Things to do in Matagalpa
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Rincón Don Chato
It looks like a regular formica diner on the main drag, but this nifty nitch has the best batidos, or fruit shakes, in town - the pineapple-celery in orange juice is amazing. Also on the menu are Nica classics with your choice of meat, plus veggie burgers and other vegetarian options. Good breakfasts.
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Cecocafen
Like the Ruta de Café without the luxurious haciendas, this community-based initiative for small-scale, sustainable tourism arranges visits and homestays in small coffee-producing villages. Cecocafen, three blocks east and one block south of the Museo de Café, not only arranges tours, but also supports women's groups and builds schools while it promotes Fair Trade coffee.
Although it can work with individuals, Cecocafen is set up for large groups, who usually contact them well ahead of time about visiting communally operated coffee producers, who work small family plots (averaging only five manzanas), such as Cooperative El Roblar, a women's organic coffee and veggie-gr…
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Museo de Café
There's a lot of information in the Museo de Café, almost all of it in Spanish, and very little actually pertains to coffee. Staff, however, who also operate a tour desk, are highly caffeinated, offer free cups of coffee, and also sell bags of the stuff.
This is actually more of a Nicaragua and Matagalpa history museum. It begins with a nice archaeology display, then segues into high-school-quality exhibitions about the city and region, from photos of beauty-contest winners past and present through a list of Latin America's great liberators, from Bolivar to Martí.
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Reserva Natural Cerro Apante
This must be among the easiest-to-access reserves in Nicaragua, with walking access (for hearty souls) right from town. Or, you could even hitch most of the way to the top of the cool, misty 1442m peak on the access road.
Either Intur or Marena may be able to find guides, if you'd prefer, and Matagalpa Tours offers Guided Hikes (Reserva Natural Cerro Apante) to the top.
There are two other entrances to different sectors of the park; one is just north of town on the road to El Tuma, the other on the road to Guadalupe-Samulali, off the Matagalpa-Muy Muy road.
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Matagalpa Tours
Matagalpa Tours does rural community tourism, and takes you to tiny towns (perhaps on mountain bikes?), such as the indigenous community of El Chile, known for its beautiful fabric arts. Among other offerings, it arranges one- to six-day guided hikes through the mountains; gold-mine tours and a Matagalpa City Tour; it has English- or Dutch-speaking guides, too. Spanish lessons are also offered.
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Restaurante El Disparate del Potter
On the road to Jinotega, this ridge-top restaurant marks the spot where driven road builder Charles Potter blasted his way through a wall of solid rock. Renowned for its onion quesillos and repochetas (a corn and cheese torta), the real reason you're here is the view. If it's a clear day, pay the fee to climb the spire of rock and check out the moutaintop view.
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Casa Museo Comandante Carlos Fonseca
The low-budget but heartfelt Casa Museo Comandante Carlos Fonseca honors Commander Carlos Fonseca, the intense and bespectacled architect of the Sandinista Movement. He grew up in this humble adobe with his single mother and four siblings, like Sandino, caught between abject poverty and relative wealth after his coffee-scion father finally admitted paternity when Carlos was in grade school.
At age 19, in 1955, Fonseca joined the PSN (Nicaraguan Socialist Party) and started publishing Marxist tracts. After the 1959 Cuban Revolution he was invited to a journalists' convention in Havana, where he ended up staying to host Sandino discussion groups. This sort of thing didn't s…
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Hiking
Hiking maps with precise instructions (after going under the barbed-wire fence, take the small path to the left of the big bend in the stream…) are sold by Centro Girasol Café.
Routes include: Ruta Cerro El Toro (3-6 hrs - See the bullshaped rock and wonderful city views); Ruta de Cafe (3-7 hrs - Climb up into the organic coffee farms in the mountains around town); Ruta de la Guerra 1978 (1½-5 hrs - When Matagalpans fled the city in 1978, they hid at Cerro Buena Vista and Cerro Apante, there are fine views); Ruta de la Guerra 1979 (1½-4 hrs - The National Guard later retreated to scenic Cerro El Calvario, along paths now lined with pottery studios and forests); Ruta Sa…
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Grupo Venancio
When you tell your taxi driver 'Grupo Venancio,' three blocks east and three blocks south of Parque Morazán, he may ask why you want to hang out with lesbians and witches (brujas). But there are so many reasons! One of Matagalpa's best nights out, this women's collective runs an excellent bar and restaurant which shows movies, has live music and hosts all manner of woman-empowering events.
It's usually only open Fridays, with movies and a quieter crowd, and Saturdays, which get packed if the band is good; there's usually no cover. This is a good place to start looking for Matagalpa's thriving gay and lesbian scene, but respectful heterosexual men can and have scored here…
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Cerámica Negra Tradicional
Matagalpa, along with Jinotega, is known for its smooth, heavy black pottery, an effect achieved by specially preparing the volcanic clay, firing it until red hot, then removing bowls and pots with tongs and tossing cedar ashes over them. Cerámica Negra Tradicional, two blocks east of the cathedral, offers pieces by Doña Ernestina Rodríguez, including jewelry and tiny tea sets. There are several other shops nearby.
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La Vita é Bella
If you can't find it, take a taxi; if they can't find it, tell them 'Parañas Billares,' which is at the entrance to the narrow alley where this hidden gem serves up tasty Italian and vegetarian specialties in an intimate setting. Try the pizza (some of it on focaccia) or spaghetti vitabella, with a bacon and mushroom white sauce with olives, but start with a bruschetta and finish with an espresso beverage.
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Iglesia Catedral San Pedro
The 1874 Iglesia Catedral San Pedro is considered one of the country's most beautiful buildings. It's a solid neoclassical structure that has simply seen one too many bombing runs. Originally founded by the Jesuits, who were later run out of the country, this fading beauty fronts Parque Morazán, where most of the city's public events take place.
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Foreigners Cemetery
Just east of the city are two outstanding cemeteries, if you're into that sort of thing; the Foreigners Cemetery and the National Cemetery. There are great views, a break from the traffic and the headstone of Benjamin Linder, an American hydroelectric engineer and unicycle clown who was killed by Contra forces in 1987.
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Centro Girasol
More than just an outstanding source of great coffee, fabulous baked goods and sweet treats, the Girasol is part of Familias Especiales Julia Biliarte, an organization that supports disabled kids and their families. Around the corner, Casa de Yogurt has fresh, frozen and/or flavored yogurt for the same great cause.
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Café Picoteo
This cozy wood-paneled hangout is a Matagalpa classic, serving espresso beverages alongside affordable Nica snacks like nacatamales, vigarón (mashed yucca topped with coleslaw and pork rinds) and the excellent enchiladas suizas (with ham and cheese).
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Cyber Moagüina
Named for one of the original 10 indigenous settlements of the valley, this cybercafé's coffee, batidos and pastries are so good that it's almost worth the slightly higher Internet prices to enjoy them. Or just come for the coffee and surf elsewhere.
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Iglesia San José
Iglesia San José was originally constructed in 1751 and used as a jail for indigenous rebels in the late 1800s, then rebuilt to its current glory in 1917 by Franciscan friars. It fronts Parque Rubén Darío and has a nice baroque altar.
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El Pullazo
A see-and-be-seen spot for Matagalpa's upper crust, this place serves the spectacular and eponymous cut of marinated beef and delicious steaks, served alongside fresh güirílas. It's just south of town on the highway to Managua.
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National Cemetery
Just east of the town center, there are great views, a break from the traffic and the headstone of Benjamin Linder, an American hydroelectric engineer and unicycle clown who was killed by Contra forces in 1987.
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La Hora del Taco
Serving the same great Mexican food as its sister restaurant in Managua - it uses spices! - one can only hope that this place becomes a full-blown chain. Just south of town on the highway to Managua.
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Finca San Antonio
There's a simple, four-room hospedaje on this dairy and coffee farm, which has some of the best access to Reserva Natural Cerro El Arenal, including a waterfall on Río El Ocote.
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Buffet Shangrilah
Show up at regular mealtimes for the best selection at this solid steam-table buffet, with a better-than-average salad bar and selection of vegetarian entrees. Bonus: they deliver.
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Rosticería La Posada
Half a block west of Parque Darío, this popular eatery specializes in chicken dishes, like the tasty pollo en salsa jalapeño (chicken in jalapeño sauce).
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Finca Shamballa
Located inside Reserva Natural Cerro El Arenal, this swish spot offers tourist packages that include not just food and horseback riding, but also aromatherapy and massage.
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Finca La Ponderosa
Four kilometers north of Matagalpa, this ecological finca offers horseback tours through organic coffee, after which you can swim beneath a chilly waterfall.
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