why i love nicaragua, a list

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Um, how is Matagalpa not a choice for a Region of Nica on travelblog?

So I am in Matagalpa to celebrate another PCV´s 27th birthday.

- It´s nice to have someone else who didn´t just graduate college and is as old as I am, even though there are three of us between 26-28 years old.

- Matagalpa is a very cool city and I hope to visit here every couple of months. It´s very hilly and hip and SanFranesque... but Nicaraguan.

- There are a million and a half coffee co-ops on the road from Sébaco to Matagalpa. I mean millions of pounds of coffee out drying on miles worth of black plastic. It is an amazing site, on both sides of the hiway.

- Regarding my goals of learning about coffee.... I am learning about coffee on a small, family sized basis. For instance, Mita has quintales - 100 pound sacks - of dried coffee berries. Every few days we take out a couple of pounds and grind the dry berries in a hole in a rock in the front yard. With a big pestle. Pound the dry berries and get the beans. Then Mita seperates the chaff from the beans, takes them inside and she puts them in a big cast iron pot, next to the pot of red beans, and she roasts the coffee beans. Each pound of beans requires about an hour of roasting. So she constantly stirs and turns the beans as they roast. Once they´re roasted and cool, she puts them in a bucket and I walk the bucket to the molino, the gas powered mill. And they take the roasted beans, put them through the mill, and ground coffee comes out. I take it home and Mita puts it into little bags and sells it for 2 cords each bag. Or 10 cents each bag.

From the bush to the venta. Nicaraguan style.

- It is nice to be with Volunteers and speak English. More specifically, it is nice to be with MY volunteers, my group, Ag48.

- More later about... what a great day of travelling I had on the busses and in the taxis on my way here and why I feel good about my Spanish and about Nica in general....

- And how every Nican I talk to wants to congratulate me on Obama and talk about how happy they are with his plans to close Gitmo.

- Now it is time to go tour a chocolate factory! Imagine! A CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

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Comments

[Mom]

Hi, Sat. PM!
So glad that you're enjoying your time away from your site! Birthday wishes to your friend. Sheryl has officially retired from the PO now; had her "congrats" dinner @ Applebee's this evening. SUPER turn-out!! COLD here....like, 14*! Got a little snow last night, so pretty on the route today! Love you! Thanks and more later!! xoxoxo