January 27 Selva Negra
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2009
1
8
26
Trip End
Apr 09, 2009
Matagalpa,
Nicaragua
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The bus moved ridiculously slow as it climbed into the mountains, and we were all pretty sure we could jog faster. We got off at the tank, as the guy at the museum directed us to do. I was looking for a water tank but apparently it was a military tank we were looking for.
We walked the 1.5km into the plantation and paid 25c ($1.25) each to get in. It was well worth it as that allowed us to walk a number of trails in the very beautiful cloud forest above the plantation. We had some breakfast and sampled famous Nicaraguan coffee, which Joseph found bitter but I liked once it was mixed with milk and sugar.
We climbed up very high to where we could see the whole city of Matagalpa. Once high enough we could actually see the clouds surrounding us. We were searching for the supposedly ubiquitous howler monkeys but never saw a one. We did, however, hear their very eerie screaming echo through the jungle from time to time.
Right about when we started to descend, a downpour started that made our trip down nice and muddy. I fell down a few times and Andrea walked the whole way with an interesting cagefighter stance.
The whole trip was a lot of fun and the cloud forest was beautiful. We walked back to the highway and the bus headed home showed up just as we did. We found another nice cafe in Matagalpa and had a good dinner, with icecream for dessert.
Another perfect day in Matagalpa and the surrounding area.
