Coffee break

Days 74 to 76: Matagalpa and Selva Negra

Wed 9 Mar 2011 - Thu 10 Mar 2011 21 °C

I leave the heat of the city behind for a couple of days in the mountains to check out the Nicaraguan cloudforest and the coffee for which the region is famous. Selva Negra reminds me a little of Australia's blue mountains, but it is in fact named after the German Schwarzwald by the area's German immigrants. It is a really special place; bursting with wildlife and home to a permanent community of 150 workers that operate the organic coffee farm and other produce for the hotel.

I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee in Nicaragua: in the places I visit they retain some of the good stuff rather than exporting it all as they do elsewhere. It is beyond disappointing to find yourself drinking instant coffee in Central America: I feel a little short-changed, as though I went all the way to Antarctica and they had flown in fake ice and penguins from a zoo.

I decide to put my caffeine buzz to good use and embark on a guided tour around the many trails in the forest. Today I have two guides all to myself: two lovely young Nicaraguan guys who have just recently set up their own tour business and are heartwarmingly keen.

They're also extremely athletic and somewhat more accustomed to the forest than me and my manicured nails. I try to keep up with them as they spring uphill through the trees, stopping to point out howler monkeys who feel threatened by our presence so try to pee on us and start to gather things to throw.

View from c.1500m

Move over David Attenborough: Here I have cunningly disguised myself as a tree

One of my guides is undertaking a jungle survival course, and I learn a few tips on which plants I can eat and where I can find water. That will come in handy on the Holloway Road.

The following day I return to Selva Negra for a tour of the grounds and the coffee production (though harvest finished in January so I can't see it in action unfortunately), then back to Matagalpa for another caffeine fix.....