Trip to La Garnacha

Last weekend, the group and I took a trip north to the department of Esteli (es-te-lee) to a small town in the mountains called La Garnacha. Our purpose was to view the community project that they had going on over there in the area of ecotourism. We got in the van and headed off for the 3ish hour voyage north near the Honduras border. This part of the country is completely different than in Managua (I feel like I'll be saying that a lot). First off was the topography. This region of the country is very mountainous. Esteli is situated at an altitude of about 1200 meters (3,900ft), meaning the climate was much cooler, like 70's and 80's year round. That was a great relief from the sauna that Managua can be. But what threw us all off at first was the drastic change in plant life. As we climbed higher, the tropical life we were used to seeing began to mix with tall pines and oak trees. "You won't find pine trees in Costa Rica!", our guide said proudly. Think the climate and mix of plant life in Southern California and you've got a pretty good idea.

The cabins we stayed in.

 When we got to La Garnacha, which was nothing more than a block of rural homes on a single dirt road, we stayed in the cabins that they had built to support their semi-new ecotourism industry. The town used to be a cooperative farm for the Sandinista regime during the revolution years, which means they pooled their resources to help each other out (a wild socialist idea), and now they are still doing much of the same with their tourist project. This gives outsiders access to some great hiking trails that lead to absolutely stunning lookout points, but the profits go directly into the community. Another place you can check out is an area dubbed "La Cultura y Historia de Nicaragua" which was interesting to say the least. We hiked about 30 minutes out of town through the farms and into the woods. We stopped at this house where there was this old skinny man, Roberto I think was his name, who had to be in his 70's. "Bienvenidos a la Cultura!" (welcome to the culture) he said proudly and he made us follow him into the woods where there were these stone carvings everywhere. At first, I thought that these were some sort of ancient carvings of animals and symbols, but it turns out it was all the work of Roberto. He lead us up the hill to this cliffside that had a stupid-pretty view of the northern department of Esteli. The cliffside had even more carvings he had done that featured everything from elephants and eagles, to the Bible and even the World Trade Center. There were hundreds and hundreds of sculptures carved into the face of this mountain. Roberto showed us his latest project, another eagle, and his method of carving. He created everything we saw with a metal chisel and a rock and not only that, but that he has been doing this for 40 years! For 40 years, almost everyday he walks into the hills and carves on the cliffside. Hector then told me that he was also did not know how to read or write. All he knows how to do is make these amazing stone carvings that he imagines in his head. That was really something to see. After our visit to "La Cultura" we continued to hike up this steep hill, and we got to watch the environment change around us. We began in a tropical jungle, but we then climbed into a forest of deciduous maple trees, something similar to the northeastern US. But after climbing a bit higher, we were surrounded exclusively by huge mossy pine trees. It felt like Colorado! It was definitely a little disorienting.

La Cultura

Roberto (I think) with his latest work.

The next day, we checked out some of the farms and their local cheese business. We ate some bomb goat cheese and talked about their project they had going on there. After lunch, we left La Garnacha and headed further north to this town called Somoto. There we went on another hike to a 40 or so foot tall waterfall. But we didn't just look at it, we rappelled down it (swimsuit required). After some lunch and waiting briefly for a monsoon like storm to pass by, we got back in the van and headed for Managua. What I took back from this trip was the immense diversity that this country has to offer. Nicaragua is half the size of Colorado geographically, but is jam packed with vast environmental and cultural diversity in such a small space. Almost every town is unique and can show you something that you've never seen before. It's something everyone should experience.