nicKARblogua: Matagalpa, a Beautiful City in the Mountains!

Well, I can't say enough about Matagalpa. It's is located north of Managua in the mountains. It is known for having a lot of coffee farms and a much cooler climate. Well, it was a delightful surprise driving to Matagalpa. It is about a 2 hour drive and after and 1 hour you see this huge mountain range in front of you. Incredible.

For those of you that have never been to Managua there aren't many mountains around or at least not ones that spread for miles and miles like you are in Colorado. So this is our first glimpse at a new place.

So we arrived in Matagalpa and we decided to stay at Selva Negra http://www.selvanegra.com/.

After dinner we went to this club called the Tequila House where people were celebrating Halloween, it seemed like it was the place to be. We did a little dancing and then headed back to our room to get a good nights rest so we could hike in the morning.

Well, If you know me I get cold really easily and everyone was making fun of how bundle up I was, but in my defense I was comfortable. In the Matagalpa it was probably 60-65 degrees and in Managua it is usually 100 degrees, so my body was a little chilly. As Jeanne likes to say "I look like I am ready for the winter Olympics!" Notice me wearing a scarf, hoody and long leggings. Brr.

Our Room number 13 for a spooky Halloween Stay!

Well, the next morning we wake up and we all slept really good with the cool fresh air coming into our room. We headed the lodge for a yummy breakfast and then off to hit the trials.

Homemade yogurt, ham, eggs, fresh fruit, and pancakes.Yummy!

You haven't seen a beautiful Church in Nature until you see Saint Nicholas Church in Selva Negra. This church is to die for I would love to get married here again in a long white dress it is truly breath taking. I'm not sure the pictures even do it justice.

The hike was gorgeous it tooks us around 2 1/2 hours to complete. While we were hiking we saw all kinds of animals transparent butterflys, caterpillars, snakes, and monkeys. The monkeys were by far the scariest because we were walking in the forest an about an hour into our hike we heard these loud apes sounds. We couldn't see anything, but for all we knew the monkeys sounded huge. (Also you need to remember it is Halloween.) So we are paused in the forest and freaking out while we are constantly having false spotting's of these monkeys...then we see them. They are ahead in the trees,these black monkeys they must of known we were there and that is why they were making loud intimidating noises. Well, luckily we didn't have any confrontation with them and we were on our way.

Also, along our journey there where huge intricate trees and great views of the Matagalpa.

The owner of the property told use that we should take the Romantico trail to the Peter y Helen trail. He said that the Peter and Helen trial were named for the people who explored the trail and didn't return. Then he continues to ask our names and said that he might have 4 new trails if we don't come back. Could our Halloween get anymore scarier...