Crossing Fronteras

Since my last blog entry my journey has been easily the most authentic and appropriate for for me since I landed in the continental Central America...

Leaving La Esperanza was a bit harder than I anticipated. My last day was full of hugs and cute letters and drawings from all the kids I tutored or took to the dentist and/or optician. Those kids see a lot of volunteers coming through, but they still know how to show you they appreciate your help.

Nonetheless, I packed up and left Granada after a week full of cooking and feasting on all sorts of world cuisine. With my bag loaded I headed with another volunteer to experience the northern mountains of Nicaragua. Christina and I took a pit stop in Leon and didn't understand the hype about the city seeing how similar it was to Granada, but we did have an amazing conversation with a street vendor about the history and education in Leon over a cup of fresh shrimp ceviche. Later that afternoon we continued chicken busing for what seemed like forever to Esteli to make reservations for the Forest Reserve of Miraflor. Miraflor is a co-op of Nicaraguan family farms. It is all owned by the Nicaraguan people living there and is located on a very lush and productive mountain side, did I mention beautiful?

Christina and I woke up before the crack of dawn to make our way to the community La Lebranza half way up the mountain. From there we treked in through a number of farms and cow pastures to our family's home. This was more difficult than I initially thought due to all of my gear loaded in my packs and my toes slipping and sliding though mud and cow poop- It just isn't an adventure without a little sweat and mud in your toes. 

Once that battle was won we were greeted at our 24 hour family's house with a fresh cup of coffee and a delicious breakfast. We later found out all we consumed was made purely from things from their farm- even the coffee. Talk about eating local! After breakfast we took off with the farmers son to a mirador and to some waterfalls. We wandered in and around other farms, over and under barbed wire fences, and saw a mix of 300 year old trees, rivers, and cloudy mountain tops. It was a great way to pass the morning after a long day of buses. We went home for lunch and some hammock time before bogging through some freshly made rain mud to see their coffee plaintaition. It was fascinating to learn about the process of growing coffee: the different types, the flavored assumed with nearby trees, and well as the only thing needed to really maintain a family farm is a simple machete. The family grew coffee for their own consumption and we were lucky enough to get a taste of it at every meal. I know it is implied, but the 12 acre farm really impressed me! It turns out Loranzo bought part of his farm after a big chunk of farmers went bankrupt after a private bank went public and jacked up interest rates to be impossible to pay back. This pointed out to me in big bright lights the need and relevance of micro-financing in developing nations (tangential?-more on that later.) Our walk with Loranzo was eye opening. He was an open book of the politics and educational downfalls of Nicaragua- but it was exeptionalky relevant, with his farm and hosting us he has giving his family the best shot at a brighter future. His kids were finishing high school, but already taking college courses specifically designed for families supporting a farm. Really impressive after the quality of education I saw in Granada.

He later brought us home to a family dinner and sang and played some local songs for us before bed time. In the morning we rised early to learn how to make tortillas and enjoy some fresh coffee and milk straight from the utters we milked ourselves. It was a perfect cumulation of a day in the life of a Nicaraguan and easily the BEST coffee I have had in the past five months.

From the bus down from Miraflor Chrisina and I parted ways. She headed back to Granada and I went to Somoto Canyon. Here the local experience continued. While looking for a cheap place to stay in Somoto (there are none) I was greeted by an lovely lady with rooms she rents out normally monthly, but she could help me out for a few nights. She has had three peace corps American girls already stay with her so she was so excited to welcome in another gringita. It was a perfect place to stay. She kept me full of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) and entertained with conversation over peeling oranges or frying eggs depending what time of day we found ourselves. Despite the fact that sleeping under her roof with cats walking on top gave me a number of mild heart attacks (turns out is sounds exactly like a person walking on the roof) -I felt immediately a part of the family with her and her nephew to keep me company. Beyond my accomidation I ended up on a private tour (again low season can be brutal for tour companies) through the Somoto Valley. We strapped on life vests and a waterproof bag and walked and swam through the canyon an the rivers creating it. The tour itself was beautiful and reminded me a lot of the rocks around the Madison at home, despite the fact the water was a chocolate milk brown from the rainfall overnight. After a fairly mellow dramatic start I got my adrenaline rush floating through rapids and hugging walls to avoid the strong current- we even had a few jumps off of some of the surrounding rocks to avoid going over some rougher rocks or twists and turns. The most dangerous part didn't even happen in the water. Upon walking back to the highway to catch a bus, while wearing my red lifevest, a farmer lost control of a bull and he came bolting down the road aimed right at us before they pulled a rope to bring him down. Of course none of this really registered as it was happening- but I later realized I had my own version of running of the bulls.

The next morning I said goodbye to my new Nica family the next morning to chicken bus to Hondruas. Final destination-after four buses and 14 hours spent siting on them La Ceiba. La Ceiba, Honduras is the home of The Adenlante Foundation which works with MyFight to finance Honduran women to fund their entreprenual endeavors. My contact in the office was nice enough to offer me a free bed to stay along with some great tips for my longer than anticipated stay. Gina directed me to a local Girufina beach with not another gringo in sight. I spent the day reading by the beach, warding off the all too comon marriage proposal, watching the local kids pull together a pick up soccer game, and of course eating. This beach is now home of the best food I have had so far in my travels. Brought to my table was coconut shrimp served with coconut rice and beans and some fresh greens. To die for and so simple! Gina also made it her prerogative that I got a good taste of all the local Hordurian favorites by visiting little comedors and street vendors I quickly became and all knowing Honduran traveler. It was great to get a real feel of La Ceiba before meeting the women who drew me out here. For that this blog is to be continued...