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Published: January 29th 2011
Our first morning in Nicaragua we had cereal from the supermarket for brekky (Dario kindly went out and bought some while I woke up). Then we headed to the main reason we were in Esteli, to see the Mothers of the martyrs museum. It is run by the mothers of those who died in the revolution here in Nicaragua in the late 1970´s. First we went to a smaller museum with a room full of artefacts from thousands of years of history as well as more recent history. The martyrs museum was special, with photoghraphs of all the fighters for the revolution who died, including babies and children. Probably about a third of the fighters were women. There were a lot of little stories of how people died or particular battles with lots of details. It was very interesting and Dario had a short chat with one of the mothers who was volunteering that day. The museum relies on donations as they all volunteer their time, so we did give a donation of course.
That afternoon we took a bus to Jintoega. A small town up in the mountains. we arrived late afternoon and found a hotel for the night
called hotelito, a woman and her sons run it, very security conscious, everytime we left, no matter what time of day we had to ring a bell to get back into the complex. Around the corner we found a restaurant called Soda El Tico... we ended up eating every single meal for 2 days there. They serve buffet style or a la carte with all tipical food you will find in nicaragua. My favourite meal (I had it twice) was the steak with all the tipical bits attached, tortillas, rice with frijoles, fried cheese and salad! The steak was cooked perfectly in a very yummy sauce! Unfrotunately though Darío got pretty sick just after we arrived and we stayed there an extra night, so instead of one night we stayed for 2. The reason we came here was that it is a pretty town, but there is also a mural and other revolutionary attractions, all of which were pretty minimal and disappointing unfortunately. So there wasnt much to do either. We left after 2 nights on an early bus to Matagalpa. One of the prettiest routes you can do through the hillside. It was very pretty, lots of high peaks
and clouds and all covered in green. Matagalpa is larger than Jinotega but still not huge, it lies in a small valley up in the hills. we liked it instantly, it has a colonial type feel to it, lots of bright coloured buildings. We stayed in a cheap hotel, 200C called Hotel Bermúdez, a lovely woman runs it.
We walked from the bus station to Café girasol to get some information. We bought some refreshments and a map of one of the walks they advertise, all self done but you do need maps so they sell them with very specific instructions so you dont get lost. (Maps were very cheap, maybe 50cents. Then found our hotel. We wandered the town a bit and just down from the hotel we found an italian restaurant. I had the best Calzone i have every eaten and Dario had a very good pizza, but what was great was we had an appetizer plate full of ymmy hams, cheeses, olives and bread! Best dinner for a while! followed by a few glasses of red wine to top it off, and ice cream from Eskimo icecreamery down the road! (would explain why we havent lost
any weight lol). Next morning we wokeup reluctantly as the whole night we were constantly being woken up by trucks and motorbikes or people going past our window! It was saturday night and everyone was out!
We changed our room to one that only backs onto the courtyard of the house. We had a great breakfast at one of the only cafe´s that was open on Sunday morning, amazing crepes with dulce de leche and good smoothies, then the sun started to shine and we went for our walk around one of the hills behind Matagalpa. A 4 hour ordeal, in the middle of the day! it was very very hot! but it was worth the views! It ends right above the town on a lookout point that was a strategic hill in the revolution so is a popular spot for people to go to. Then the walk continues down the hill into the town, the view was pretty spectacular! That afternoon/early evening, after a cold shower, we again went and had some yummy pizzas for dinner with another appetizer plate. We had heard about Chocolate factory tours but everything in Matagalpa that we wanted to see or book
(including museums) are all shut on the weekends.
Next morning we went to Matagalpa tours and found the tour we wanted. We had breakfast at a typical restaurant while thinking about doing the factory on our own and decided it was worth the money to have a guide so went back and booked it. We walked around the town all morning seeing the museums we had missed on the weekend etc and at 2pm went to the chocolate factory tour. Our guide was very good and did it all in slow spanish for my benefit (he speaks fluent engligh though) and i understood most of it. The place is called Castillo de Chocolate. The owner is from Holland and 5 years ago actually built a small castle which is the factory. 3 women work the factory, each day they make a different type of chocolate as there is only one machine to mix it in. The cocoa is organic and they showed us the whole process from collecting seed pods, cracking them open, pulling out the seeds then getting rid of the husks. They crush them and mix them into a kind of spread before mixing the sugar in.
Basically they dont add anything to it that isnt necassary. They do have a few flavours that we got to try, including orange and rum. We bought some chocolate from the giftshop at the end of the tour, but I dont like it very much, it is very dry and not sweet enough for my liking, but a good tour. That afternoon I had a nap and Dario had intended on doing some research out in the common area but ended up talking for an hour with the owner and 2 of her friends, one of whom was the wife of the local pastor. I woke up and went and said hello and immediately everyone was very nice and so welcoming, its a common thing here.
For dinner we went to a new place, a popular buffet restaurant that lots of locals go to. It was pretty yummy! and cheaper than usual. More icecream was had before we went and collapsed again into bed because we had planned an early morning ahead of us.
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