We barely missed the microbus to Esteli (es-stay-lee) and ended up on two local buses that took 3 hours to get there. We had not really eaten all day. We were foggy as we talked with Juanita Boyd at Hospedaje Luna, about arranging homestays in Miraflor, an amazingly beautiful area of fincas (farms), trails, and marvelous people. So we went off to have dinner at Cubanitos which didn´t hold a candle to Portland´s Cuban restaurant, but was satisfying enough. We put together a plan at dinner which was immediately shot down by it´s impractical nature, e.g. no buses where we wanted to start on Sunday. But we had given Juanita enough info for her to figure out what we wanted. She created a great itinerary for us - breakfast with one family, a bird-watching tour, homestay with a family on the highest level of the first area, early morning the next day on a bus to meet a guide with horses to go across to the second level to explore by horse, a homestay with the elders of the community and an early morning busride back to Esteli. We were so glad to put our giant backpacks in storage at Cafe Luz for the duration of our homestays and just to take our smaller backpacks filled with warm clothing for the highlands.
Next day it was up at 4:30 AM after a worry-filled night on my part or was it the Cafe Cubano!?! We got to the bus stop in plenty of time and headed up to Coyolito where we had breakfast after which our first guide, Nelson, came by to take us down to the waterfall. This is the lowest area at about 2400 feet so it´s the warmest. There was a light rain falling off and on so it was cool. Nelson had binoculars and another guide shared a bird book with us and we soon had identified dozens of beautiful birds. We landed at a 90 foot waterfall and, with his okay, stripped and jumped into the pool. The temperature was perfect for us Oregonians, but frio (cold) for these folks and Nelson was quite impressed. The hike back was quick and we picked up our day packs before hiking up to the upper reaches of the lower area where Nelson & Lorrane's home was. (His extended family lives on the surrounding land in separate fincas. Nelson´s original home was destroyed by a landslide during Hurricane Mitch.) Nelson's current home is paradise - flower-lined entrance, spotless home, orchards, cows, 2 rooms for homestays with our own outhouse and a sink just up the path to use after.
After lunch we hiked up even higher to a marvelous viewpoint of the entire valley. The clouds descended and the rain began, but it was still light and warm enough to not be bothersome without our rain jackets. A Dutch woman had joined us at lunch so we were now a foursome. That evening the rain came down heavily and Nelson joked that tomorrow it would rain where we were headed (the middle level) and so we should stay with him. But we had momentum and someone would be meeting us with horses for the trek across the California-like slopes to Sontule. Nelson pulled out his guitar and played some gorgeous tunes. He had played since he was 12 and once had been part of a professional group. Joanie shared This Land is Your Land on guitar as well.
Another early morning wake up and rocky bus ride up a few more kilometers to El Tererro. Our guide, Uriel Peres, met us with Pako and Mira, two gentle horses for our journey. Uriel is 20 years old and has learned an amazing amount of English in only 3 months. He graduates this year with a degree in agriculture production. He is a very sweet guy. He promised an amazing view so I didn´t get any photos but we saw some lovely spots and rose up into a pine forest that had 20 foot long sprays of Spanish moss hanging just above our heads. We had breakfast with Dona Lucia, an elder who has a marvelous garden of both vegetables and medicinal plants. Dona Lucia hugged us warmly when we entered her home. Afterwards, Uriel did indeed take us to an amazing viewpoint - Ventolera (Windy Viewpoint) (Oh damn, wish I could post pictures right now.) We returned the way we came and along the rocky, muddy trail I noted a wad of bills on the ground. I called to Uriel who dismounted and came back. Turned out he´d dropped a wad of 100 Cordoba bills (around $9) when he´d pulled out his cell phone. Glad to have prevented the loss of what would have been much much more than the $12 bucks he made off us that day. Before lunch, he toured us in a big circle around Sontule, great views and productive fincas. He was called in for a meeting in Esteli for the guides so we didn´t get to ride up to the highest level that afternoon. I was considering begging off on that anyway, as we´d already been in the saddle for close to 5 hours and I knew we´d be paying dearly for it in the coming days! (Not too bad though in hindsight.) We were both quite sore and it was good to relax for the afternoon. Uriel said that sites up higher would be the same.
So we spent the afternoon with Dona Lucia, drew water from the well and had a bucket bath, checked out the gardens, laid out in the hammocks, watched some boys playing baseball, and greeted her husband, Don Rogelio, when he returned from town. The evening was another marvelous time with these incredily beautiful people. Dona Lucia gives a special twist to flavors in her cooking and always there was something extra with the rice, beans, and tortillas, like fresh fruit compote or deep fried sweet plantains. Soon the house was full of young people buzzing with conversation and music. Joanie serenaded Dona Lucia and I joined in with ¨This Land is Your Land¨- a repeat performance of our ¨concert at the Playa¨ and at Nelson´s. Everyone seems to have a role and is fully accepted in this community. There was a young man who could not hear or speak who was able to have a conversation with us via gestures. Another was developementally delayed and he was always around the house helping out with chores. We couldn´t tell who was a family member and who was not. I guess they were all part of the extended amily. A lovely young woman from Columbia University who was doing research on bird problems in the area spent time with us and the family and helped us have deeper conversations by translating.
Next morning we were up with the sun for a light breakfast. Joanie and I joined Don Rogelio with the milking of the cows and we had the freshest of leche to add to our coffee. The bus started honking from up the road, so we bid our hosts goodbye and walked out to the road to meet it. The road was much smoother on this side of Miraflor so we didn´t bounce around as much. We decided to tour Esteli for an hour or so, grab some lunch, repack our giant backpacks and catch the bus for Ocotal. Got a few souvenirs in the process.
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