We would like to share with you a trip we took north of Selva Negra, to and beyond the rural city of Jinotega which is about 30 minutes from Selva Negra. The ride there from Selva Negra is on a newly paved road makes a pleasant trip. We delivered a couple of books by Raquel Martinez (granddaughter of Eddy and Mausi). Raquel wrote a book about her experiences with raising orphaned hummingbirds. Amazing, and true. If you're interested in purchasing a copy, please contact Vickie at vickie@selvanegra.com

We delivered the books to families in the surroundings of the city and it was an adventure finding the houses. Like many cities in Nicaragua, the streets are not marked, and it is an adventure to find your way to a particular destination. For example, an address might be: "in the neighborhood of San Isidro, two blocks North from the old bridge, one block East and haf a block South." Finding it is even more exciting, asking every couple of blocks and going with the consensus of various people. And when finally getting to the actual neighborhood we had to ask if this was the new or the old bridge, the poor guy looked so confused, "Why, of course it is the new bridge, the old bridge is half in the river" Oh and by the way, the river is merely a canyon-like drop with a trickle of water filled with Nicaragua's national flower (the plastic bag). Plastic bag pollution has become one of the most unsightly problems in Nicaragua.

Our trip took us to a couple off the beaten path towns and roads and we got to see so many fun things. Live chickens tied to a stick and carried around door-to-door offering them to the resident. The official street public announcers (a lady on the back of the truck with a megaphone, reading from a script). She tells the townsfolk about events occurring that week, specials in the stores as well as debtors who have forgotten to pay on time. Talk about public humiliation! We also saw homemade adobe bread ovens, the husband of the house made it with the local mud and bricks, no cement can be used in making these ovens because of the high heat generated, the heat source is fire wood and they are primarily used to make bread which they sell at roadside stands and local pulperias. Pulperias are small convenience stores found everywhere in Nicaragua offering many things: batteries, snacks, drinks, sodas, candles, candies, coffee, food, buttons, screws, and of course beer and cigarettes. They are fun to visit and check out the local preferences in each pulperia.

The road through Jinotega is an important truck route, and many drivers take the opportunity to take a quick nap before continuing their journey. One of our favorite finds in this trip was a hard working tractor-trailer driver taking a siesta on his hammock hanging it on the underside of the tractor-trailer. Unique Nicaragua!

Our furthest spot we visited this trip was a town called San Rafael del Norte. This town is a pilgrimage destination for followers of pastor Odorico D'Andrea, who did marvelous things for the town. He has helped setting up a health center and giving the inhabitants access to potable water and electricity, among other things. One of Father Odorico's other accomplishments was the renovation of Iglesia San Rafael Arcangel, which features a mural of the Last Temptation of Christ. Cryptically, the face of Satan looks remarkably like that of current president Daniel Ortega. Make of this what you will. From there our tour took us around Lake Apanas, which is a beautiful water reserve for a hydropower plant.

The trip around it takes about an hour (more if you want to stop to admire the views). It was constructed in the '60s by President Somoza and nearly destroyed in the '90s by Hurricane Mitch. The lake was created for the development of a hydropower plat and is the source of much of the nation's hydropower. During the winter months there is so much water that they have a funnel in the lake that leads to an outlet valve to regulate the height of the lake. It is a great destination for a scenic drive, bird watching and purchasing fish for dinner, all of which we did.

Hope you enjoy our tour, stay tuned for our next trip to Esteli, coming up next quarter.