth every second. We loved hanging out with our Norwegian friends and will never forget our time at a red-rope club in Nicaragua... hell, it might be the last red-rope fancy club I ever visit!

OK... so obviously we felt pretty crappy on Sunday morning. Magically we managed to wake up at 9 a.m. and have some coffee and pack up. We headed over to Ilva´s house to say good bye to Hege, Bjornar and to rehash the events of the previous night.... fun was had by all was the general consensus!

Chris and I regrouped, and head to the bus station to catch a bus to Somoto on the northern border of Nicaragua and Honduras. We planned on spending a couple days in Somoto. Our main goal was to visit the canyon, which was supposed to be spectacular. Shockingly it was discovered by scientists until 1994, which seems weird because it is a HUGE canyon!

I will leave you there for now. Other people are waiting for the computer at the hostel. We will up date on our adventures at Somoto, Copan Ruinas, and Flores. Right now, we are preparing for a big hike into the jungle to see some hidden ruins. Amazing!!!