Esteli
Submitted by fyl on Fri, 2007/11/23 - 10:07.
in
Esteli is in the hills in north central Nicaragua. While the elevation of the City of Esteli is about 850 meters, hills in the surrounding areas go up to more than 1500 meters.
Important Phone Numbers
Not exactly a highly industrialized area but you find quite a few cigar factories and brick factories. More than half the population is rural and clearly a majority of them produce their income by growing crops and animals. The City of Esteli is where products are brought to market.
For more information on the Miraflor preserve NE of the city of Estelí, check out miraflor.org.
Important Phone Numbers
Bomberos 2713-2413 Cruz Roja 119 | 2713-2330 DISNORTE 115 ENACAL 2713-2254 ENITEL 121 Hospital 2713-6303 | 2713-6307 Policia 118 | 2713-2615
miraflor
In Estelí I met a lady from Austria that was really excited about her trip to Miraflor so that I decided to go there the next day. The road to Miraflor was not in the best condition but as soon as I got off the bus I was breathing fresh Mountain air in a beautiful green landscape. The most beautiful place to stay is “Finca Neblina del Bosque” which is easy to find as it is the first farm you will see on the path that goes from the bus stop “La Rampa” the community. Finca Neblina del Bosque is a kind of organic farm where they grow coffee, vegetables and beans but their main attraction is the Restaurant with a beautiful view and the 3 hand crafted bamboo cabins. I stayed at the last one which has the best view and you can hear the song of the birds wakes you up in the morning. In the morning a made a horseback tour with a surprisingly professional local guide “Edwin” who took me to his father’s organic coffee plantation and after this to a waterfall with a natural swimming pool. We saw a toucan and a sloth on our tour! I think there a much more places to visit but after 3 hours on horseback I preferred to spend the rest of the day on a hammock reading a book. I can only recommend visiting the reserve to everybody, for me it was one of the highlights during my 4 week trip trough Nicaragua.
Miraflor Daytrip, Aug 06
Checked out the Miraflor UCA office in Esteli. From the Esso station on the highway go 2 blocks north, 1 block west, a smidgeon (newest nica descriptive term) north again. Go in the big gate that looks like a school and find the office to the right. Some info and maps, might be able to help with reservations.
This was just a daytrip to scout out the area and get out of the big city for a day, a Thursday I believe. Got the 0545 am bus out of Cotran Sur, just barely because I had been told by the UCA office that it was a 0600 bus. Bus then went to Cotran norte and sat till 6 on the money and then went to the the Texaco Star Mart.
Hot tip: get on at one of the terminals because it will be standing room only by the time el bus gets to the Texaco. Get there early and find a seat by a window that opens, check to be sure because many have broken latches. Dipshit americano school kids probably broke them for fun? Don´t be too shy about opening a window because by the time they load at Texaco the bus will be a living, breathing, groaning steam bath of an experience.
Right about when you are about to pass out, the bus bravely chugs off and you get the slightest breath of air, and you give a slight sight of relief and think "damn, I am going to survive, afterall", just when the bus stops 30 seconds later for the first bump in the road, and your air supply dies again.
Anywho, soon you are bumpimg up the adequate dirt road led by a calm, cool driver. 15 cords, pay the assistant when he comes by. Spread a little good karma, tambien, by having something like correct change.
As it gets light you start to see a glimpse of a landscape less tortured by the hand of man; that is, if you are in a window seat. Some big trees scattered around the landscape, the oaks draped with Spanish moss showing through the fog give the place a surrealistic look. And it´s real fog, not just condensation on the windows, kinda weird for this ole desert boy. As time goes on, some passengers get off and the weather cools, making it much more pleasant.
We arrived at the La Rampla bus stop, the first stop of tourist interest. It´s about 1 hour and 45 minutes into the trip. If you mumbled "La rampla" to the driver on your way in, he will probably let you know this is where you get off. The bus continues on the right fork to one more stop in the preserve and then goes on the town of Yali. Some friendly locals pointed to the left fork and said that was the place to go. Met up with a young Dutch traveler and we walked up bout 2 clicks or more in the fog to a guest house called "La Fuente de Vida". Cute little place half hidden behind a flower garden. Six rental cabanas of the usual modern construction, block and zinc. Had breakfast, and later lunch, there. Service from the 2 giggly campesina girls was amusing to me, but the food was good. The usual fare, gallo pinto, etc., but not as greasy as in the city. Good coffee and refresco, too. Bring lotsa small change, as Miraflor isn´t the snack bar at the Super Walmart. Prices are in dollars in Miraflor because they are going for the tourist biz, but bring cords and they´ll figure it out, keeping in mind that calculators are in as short a supply as change up here.
We walked around for quite a while on decent dirt and rock roads, but you really need a guide and more time. Very pretty countryside: a mixture of forest, pasture, and cornfields. The Dutch traveler was a little disappointed because he was expecting more of a natural park experience: quick access to fantastic views. Not here, plan to stay a while. It´s all private land, the conservation angle is that the locals want to preserve the quality of life here by bringing in enough tourist dollars so thay can avoid the fate of many farming areas in Central America. You know, cut down the forest for the quick buck, don´t replant, farm for a while till the soil fertility goes down, then graze cattle till that degrades the soil even more, then move to the big city and hope you can find a better job. The Miraflor people are trying to dig in for the longer haul.
The bus trip down was better, even a little bit of fun as the driver cranked up both the speed and the stereo volume. Decided it was a nice little daytrip but I will becoming back for more and doing it right: stay at a guest house, hire a guide, and rent a horse.
Smoor to follow
When we got off the bus we were totally surrounded
. "What goes around comes around"
507- good to hear about your
507- good to hear about your trip there. i've been there many times truly a beautiful place,my grandpops owns a farm in miraflor. my family is from esteli and i was born there. i was there in feb. 0f 2006 and plan on going back in jan. of 2007. its wonderful to hear about places that i consider to be part of my childhood from someone other than family. thankz for the story. im new to this site. muchas gracias