Esteli and Miraflor

Months ago we took a trip up north to visit the highland areas of Esteli, Matagalpa and Jinotega.  Its an absolutely gorgeous area of the country with mountains, cool temperatures, and a different vibe than Granada.  I absolutely fell in love and would like to move up there (to either Esteli or Matagalpa).  If we decide to stay in Nicaragua, its definitely a possibility.  In addition to the beauty and the weather, the areas are not tourist hubs so it feels more "Nicaraguan" to me.  The areas are also known for growing tobacco (think cigars) and coffee, so have traditionally been wealthier than some of the other parts of the country. 

We rented a car and drove first to Esteli where we spent one night.  The drive there was a bit treacherous as it is up windy, mountain roads, it was raining, and we were behind an insane semi, that was passing vehicles in a very unsafe and illegal manner. We actually saw him try to pass, crash into a pickup truck, and then proceed to drive away.  We saw everyone get safely out of the pick-up thankfully, and then amazingly enough, saw the police pull the semi over, over an hour away in the city of Esteli. The whole thing definitely rattled us, but gave us some sense of security that the police actually got the guy.

It rained the whole first afternoon and evening we were in Esteli, so we didn't get to do much, but we did get some sun the next morning to walk around the town a bit.  Esteli apparently has one of the best universities in Nicaragua, so there are a lot of college students, cafes, and nightlife (not that we could confirm the nightlife). 

Ice cream to the rescue on a rainy day.



Many of the central parks we've seen on our travels have a monument to mothers. 
Its very interesting to see such reverence to mothers.

The cathedral.

Gigantic papaya.

Painted pigs and hens for sale.

Isabel driving a Ferrari through the central plaza.

 

After walking through Esteli in the morning, we headed over to Miraflor nature reserve to spend a night on a finca (farm).  The road inside the reserve is all dirt, and we had been told it is best to have a 4x4, especially during the rains.  Well 4x4 vehicles are about quadruple the price of a regular sedan and the rains had just started (and we figured it wouldn't be so bad), so we opted to go without the 4x4.  Not a good decision.  Despite having to inch around an overturned sand truck, we made it to our destination in one piece, but had to drive very slowly and undoubtedly scratched up the underside of the car pretty badly.  It was well worth it however as the views were phenomenal and our time on the finca was lovely.  We were the only guests and were in the middle of nature, with not much more than the rustic cabin, the farm animals, and our flashlights.  We took a hike in the afternoon and a long horseback ride to a waterfall the next morning.  It was gorgeous and so peaceful.  The only people we saw were on horseback or walking, and it was few and far in between that we actually saw anyone.  It was also really cold in the night and morning(which we loved!), but with no hot water, trying to shower Isabel was not a fun experience.  Her screams competed with the sounds of the forest creatures for sure.  All in all, I would definitely go back and would like to stay longer.  Next time however, we have to have the 4x4.

Raul checking out the overturned dump truck to see if they need
help and to see if we could make it around.

Our next roadblock was this large herd of cows.  This is not uncommon however,
and can even be encountered in Granada occasionally.

View of Miraflor from the top of the road.

Bundled up, mud boots on, and ready for our hike.

Our cabin, complete with horse grazing in the front yard.

At the waterfall that we arrived at by horseback.

Our horses.  Isabel moved between the three of us.

La Hipica

Since the last post was on horses, I thought I'd continue with the theme and write the long-overdue post on the "Hipica" parade here in Granada.  It happened back in early/mid-August, and was a whole day event where people from all over Nicaragua come to watch the "dancing horses" of Granada parade through the streets and where folks party until all hours of the morning.  Apparently the origins of the Hipica are religious and it is another way to honor the Immaculate Conception of Mary (we did not observe anything religious throughout the day).  Various towns throughout the country have their own hipica celebrations, but apparently Granada's is the best and most well known.

Streets throughout town are blocked off and big grandstands are set up so that people can watch the parade of horses go by. There are also "sponsored" grandstands that you must pay to get into, but you get some ridiculous amount of alcohol for your fee.  Its also possible to just stand on the street and watch them, which is what we did.  The horses are all groomed and many of the riders are dressed up as well.  The horses have a special gait/trot that they do and it appears that they are dancing (video below).  People start drinking very early (including those riding the horses) and continue celebrating the whole day. 

The parade started out by the baseball stadium on the edge of town and we went out there to see some of the horses being prepped (without all of the crowds) and also to people watch the folks gathering and drinking ahead of the parade. The people were friendly, and one guy even let Isabel sit on one of the horses.

Haulin' the horses in to get them ready.  Very few horse trailers here, they
just put them in the back of large trucks.
 

Another truck, and also the women carrying their food stands.

A cowboy drinking his beer, hanging out in the shade.

He just finished painting the hooves of this horse--a nice
pedicure before the parade.

Back in town, once the parade started, it was sensory overload.  Very loud music, lots of heat, people everywhere, food and drink everywhere....we found a corner on one of the parade blocks and tried to stay safe, away from drunken men on horses. We were there for maybe an hour, or a bit longer.  I have no idea how long the parade went on for--I believe 4 or 5 hours.  People on the horses would stop to talk to people in the crowd, to get a drink, or to rest. And there were hundreds of horses.  It was certainly an interesting experience, especially for Isabel given her love of horses, but a little too loud and drunk for my aging tastes.  Long after the parade ended, we were still able to sit out on our porch and watch the various horses and riders return from their afternoon/evening of revelry.

Children start riding horses quite young here.

An even younger child riding...

Isabel the Horse Whisperer

I think I've mentioned in previous posts that Isabel has become increasingly obsessed with horses since we've arrived in Nicaragua.  Its morphed from just wanting to ride in the horse and carriages everyday to wanting to ride a actual horse everyday (and of course wanting us to buy her a horse and keep it in the house).   Despite our fears and her young age, we've increasingly let her ride more and more when we have the chance because she just loves it so much.  I think also seeing so many Nicaraguan children riding large horses alone, both with saddle and bareback, and having drunk the "Nicaraguan tranquilo kool-aide" we have relaxed our safety standards and eased our fears.

So, in honor of Isabel's love of horses, I thought I'd dedicate a post to her and the various horse experiences she's had so far.

One of the first rides at the lookout over Laguna de Apoyo.

The same day, after insisting that she ride alone.  They do 5 min rides through the woods.

On a trip to Miraflor Nature Reserve.  We actually rode a couple of hours to a waterfall. 
Much to her dismay, she had to be on one of our horses the whole time (rather than alone). 

Her favorite horse at the finca and on the ride to the waterfall.  It happened to be the one I was
riding so I got the pleasure of her sitting with me most of the trip (not comfortable
if you were wondering).

We went to check out horses before a big horse parade here (future post)
and the guy let her get on for a while.  So friendly here...

One of the horses getting ready for the parade.  His/her mane is braided
so Isabel wanted a picture.

Spent the weekend at a finca in Diriombo and Isabel got her first "lesson".
She now insists she knows how to ride and can go alone.

Don't know if you can see very well, but there were two new foals
 on the finca. Such a cool experience for Isabel.  One was only 8 days old.

Isabel leading the way with her friend Nadia in the saddle.

One of her birthday presents while we were in El Salvador was a
half an hour ride at a stable near Raul's family's house.

Most recently, she got to ride a horse on the beach.  Very thrilling for her
as she had never done that before.

Ometepe Island

Once again I've been very negligent in my blogging duties--my apologies.  I realize that I haven't really posted anything about the various trips we've taken inside Nicaragua so I want to try to catch up on some of those.  Since I loved it so much, I thought I'd start with our trip to Ometepe Island.

When our friends Kelly and Giles were here visiting in July, we rented a 4x4 and travelled to the beach near San Juan del Sur for 4 nights, and then moved on to Ometepe for 2 nights.  Ometepe is an island in Lake Nicaragua (Cocibolco) that has two large volcanoes on it. Concepción is the larger, active, cone-shaped volcano on the northern half of the island, and Maderas is the extinct volcano on the southern half.



The smaller Maderas volcano.

Concepcion Volcano from the ferry.
 

To get to Ometepe you must take a ferry.  It costs about $2/person, plus around $20 for the car. There is one that leaves from Granada port, but it takes about 4-5 hours and riding that long on any boat is in no way appealing to me, especially a small one.  Instead, we drove down to San Jorge (a little more than an hour) and got the ferry from there. There are different carriers--we took the one that has the best reputation for safety and comfort.  The ferry carries vehicles and cargo as well as passengers.  It had three levels and was plenty comfortable, with lovely views.  We all had a great time on the 1 hour crossing (after I took my motion sickness medicine of course).

The ferry docking.

Loading up the ferry.

Me, Kelly, and Isabel.

Giles and Isabel.  You can see Concepcion in the background.

Life on the island feels like its from another time.  It is still pretty undeveloped, though I believe there is electricity reaching most places now, and is absolutely gorgeous. Its just lush and green, full of vegetation. There is only one road that goes around the island (about 3/4 paved) and most locals are on horseback, ox and carts, or bicycles. Everyone is very friendly and happy to converse and assist.  There are a couple small "towns", and 2 ATMs (it might be up to 4 by now). I would love to spend a good chunk of time there.

We drove out to a finca/farm for a hike to see ancient petroglyphs (the oldest on the island dates back to 1000 b.c. apparently), and had the luck to see a bunch of howler monkeys. There were also hundreds of butterflies--it was gorgeous. 

One of the petroglyphs.  I do not remember how old this one is.

Very hard to tell, but there are yellow butterflies all over the place.  Not sure about the cranky face.

We also took a kayak tour on a river.  The river is a ways down the launch point in the lake, and for a variety of reasons, we were not up to kayaking on the strong waters of Lake Nicaragua, so instead rented a motor boat to pull the kayaks and take us close to the river.  The waters were pretty low due to a slow start to the rains, so we had to hike for about 10 mins to get to the river, where a father and two young children were pulling our kayaks from the boat, through the mud, to reach us.  This was truly a new type of child labor that I had not experienced previously, but one that was definitely hazardous to these kids.  Despite this, we got in our kayaks and toured down the river, getting stuck in the mud/low waters fairly frequently, but seeing lots of gorgeous birds and scenery.  They had caimans but we didn't see any unfortunately.  While it was lovely, it was a bit stressful with the mud-sticking and Isabel in front of me trying to steer and wanting off.  Overall, she did a great job though.   

Pulling the kayaks out to the river.

The poor kids that had to haul our kayaks through the mud and plants.

The river

Being hauled back out to the boat on the lake after our kayak tour.

A view of Concepcion on the boat ride back to our car after kayaking. 

One other interesting thing about the island is that the only main road runs right through the middle of its one airstrip.  There were no planes when we were there (I don't think the airport is open yet, just private flights coming in), so we aren't sure how it works.  We drove right through the runway and assume that if a plane is landing or taking off that they would block the road.  It was kinda crazy to drive across it.

 After two short days, we headed back to Granada on the ferry.  I really hope we have the opportunity to visit again before leaving.  It was truly a magical place.

One final photo of the beautiful volcano.