Nicaraguan Adventure - Day 7: Into the wild (1/2/11)

Sign at the entrance to the Miraflor reserve. Beautiful land abounds. 

Get up and have breakfast at the hostel's cafe (Cafe Luz) while talking to some other travelers before going back to our rooms to pack our bags to go to the Miraflor Co-op office (UCA Miraflor) to arrange our tour of the reserve. We cant find the place as my guide book is out of date (now all these places not being where it says they should be  makes sense) and eventually find its new location after asking around, but we were late so no one was there. We return to the hostel and they arrange everything for us (15$pp/night for 3 meals and a place to stay, guides, etc.), which was really nice. We have time until the bus comes to get us, so we go have lunch at white house pizzeria where we split a large (the medium the other day was not sufficient to fill us up). After eating, we grab our bags and head to the bus stop, and get on the completely packed bus (sardines) where we are standing in the middle with our bags on for this 45min ride as there is no alternative. Right next to me, is a drunk dude with a bottle of vodka and a tomato, which he is eating and spitting on the floor right next to my feet – didn't enjoy that too much. We get to our stop, and our guide (Rodolfo) takes us to his cousins place to drop our main bags off as we take our day bags with us as we set off to hike to the waterfalls. Its an ordeal of a hike with us bouldering at some points and heading directly up and down hill sides, which makes us a little hot and sweaty, as the tropics are, but when we get to the falls, the hike is well worth it; the falls are beautiful. 

We made it! Aint that purty!

Inner monologue - I put my feet in, I should swim in it. Yes! I should definitely swim in it.

I have stripped down mostly and the sharp rocks hurt which makes me lose my balance (hence the splash)

Ahhhh yes!!!! Swimming around feels great! 

When we get to the base of the biggest one, we put our feet in before I decide to get in; I strip down to my undies, and then swim around to play in the falling water and enjoy the cool temps and the shade. We get out and get dressed to return. We get back and get our bags before heading up a hill and dropping our bags off at another house before walking up another hill to El Mirador (a place with a nice view). We get to view out over the coffee plantations and its forest land which was beautiful. 

One of the first views we had as we were climbing. Cant wait to get farther above the tree line to take in the real views

You gotta stop and smell the roses (or flowers in this case). Dont remember what these flowers were called but they are bushy and incredibly pretty. So I smelled one.

Another vista! Love it!

Our guide and I stopping to appreciate the view from El Mirador (I believe). How could one not stop with a view like that?

We go back down and continue on our hike where we tried to climb between a barbed wire fence, which didn't go well, until we get to our guide's house and they serve us a lemon; the hugest lemon I have ever seen, cantaloupe size we are talking here. We slice it in half and then squeeze it into our mouths directly which was very delicious and tart. I was wanting to eat it like a grapefruit but I didn't have a spoon. We eventually head to our place for the night and the guide's son goes and picks some veggies from the garden and joins us for the rest of the walk. We get to our place just before dark, and settle into our room. We get our flashlights out and some of the rooms have tiny LED lights for lighting. I decide to take a shower and the water is cold (no water heater) – electricity up here in general is minimal. Coming back to the house from the shower, I realized that there are soooo many stars out as there is no light pollution here; I am always amazed out in the country when you see just how beautiful the sky is without city lights drowning them out. After a delicious dinner of gallo pinto (a common dish which seems to just be rice and beans), some salty blocked cheese, some kind of empanada, a veggie salad, and some corn meal mix thing. It was really good. After eating, everyone sits around and talks (I do more listening as my proficiency is not at their level). Out of nowhere (at least to me) the dad leaves, comes back with a guitar, and one of his daughters and him play and sing for a little bit and she has a beautiful voice. After realizing that they were good, me and L go get our cameras as we want records of this. They lived in the La Labransa region of Miraflor. Such a great family. After the concert, we head to bed.

This was the next morning but this is the family we stayed with the first night with all of us in front of the house. Great food and entertainment. This first day by itself made the trip. What more can be in store?