Roger, a native Nicaraguan, met us at the hotel & joined us for our trip about 3 hours away to La Reina. (Juan Carlos didn’t really explain why; just said that they take an extra person when they go to the country.) La Reina is a village of about 700 people but seemed much smaller. The ladies of the Danilo Gonzales Cooperative made us lunch of rice, beans, BBQ chicken & juice. Very good! After lunch, we got to explore the Community on our own for a little while before hiking through the coffee plantation. Nilda taught Coffee Growing 101 on the way. Then she took us for sprint up the side of the mountain to their lookout point. I had no idea I had signed up for Mountain Climbing! It about killed me but the view was awesome. I wasn’t sure if the lookout had been constructed during one of the wars, but Nilda told us the Community had constructed for their Eco Tourism business – if you want a unique vacation, this is it! We saw howler monkeys & some really beautiful, colorful birds – it would be kind of like living in a zoo. It’s the dry season right now, so things are kind of brown; it would be prettier at a different time of the year. After staying up at the top of the mountain & enjoying the beautiful view for awhile (& catching my breath), we ran back down the same steep mountain.
(This is a view from the Lookout down onto the Community.)
(Ocho y Cindy in the lookout. Lookout!)When we returned to the Community, we were handed off to our families for the night. Our family lived up another hill. At this point, I was really wishing I had visited the Wellness Center faithfully before we left. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time!
Our hostess was Jarharlin & family. Her mother is Maximina but we didn’t catch her dad’s name. She has five sisters, one brother and the tiniest three week old baby I have ever seen! From what Rach picked up, she graduated at or near the top of her class and is currently studying to be a nurse. She takes classes in San Ramone on Saturdays. I asked Juan Carlos later if Nursing was a good profession in Nicaragua. He said it really wasn’t – neither is teaching and neither pay very well. I guess teaching doesn’t surprise me so much but nursing did – that’s typically a pretty good job in the States.
Maxima seemed more involved in the Coffee business & Dad had more to say about current events. They both voiced seeing some positive changes with the new administration (the literacy campaign & healthcare) but there are still some concerns. One reference we heard from different groups was ‘pinata politics’. The definition is politics where everyone might get something but a few will get a lot…then run. That’s been the pattern with some of the past leaders so I guess I don’t blame the people for being suspicious. Dad had questions for us about Obama, too – I was taken a little off guard that they’d follow our politics but I suppose that’s fair. Considering there’s virtually no electricity & nothing to do with it anyway, we were up pretty late – it was all of 8:00 pm when we excused ourselves to bed!
Our accommodations were much better than two years ago when Rach was there before but pretty rough by US standards. We slept in their guesthouse which is a cement block structure, similar to a bathhouse at a campground, with a common room in the middle and a bedroom on either end. Each bedroom was approximately 8x10 (?), the common room may have been a bit bigger (but I’m a bad judge). Our bedroom had two single beds, each with their own mosquito net! Mine had some holes but it was better than nothing. My mattress was the better of the two – it was all of 2” thick laid on top of a sheet of solid plywood (very firm!). The pillows were about the same as the mattress. Again, not quite US standards but way better than sleeping on the ground (think camping, think camping!).
(Our bedroom in the country)
Our private bath was right outside our bedroom door and consisted of a flushing toilet, a shower stall and a five gallon bucket filled with water. There was no showerhead & Jarharlin was sure to point out the water in the bucket so I’m not sure exactly what we were supposed to do. Rach braved the shower Wednesday morning but I just couldn’t do it – I had brought some Wet Ones & just toweled up with them. We used to camp in some pretty rustic places – guess I’ve gotten soft in my old age.
After we finished our job, we hiked back down the hill to explore again a little, then more mountain climbing to their water source. (Whose idea was this anyway?!) Their water source was a big cement tank that filled with rain water & supplies water to three different communities down the hill. As tough as it was to hike my fat fanny up the hill, I was thankful I wasn’t carrying a bag or bucket of concrete with me! I’m not sure how that tank got there….On the way back down, we stopped at the reservoir that holds the water used to wash the coffee. They drain this each year & clean it, then let the rain water fill it back up again. This is also a hot spot for a little afternoon delight for young couples & kids (hopefully not at the same time). They keep turtles in here to help keep it clean. Part of the yearly draining & cleaning process is to find a temporary home for the turtles. They take them to one of the surrounding lakes or rivers but hadn’t decided which one yet.
Lunch was waiting for us when we got back from our hike – beans, rice & fried chicken – the chicken was REALLY good!!
After lunch, we loaded back up in the van & traveled to Secocafen (the Dry Mill). We got the tour, bought some coffee roasted especially for us & did a ‘cupping’. That was a unique experience! I picked the same coffee as the expert but he did a better job of explaining why he liked that one better. Workers in the Dry Mill make minimum wage – about 90 cordobas ($4.50 US) for an eight hour day. They work a six day workweek but not all year long (I think they said about 9 months max). This is roughly the same at the maquilla we visited on Monday so must be pretty standard.
We loaded back up in the Van for the ride back to Managua. We arrived back in town just in time to get stuck in traffic. Rachel read in the paper the next morning that Ortega was at the airport so they blocked traffic in front of it. Sounded like he took a helicopter anyway, so I’m not sure why traffic was stopped. As we waited in traffic, we noticed some guys on either side of the street wearing bright pink shirts. Apparently these are part of Ortega’s security force. We stayed in the van & behaved ourselves!
We continued on to the Casa San Juan & arrived in time for steak, rice, beans & veggies. Boy, did that meal hit the spot! We hadn’t eaten beef all week. After supper & a couple beers, I hit the shower, which was fabulous!! Then off to bed.
Sweet dreams everyone!
