1/10-1/12-2012 Ocotal and Neuvo Segovia ' We´re Past the halfway point

Claudia (lower right) with her three children plus Pauline & Catherine on our last evening at their home

Another longer than expected bus ride as we grabbed the local bus for Ocotal that was jam packed and we didn´t sit down for over an hour of the over 2 hour bus ride north. Joanie had a long conversation with an LDS missionary from Nevada and I continued it later. Joanie sat down and the guy who had borrowed my water bottle to swallow a pill turned out to know the CouchSurfer we were headed up to stay with, Claudia. He worked at a coffee finca a ways north of Ocotal. He was able to call her and have her call her husband to come and guide our taxi to their home. On the bus ride, we came over one ridge, down into the next valley and then rose even higher. We were on the Pan American Hwy that continues north to Honduras and Guatemala which we will be following when we leave here.

Ocotal was the center of the revolutionary Sandino first great victory in 1927 as he ousted the federales. The White House didn´t like this one bit and Ocotal was bombed by the first fighter plane assault in history. Sandino and ¨his crazy little army¨hightailed it into the mountains and began a guerilla war that would eventually put them back in control. The area, Neuvo Segovia, is one of the most beautiful in Nicaragua and the highway rises above 4000 feet before it crosses into Honduras.

We are now past the middle of our 8 week journey and are enjoying the hospitality (and free rent) of our hosts. Two young French-Canadian women - Catherine and Pauline - have been here awhile and we got to listen to their most unfortunate experience being kidnapped and robbed in Managua a week or so ago. They managed to make it to the safety of Claudia´s CouchSurfer home away from home and have been healing their PTSD. We are all sharing buying food for dinner, playing with the kids and planning our time.

kitchen

Hector, Jr.

Nicole loved learning "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in English

                                                           

Kevin was our tour guide upon occasion

Ocotal

shower (behind pink curtain)

Couchsurfers Map on their wall

Backyard

We decided to join them the next morning on a tour of a coffee finca at the 3600 foot level.  We got driven up there by the foreman whose family owns several fincas who showed us the operation and gave us a chance to pick beans for awhile.


 

 

 Joanie approached the elder man of the family while they sat in their kitchen and asked the women for a bite to eat. They fed us tortillas, spaghetti and beans and provided delicious hot, sweet coffee. The road was incredibly steep, but the Toyota LandCruiser made it with close to 30 pickers in the back.

 After we returned, we washed clothes and walked to the Parque Central which is considered the most beautiful (and clean) one in all of Nicaragua.

Tomorrow, we plan to spend the day in Somoto Canyon. Check it out on the internet! It sounds amazing!