Into the Cloud Forest

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013--Matagalpa to Jinotega

This morning, I took a bus ride that had been highly recommended in my guidebook.  From Matagalpa, the bus climbs and climbs as it twists and winds on its way to Jinotega.  The vegetation changes.  The air gets much cooler.  On most maps, this is not shown as a major highway.  Today, it is newly paved, but probably just a few years ago it was a much slower and much more exciting trip on a more narrow and unpaved roadway.  I snapped photos, often JUST missing the view I wanted to save. I watched the local people get on and off the bus.  I noticed that the trunks and branches of the trees began to be almost completely covered with bromeliads.  We whizzed past beautiful roadside stands with fantastic arrangements of flowers and vegetables for sale. Then we came over the mountaintops, and there was an elongated Jinotega in the valley ahead of us.

The city is considered to be in the "cloud forests."  That refers to the fact that the clouds hover over the mountaintops leaving the forests in fog or mist.  Like I mentioned about Matagalpa, it is apparently quite common for there to be mist in the air even when there is sunshine.  Today, however, the skies have been dry and clear.

I panicked when we first arrived.  The driver's assistant had been putting goods on top of the bus, and I thought my bag was going there.  It wasn't placed INSIDE the bus, so the roof is typically the only alternative on these old USA school buses.  The assistant was helping a man who was picking up a milk can.  Then I thought he just somewhat ignored and/or brushed me aside and he went to the left of the bus.  I climbed up the ladder to look on the roof, and my bag wasn't there.  I looked inside the back door again, and it wasn't there either.  I rushed in the direction of where the assistant had gone, and there was my bag setting on the ground beside an open door going under the bus.  What a relief!!  But I had never seen such a compartment on an old school bus before.

There is no map of the city in my guidebook, so I studied the one on Google last night so I could keep it in mind.  I knew to leave the bus station by going to the left about 3 blocks and then turning toward the right.  I had picked out a hotel as probably the best for me. Eventually I asked for directions, and I had been only 1 block from it.

The Kiuras Hotel was a bit of a disappointment at first.  The price was the same as I had been paying in Matagalpa, but they no longer include breakfast.  The first room I was shown was too small and too dark (with only a wide window up high).  However, they showed me another room with the same kind of windows, but with one on each side of the room (and with the door facing a balcony overlooking a very nice flower garden), and I took it.  It also has a bath that is half the size of the room--the largest bathroom I have had on the whole trip!

The beds had not yet been made and the bath and floors had not yet been cleaned, so I left my suitcase and went wandering around town.  It's an easy town to explore, since it is so narrow--only about 4-6 blocks wide--and has a grid pattern as its design.  I walked through the center of town which is just two blocks from my hotel, and then I just wandered back and forth seeing what I could find.  This must be a major destination for old, used shoes from the US.  There were 10-15 stores specializing in selling used shoes in one particular area of town.  And this must be the place where I need to get a haircut.  I passed at least 8 barber shops.  I also saw a nice looking dental office that might work as the place to get my teeth cleaned.

I returned to the room to get rid of my backpack which was feeling heavy and hot.  I had left my suitcase at the hotel, but the backpack had my computer, my phone, my camera support supplies, etc., in it, and I wasn't comfortable leaving it out in the open.

Anyway, I had written an e-mail last night to request a reservation in Esteli, my next stop, and I decided to check for a response.  Unfortunately, the place was fully booked.  Therefore, I started researching places to stay again in Esteli, thinking that I needed to try to make a reservation for two reasons:  1) I am arriving there on Friday, and 2) It is the most popular tourist destination in this area.  I found a reference in WikiTravel to a brand new hostel that just opened in October, so I wrote them.  While still checking out other information I needed, I got a response saying that they had booked a room for me.  Therefore, I can enjoy being here without worrying about my next destination.

For the afternoon, I walked to the Central Park and found a seat.  I read from my new novel.  Feeling hungry, I walked to a food trailer on the edge of the park and bought a slice of pizza for only 50 cents US.  It wasn't bad; the crust had a nice, chewy texture and a very pleasant sweet taste.  From there I went looking for a bakery that the guidebook mentioned.  But following Nicaraguan directions (3 blocks south and 2 blocks east of the Central Park), I didn't find it.  However, that took me near the bus station, so I retraced my steps this morning to find a business I had passed with a sign in the window saying, "Chocobananas."  I bought a frozen, chocolate-coated banana for 8 cents.  UMMM.  It was so delicious!