Chocoyero y El Brujo
Well this weekend really lived up to it's awesome potential. It all started out bright and early Saturday morning,..I will spare you the mundane details of our trip down because, quite honestly, I was half asleep and just following Emily and her roommate Leslie. Short story of Saturday is we got on a bus to go to a van to go to the side of the highway to catch a moto taxi to hike in the forest to see some waterfalls that had pretty birds. We did all that by noon on Saturday. Sarah and I packed hammocks (love! hammocks!) so we strung them up (with our newfound rope tying skills) and lazed about true Nica style. We spent Saturday afternoon in the wilderness enjoying our books, the fresh quiet air and beans and cheese from a bag. Emily and Leslie were going to head back to Managua at around 4p. They had arranged with the moto taxi man to come pick them up at that time, and Sarah and I had arranged with the rangers that we would be sleeping in our hammocks over there in the camping area. At around 330p we head to the entrance of the park and Emily arranged for Sarah and I to get a home cooked meal by the park rangers. We set a date of 6p when Sarah and I regresarámos (will return) to the rangers center for dinner. Pasta o pollo? Pasta is fine with us. We walked back to the camp site (10 minute hike) and then decided to continue on to the falls to see the parrot commute home (15 minute hike). We sat by the waterfall enjoying the setting sun and some water as the famous parrots (chocoyos) squawked over head, returning home (cliff side) from whereever it is parrots go during the day. 520 sharp. Spectacular show of bright green flashes shrieking Hi Honey, Im home!
Our time really kicked off at dinner. Sarah and I returned as promised at 6p. We were timid, frightened. Emily and Leslie (resident of Nica for 1.4-2 years) had done all the speaking for us before. They used Nica words. With Nica accents. To Nica rangers. We arrive at the entrance/ranger center and were greeted by two people. Manuel introduced himself as such and held a pineapple out to us. Our two amigas had purchased two pineapples from him on there way down the road about 2 hours ago. They wanted us to have this one. Muchisimo gracias Manuel. La piña es bonita y ahora tenemos desayunar. Bien, bien muchachas. Kiss kiss, goodbye. The woman whom we agreed to pay c$35 for dinner came up to us next. Listas para la cena? Si si. gracias. Out come hot plates of gallopinto, spaghetti and a platano. Fresh squeezed piña refresco. Yum. We snarf snarf in silence, sitting on the front porch of the entrance with the rangers eagerly looking at our expression. Oh yes, very yum. Have you tried the... oh yes, it is excellent.
Once our snarfing was over we got up to go - No no! Please sit with us. Let your bellies digest, where are you going to in such a hurry. Silly us, there is no hurry. We will sit.
And there we sit, for 3 hours. Talking, laughing and drinking coffee with the rangers, Jose y Burnis. Burnis was younger, all though we never got an age (he looked... 25? 27?), and is studying english. We had fun showing him the guide book that brought us to the falls and he attempted to read in English. Aloud. Stopping on the words he didn't understand. En-cou-rage? Que es en-cou-RAGE? Jose sat giggling and laughing at our mispronunciations and my inability to say antropologia y presbyteriana/ Vos eres los dos! By the end of the night we had discussed medicinal plants in the area, looked to see if the snake we spotted really was a coral snake and made plans to see El Brujo por la manana.
See, when we hiked earlier, we found out that the sendero (path/trail) to El Brujo (the second cascade that goes strating into the ground without forming a river) was closed. It was far too dangerous. Pero, ahora tenemos la oportunidad que ir a la cascada con Burnis. Oh and did we know that Jose has a finca de pina? Oh of course we can see it. Tomorrow, tomorrow. After we play Marco! Polo! o Perro! Pedro! Bueno, bueno! Verámos a las siete. Bien, muchachas.
Our night of camping was interesting. It was completely hopeless dark by the time we returned to our hammocks. We sprayed our sheets down with deet and meticulously wrapped ourselves up. We were in the wild and I was suspended above a line of leaf cutter hormigas and an armadillo was snooping around to west of camp.
The howler monkeys started doing their thing at about 5a. Loud, distant grumbles and shrieks woke us to an otherwise completely still cold Nica morning. We slept okay but now couldn't move. Hammocks are delicate things, you see, and we have yet to master the art. We got up and down to the falls at about 6a. The birds were straightening their tails and taking off for yet another day in the life of... We sliced up our pineapple that was delivered to us by Manuel.
At around 645a we head back to camp (10 minutes this time) took down camp (3 minutes - hammocks are amazing!) and heading to the nature center. Burnis y Jose were waking up. Doing chores and making coffee. Diez minutoes muchachas. esta bien?
Our guided hike started after our small cup of coffee with lots of sugar. The Nica way of doing coffee. We hit up the familiar trails and got scientifc names of everything along the way. Our hike to El Brujo was fantastic. So much beauty! We were int eh heart of el bosque and there look! El Brujo. We hiked all the way up to the base of the falls. Felt the water, got an amazing overlook of park and took many pictures. Burnis posed with us and laughed with us and we hiked back down.
Our hike lasted about 2 hours, and then quieren arroz y frijoles? Jose quiere ir a la finca ahora. Esta bien? Bien! Bien! We kisskiss goodbye with Burnis, got the number of the park for when we decide we are ready to hike to Crucero and started off down the road with Jose.
Did you like El Brujo? Like Halloween, yes? Oh, that tree is medicinal. It sure is windy today, isnt it? Oh, that plants name is...We came across fields and field of coffee, banana and pineapple. A man and his family is sitting along side the road with huge piles of beaufitul pineapple. Jose inspects them and gets three. That man is the president of our coop. I am the vice president. There are 24 associates in our coop. We farm pina, bananas and cafe. We sell to local markets only.
Have you ever seen a pineapple growing? It is truly a ridiculous site. Google an image of pineapple flower right now. See it? Sarah and I are taken to another finca down the road. Another man a small boy are selling their pinas. Jose greets them and picks up the biggest juiciest pina he sees. Whack whack with the machete and we are presented with a chunk of sugar filled bright yellow heaven. Best pineapple I have ever eaten. Follow me, I will show you my plot. 200 ft and we are standing among fields and field of pineapples. To the North is a perfect view of Vulcan Masaya. Directly opposite is a fantastic view of El Brujo. The land connecting the two is filled with rows and rows of pineapple. Farmed organically and for local consumption.
Sarah and I leave Jose y Burnis with 4 pineapples, 300 pictures and a 7km hike ahead of us. The entire time all we can rave about is the generosity and openness of our hosts. And that pineapple! good lord!
We hike and hike and hike. Finally the highway. We package up our bags. Slip on our money belts and stand on the side of the road until a bus honks MANAGUA at us. The pull over and we shove ourselves on. 10 cords gets us back to the capital. Back to the sweltering heat, dirty streets and whistling. Chelllllllllllllllllla....
Our time really kicked off at dinner. Sarah and I returned as promised at 6p. We were timid, frightened. Emily and Leslie (resident of Nica for 1.4-2 years) had done all the speaking for us before. They used Nica words. With Nica accents. To Nica rangers. We arrive at the entrance/ranger center and were greeted by two people. Manuel introduced himself as such and held a pineapple out to us. Our two amigas had purchased two pineapples from him on there way down the road about 2 hours ago. They wanted us to have this one. Muchisimo gracias Manuel. La piña es bonita y ahora tenemos desayunar. Bien, bien muchachas. Kiss kiss, goodbye. The woman whom we agreed to pay c$35 for dinner came up to us next. Listas para la cena? Si si. gracias. Out come hot plates of gallopinto, spaghetti and a platano. Fresh squeezed piña refresco. Yum. We snarf snarf in silence, sitting on the front porch of the entrance with the rangers eagerly looking at our expression. Oh yes, very yum. Have you tried the... oh yes, it is excellent.
Once our snarfing was over we got up to go - No no! Please sit with us. Let your bellies digest, where are you going to in such a hurry. Silly us, there is no hurry. We will sit.
And there we sit, for 3 hours. Talking, laughing and drinking coffee with the rangers, Jose y Burnis. Burnis was younger, all though we never got an age (he looked... 25? 27?), and is studying english. We had fun showing him the guide book that brought us to the falls and he attempted to read in English. Aloud. Stopping on the words he didn't understand. En-cou-rage? Que es en-cou-RAGE? Jose sat giggling and laughing at our mispronunciations and my inability to say antropologia y presbyteriana/ Vos eres los dos! By the end of the night we had discussed medicinal plants in the area, looked to see if the snake we spotted really was a coral snake and made plans to see El Brujo por la manana.
See, when we hiked earlier, we found out that the sendero (path/trail) to El Brujo (the second cascade that goes strating into the ground without forming a river) was closed. It was far too dangerous. Pero, ahora tenemos la oportunidad que ir a la cascada con Burnis. Oh and did we know that Jose has a finca de pina? Oh of course we can see it. Tomorrow, tomorrow. After we play Marco! Polo! o Perro! Pedro! Bueno, bueno! Verámos a las siete. Bien, muchachas.
Our night of camping was interesting. It was completely hopeless dark by the time we returned to our hammocks. We sprayed our sheets down with deet and meticulously wrapped ourselves up. We were in the wild and I was suspended above a line of leaf cutter hormigas and an armadillo was snooping around to west of camp.
The howler monkeys started doing their thing at about 5a. Loud, distant grumbles and shrieks woke us to an otherwise completely still cold Nica morning. We slept okay but now couldn't move. Hammocks are delicate things, you see, and we have yet to master the art. We got up and down to the falls at about 6a. The birds were straightening their tails and taking off for yet another day in the life of... We sliced up our pineapple that was delivered to us by Manuel.
At around 645a we head back to camp (10 minutes this time) took down camp (3 minutes - hammocks are amazing!) and heading to the nature center. Burnis y Jose were waking up. Doing chores and making coffee. Diez minutoes muchachas. esta bien?
Our guided hike started after our small cup of coffee with lots of sugar. The Nica way of doing coffee. We hit up the familiar trails and got scientifc names of everything along the way. Our hike to El Brujo was fantastic. So much beauty! We were int eh heart of el bosque and there look! El Brujo. We hiked all the way up to the base of the falls. Felt the water, got an amazing overlook of park and took many pictures. Burnis posed with us and laughed with us and we hiked back down.
Our hike lasted about 2 hours, and then quieren arroz y frijoles? Jose quiere ir a la finca ahora. Esta bien? Bien! Bien! We kisskiss goodbye with Burnis, got the number of the park for when we decide we are ready to hike to Crucero and started off down the road with Jose.
Did you like El Brujo? Like Halloween, yes? Oh, that tree is medicinal. It sure is windy today, isnt it? Oh, that plants name is...We came across fields and field of coffee, banana and pineapple. A man and his family is sitting along side the road with huge piles of beaufitul pineapple. Jose inspects them and gets three. That man is the president of our coop. I am the vice president. There are 24 associates in our coop. We farm pina, bananas and cafe. We sell to local markets only.
Have you ever seen a pineapple growing? It is truly a ridiculous site. Google an image of pineapple flower right now. See it? Sarah and I are taken to another finca down the road. Another man a small boy are selling their pinas. Jose greets them and picks up the biggest juiciest pina he sees. Whack whack with the machete and we are presented with a chunk of sugar filled bright yellow heaven. Best pineapple I have ever eaten. Follow me, I will show you my plot. 200 ft and we are standing among fields and field of pineapples. To the North is a perfect view of Vulcan Masaya. Directly opposite is a fantastic view of El Brujo. The land connecting the two is filled with rows and rows of pineapple. Farmed organically and for local consumption.
Sarah and I leave Jose y Burnis with 4 pineapples, 300 pictures and a 7km hike ahead of us. The entire time all we can rave about is the generosity and openness of our hosts. And that pineapple! good lord!
We hike and hike and hike. Finally the highway. We package up our bags. Slip on our money belts and stand on the side of the road until a bus honks MANAGUA at us. The pull over and we shove ourselves on. 10 cords gets us back to the capital. Back to the sweltering heat, dirty streets and whistling. Chelllllllllllllllllla....
- Alyse - 8:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home