In fact, it was quite hot today. And I spent almost all of it in one or another of those busses I described in the last post. Now I am in Granada, a pretty rad city (or so I'm told, having spent all day traveling I haven't had time to look around) at a youth hostel with free internet access and more NotreAmericanos than you can shake a stick at (plus a few spare Euros).
From where was I traveling today? Well I was traveling from a little bit outside of Esteli, in the Miraflor Nature Reserve. I think I described it before, but basically I was staying at another organic coffee farm (though much smaller than the others, it is part of a cooperative rather than exporting independently). This coffee farm is next to a whole bunch of other farms that produce other thingsand then there are a whole bunch of other trees intersperse too and you are not supposed to cut down the trees without permission and now there is some ecotourism going on to insentivize that as well.
The first night I was at Finca Lindos Ojos there was another family staying there. The parents were originally from Nicaragua, moved to Costa Rica and then New York and now live in Nicaragua again. The kids (all adults now) still reside in the US, one in New York with her husband (who was also there) and the other in Washinton DC. In any event, they were really nice and fun to talk to and very New York (though they didn't say it, I'm pretty sure they live in the city or at least nearby). I also got the parent's number in Managua and might stay with them the night before I leave, though I fly out pretty early and they apparently live on the other side of town from the airport.
After they left I was the only person staying at Lindos Ojos for the next two days. It was kind of nice, but also a little boring and isolating. I had some really nice long walks in both the forest and through some farms, but sort of wish I would have hired a guide for at least a half day because it was hard to find the trail heads and I feel like I didn't get as much of the forest as I could have. The woman who cooks and runs things at Lindos Ojos was totally awesome though and VERY patient about my crummy Spanish. Also her kids were seriously adorable and amusing.
Overall though, I was just as happy to leave this morning. First the hour and a half long bus ride to Esteli, down out of the cloud forest into the more arid forest and then the tobacco fields (apparently Nicaragua has good cigars?) Then from Esteli the 3 hour bus ride to Masaya. I sat next to this nice Nicaraguan man who lived in Canada for 5 years (yay real conversation due to English, boo to my continuing abysmal Spanish ability). He is a chef and furniture maker and moved back to Nicaragua because his wife is a radiologist and can't practice in Canada or the US without a new certicficate. Anyway, we talked food and northern climates (he likes Vancouver a lot better than Toronto) and a few other things and he helped me get my bus to Granada a lot quicker than I otherwise would.
In any event, now that I am here I hope to walk around the city really early tomorrow morning and then try to La Finca Ecologico Zopilote at a reasonable hour tomorrow (boat ride). Expect another post on the other side of the water.
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coffee. Show all posts
Friday, January 22, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Report from the rainforest
Well I´m actually down in the valley at the moment, but heading back up to new mountains soon. During my absence I moved from Selva Negra to Finca Esperanze Verde, where there was no internet, so I will try and catch things up quickly. Esperanza Verde is another coffee farm, but farm more remote and much more Rainforest, less farmstead. It is owned by a Sister City organization between San Ramon, Nicaragua and Durham/Raleigh, NC. With a more remote location came less english skills in the staff (and the tour guide on the coffee tour) and fewer guests. In fact, I had the entire place to myself last night and only shared the lodge with one other family the two nights previous. Nothing like paying Youth Hostel prices and having the entire bunk house to oneself.
On the coffee tour there I got to pick some of the coffee and then they put it through the wet mill (thats the first part of the coffee process). Picking coffee is way hard, let me tell you. And yesterday afternoon I spent a lot of the day watching them sort through the beans, taking out anyones that are a little small or a little burnt, etc.... I thought it was hard and time consuming to sort my culinary beans, that is nothing compared to this high quality coffee process. The hardest part of the coffee picking is that the trees actually get pretty tall, and so you have to bend the whole bush over to get the beans at the top.
What else what else...I also saw a sloth! And some birdies! But here´s a confession of my one major vacation snafu so far: I forgot to bring my binoculars. I know, really dumb. Don´t tell Hutch (my Natural History Prof, for those not in the know).
Also, there is a butterfly house and butterfly breeding program at Finca Esperanza Verde and it is pretty. (I mean, what else can you say about butterflies?) The youth hostel is right next to it and so I pretty much just went and looked in it all the time. There was also a waterfall and you could swim in it! It was mostly too cold for swimming, but if you hiked a whole bunch in the hottest part of the day and then went straight there it was totally refreshing.
After this and picking up some food I will be headed out to Finca Lindos Ojos in the Miraflor Nature Reserve, which is going to involve some serious buses.
The buses! I haven´t told you yet about the buses! So you remember that Blue Bird school bus you rode in 7th grade? Well now it is pimped out and being used for the Matagalpa to Esteli bus route. From what I gathered this is the list of priorities when converting an old school bus into is 1) Add a bitching sound system, 2) Add bumper stickers that say "God has blessed this bus", 3) Add luggage racks and bars for standing room passengers inside, 4) Paint route name and Jesus/Mary on the back, 5) Paint route name and flames on the front or 5)b) Paint route name on front and paint whole bus in bright awesome colors 6) Add more bumper stickers inside proclaiming that God is looking out for the bus and passengers, 7) Add novelty horn.
Anyhow, now for that food and bus. Hasta Luego!
On the coffee tour there I got to pick some of the coffee and then they put it through the wet mill (thats the first part of the coffee process). Picking coffee is way hard, let me tell you. And yesterday afternoon I spent a lot of the day watching them sort through the beans, taking out anyones that are a little small or a little burnt, etc.... I thought it was hard and time consuming to sort my culinary beans, that is nothing compared to this high quality coffee process. The hardest part of the coffee picking is that the trees actually get pretty tall, and so you have to bend the whole bush over to get the beans at the top.
What else what else...I also saw a sloth! And some birdies! But here´s a confession of my one major vacation snafu so far: I forgot to bring my binoculars. I know, really dumb. Don´t tell Hutch (my Natural History Prof, for those not in the know).
Also, there is a butterfly house and butterfly breeding program at Finca Esperanza Verde and it is pretty. (I mean, what else can you say about butterflies?) The youth hostel is right next to it and so I pretty much just went and looked in it all the time. There was also a waterfall and you could swim in it! It was mostly too cold for swimming, but if you hiked a whole bunch in the hottest part of the day and then went straight there it was totally refreshing.
After this and picking up some food I will be headed out to Finca Lindos Ojos in the Miraflor Nature Reserve, which is going to involve some serious buses.
The buses! I haven´t told you yet about the buses! So you remember that Blue Bird school bus you rode in 7th grade? Well now it is pimped out and being used for the Matagalpa to Esteli bus route. From what I gathered this is the list of priorities when converting an old school bus into is 1) Add a bitching sound system, 2) Add bumper stickers that say "God has blessed this bus", 3) Add luggage racks and bars for standing room passengers inside, 4) Paint route name and Jesus/Mary on the back, 5) Paint route name and flames on the front or 5)b) Paint route name on front and paint whole bus in bright awesome colors 6) Add more bumper stickers inside proclaiming that God is looking out for the bus and passengers, 7) Add novelty horn.
Anyhow, now for that food and bus. Hasta Luego!
Friday, January 15, 2010
I am in eco-farmer geek paradise
So this morning I went on a long walk on a very slippery path while it was misting but there were lots of trees and epiphytes and birds and monkeys (I only heard most of the birds and only heard all of the monkeys) and I only fell in the mud once so I think it was a total success. And then I went on a farm tour that BLEW MY MIND
All right, so we already know this is an organic coffee farm growing shade grown coffee and with part of it set aside for forest and at least some animals and veggies because that is what the menu at the restaurant said. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE.
First of all they make 1000 tons of compost a year. Then from the coffee processing waste and the human waste and some of the animal waste they do anaerobic decomposition and harvest the methane which is what the workers use to cook. Thats not all the renewable energy though, they also have a small hydroelectric plant that makes enough power for the farm during the rainy season (and by farm I mean village for 200 workers that includes primary school, clinic, etc....). So what sort of animals are these that they get compost and methane from? Well there are about 63 Jersey cows, primarily used for dairy and most of that to make European style cheeses. And then there are the pigs, which they use mostly for German style sausages. And then there are the Quails whose eggs they use for some gross sounding appetizer. And then there are chickens (eggs and meat). Oh and what else, well there is citrus and banana trees scattered throughout the coffee fields and veggie garden and 240 bird species. Oh, and some goats here and there. Apparently they don't actually like coffee though, like in the story. You don't know the story!?!
So the story is that the way the caffeination power of coffee was discovered back in Ethiopia, where coffee originally comes from, is that the guys in the forest saw some goats eat some coffee and the goats started jumping and dancing and the guys were all: Que pasa? (ok, so that is Spanish and not Ethiopian, whatever) and then somehow from that the guys figured out how to brew coffee. But Eddy says it is a lie since goats don't like coffee, but it is a good lie so he still tells it.
In any event- Montana Selva Negra Estate Coffee is officially endorsed by this blog as being grown in an incredibly cool place (and I don't know coffee, but I assume it is tasty) and it is apparently sold in Whole Foods stores all over. Also Montana Selva Negra Hotel is a rocking place to visit. Apparently one of the daughters is getting her masters in Tourism in the US right now, so if you want to come before it gets more Americanized then come NOW, and if you want more of the signs to be in English, come in a few years: selvanegra.com
Oh, but if you come, don't be obnoxious and loud and talk over the guide like the one guy in my car. I wanted to punch him.
And, stop Climate Change because if it gets warmer there will be less high quality coffee and the rain forest will die.
All right, so we already know this is an organic coffee farm growing shade grown coffee and with part of it set aside for forest and at least some animals and veggies because that is what the menu at the restaurant said. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE.
First of all they make 1000 tons of compost a year. Then from the coffee processing waste and the human waste and some of the animal waste they do anaerobic decomposition and harvest the methane which is what the workers use to cook. Thats not all the renewable energy though, they also have a small hydroelectric plant that makes enough power for the farm during the rainy season (and by farm I mean village for 200 workers that includes primary school, clinic, etc....). So what sort of animals are these that they get compost and methane from? Well there are about 63 Jersey cows, primarily used for dairy and most of that to make European style cheeses. And then there are the pigs, which they use mostly for German style sausages. And then there are the Quails whose eggs they use for some gross sounding appetizer. And then there are chickens (eggs and meat). Oh and what else, well there is citrus and banana trees scattered throughout the coffee fields and veggie garden and 240 bird species. Oh, and some goats here and there. Apparently they don't actually like coffee though, like in the story. You don't know the story!?!
So the story is that the way the caffeination power of coffee was discovered back in Ethiopia, where coffee originally comes from, is that the guys in the forest saw some goats eat some coffee and the goats started jumping and dancing and the guys were all: Que pasa? (ok, so that is Spanish and not Ethiopian, whatever) and then somehow from that the guys figured out how to brew coffee. But Eddy says it is a lie since goats don't like coffee, but it is a good lie so he still tells it.
In any event- Montana Selva Negra Estate Coffee is officially endorsed by this blog as being grown in an incredibly cool place (and I don't know coffee, but I assume it is tasty) and it is apparently sold in Whole Foods stores all over. Also Montana Selva Negra Hotel is a rocking place to visit. Apparently one of the daughters is getting her masters in Tourism in the US right now, so if you want to come before it gets more Americanized then come NOW, and if you want more of the signs to be in English, come in a few years: selvanegra.com
Oh, but if you come, don't be obnoxious and loud and talk over the guide like the one guy in my car. I wanted to punch him.
And, stop Climate Change because if it gets warmer there will be less high quality coffee and the rain forest will die.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
La Laguna and Coffee Land
So I didn't get to Montana Selva Negra yesterday like I said I would, instead I followed Colin to a cute Cabana on La Laguna (huge volcano crater filled with clear fresh water and surrounded by peaceful forest) which was FILLED with other Peace Corp folks. After a day of swimming, chilling in hammocks, watching The Office (I know I know, but these Peace Corp folks don't get to have a TV and DVD player that often) and grilling delicious eats though, it was time to move on and finally get separated from my fab translator and guide (thanks Colin!) to do some solo traveling.
Thus far I have had fantastic luck with getting on and off all the right busses at all the right times, and thus have made it to a world full of coffee, organic veggies, German Chalets (go figure), monkeys, birds, and other fab cloud forest stuff. Having only been here for a couple daylight hours I can't report much yet, except that the food is delicious and clearly very German inspired (I'm going to get fat if I stay here too long).
More to come tomorrow after I do my farm tour and wander the lovely hiking trails.
Thus far I have had fantastic luck with getting on and off all the right busses at all the right times, and thus have made it to a world full of coffee, organic veggies, German Chalets (go figure), monkeys, birds, and other fab cloud forest stuff. Having only been here for a couple daylight hours I can't report much yet, except that the food is delicious and clearly very German inspired (I'm going to get fat if I stay here too long).
More to come tomorrow after I do my farm tour and wander the lovely hiking trails.
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