Tour to Esteli, Reserva Tisey. Somoto Canyon

I just got back from that area.

I'd say you aren't going far enough northwest to see "real" cloud forest. I really recommend renting a car. Rent a daihatsu terios or something, should be about 50 bucks a day. Really you don't even need 4wd, just ground clearance. Really. And I would skip sebaco, unless you want to buy vegetables or something. If you are near selva negra, you gotta make the trip up to Jinotega.

you'd love Penas Blancas Massif. It is truly a cloud forest. The scenery there was really incredible. It's easy to find, and it is about 2 hours north of Matagalpa on one of the prettiest drives I've ever been on. You can stay at the lodge there, it is somewhat rustic. The people there are very nice and hospitable, but speak a spanish that is very hard to understand sometimes. Message me and I will send you some pictures. They really don't do it justice, though.

Also, if you go to Jinotega City, drive in to the city, pass a couple pulperias, and on your right on the corner, there is one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at, and it cost me about 3 dollars...

Be aware that the northern highlands (mainly in the northwest, like Jinotega and that area) will be in the rainy season still. Take extra long pants, and prepare for mud- if you will be on any distance hikes, you will need tall waterproof boots if you want your feet to stay dry.

It seems like a long way to go, but the journey is so amazing that it really flies by. Let me know if you need any specifics or anything.

Edit: A lot of people seem to be against renting a car, but I think a lot of them have never tried it. It is so easy to find your way between cities, often due to the fact that there is only one road/possibility. We never at any point had to take a turn that was not marked well, except for in the cities, where you will need basic spanish skills to ask for directions. If anything happens, flat, breakdown, etc, you will be swarmed with other drivers trying to help (and not just because you are a gringo). I mentioned in another post that driving in Nicaragua is seems to be safer and less stressful in many respects than in the U.S. Other drivers are slow and cautious, and are very courteous. I found it frustrating to drive in the U.S. on the way home.

Sorry to barge in..... Will the Matagalpa region still be rainy in two weeks? Would it be possible to just buy the plastic boots in Matagalpa?

Julie: When will you be at FEV? Perhaps we will bump into each other there.

Aujohn: Penas Blancas sounds wonderful. Is it doable in a day? Through Matagalpa Tours or other? Perhaps on my way back from FEV I can explore that option.

Will be leaving next week and plan to be @ FEV about the 19th.

Happy Travels.

Well, the amount of rain really depends on how far north/west you go. Matagalpa is technically in the dry season in November, but you might get rained on. I wouldn't let it bother you, though. I am sure you could find boots on the way to Penas Blancas, there are several general stores on the way, right on the main road, where I'm sure you could get some (everyone wears them there) but I think they only carry up to a men's 10.5 or something.

It will almost definitely rain in the Massif, but only in the afternoon/night. The guy up there says it is only really dry from march to april. But don't let that stop you. I will say I was uncomfortable because I was unprepared. You need the boots, rain jacket and pants, quick dry clothing, and something to keep your camera dry. just wear good socks with the boots b/c they rub the hell out of my feet. I would even say that a really small umbrella would be great for photos, so you dont ruin your camera. And don't forget something warm for when you get back. It was cool; maybe 60 degrees or so. If you are wet, that's pretty chilly.

Matagalpa tours does run a trip up there, but really, you could just take the bus if you wanted to save some money. They don't seem to be as packed as the buses further south, and it's not hot so you wont be terribly miserable. It's not that far from Matagalpa, and you never take a turn until you see the sign for Penas Blancas. Guides are available there easily, and you don't need reservations. They do not know english up there, so take a phrase book if you don't know much spanish.

You can do it in a day if you get there early, depending on where you want to go. To the waterfall (must see) it is about 2 hours round trip, maybe a little more. To the top of the massif is a good bit; I didn't do it because all of my stuff was soaked from hiking in the rain.

I will say this: if you are expecting the hilton, or even a decent hostel, and warm, dry weather to kick back and relax in, this isn't for you. Accomodations were clean and comfortable, but spartan. Outhouse toilets, cold showers (skip that!), sketchy power, and gallo pinto con huevos. It's a real adventure, though. Again, PM me and I can send you some pictures/video clips.

This has been a great help! We are typically not tour people and do things independently, but we really don't have a lot of time to just hang around and wait for buses because we are on a 12 day timeframe and have lots of thigs we want to do. That's why we were investigating private driver or private tours. I do speak a little Spanish, and can make myself understood as long as it isn't very complicated at all. But, I'd bring phrase book and a dictionary, and I should be ok. We've travelled many places off the usual tourist path where English speakers are fairly non-existent.

Aujohn--We were really put off by the idea of driving because so many people say not to do it. But, this doesn't sound bad at all, and it certainly would give us the flexibility we want. I'm so glad you edited your first post to include the driving piece. We've driven dirt roads here at home in the US, and we've driven in the remote reaches of the Yucatan, in Romania on mountaineous roads, rural Turkey, and in several other places where people told us not to rent a car.

I will have to get my map out and take a look at the area once again. Thanks for telling me that I probably wouldn't be far enough NW to truly be in the cloud forest.

We will be in the area in the early part of January, so perhaps I don't need to worry as much about the rain. Thanks all!

about the cloud forest thing, Selva Negra and the hills around Matagalpa will still feel like cloud forest. It's just one of those things- we stayed in Selva Negra, and it definitely seemed like a "cloud forest" to me, but I was forced to re-define it when we went further north/west. It really has an other-worldly feel to it.

As for driving, getting around that area is especially easy. I drove all over the country, and the Matagalpa region was the easiest to navigate (and the most fun). No driving through Managua, roads generally good and well marked, and not too much traffic. Also, cops don't pull over gringos in this part of the country like they sometimes do down south.

I had a grand vitara, but you can get a daihatsu for half the cost, and it is a little bit better suited for the terrain.

Hi--
It's me again with more questions. How long were you in this area? What was the route you took? I see you stayed at the Massif and at Selva Negra. Was this it, or did you stay other places in the area? Did you feel safe leaving your rental car while you hiked? I know even here in the US some places it is not safe to leave a car at a trailhead. Did you have reservations ahead of time or just wing it? Finally, are you fluent in Spanish? (I can do very basic communications in Spanish.) Did you rent your car after you got to the area or did you have a rental car the entire time you were in Nicaragua? Thanks.

Julie

hey. I was in the area for 3 days, so I was really only able to scratch the surface. When I go back, I will probably spend about 5 more days there. Leaving your rental car should be fine. We just left it at wherever we were staying, which was at the massif and at Selva Negra. Also, they don't have trailheads like here in the states. I think you pretty much have to go into one of these reserves, where they have guides and a lodge (or at least someone lives there). You will want a guide, ours cost about 60 cords/person.

No reservations, but we went right before the high season (although I find it doubtful that there is ever a real high tourist season in that area). You might want to call Selva Negra before you go, they seem like they might get busier, plus they are in all the guidebooks.

No I am not fluent, but I am comfortable in conversations, I probably sound pretty awkward, because I don't know a lot of the idiomatic expressions and what not. The campesinos have a very difficult to understand accent, so you might have to get them to slow down.

We had a rental car the entire time. Never had any problems, not even in Managua (we got hopelessly lost in a bad part of town).

The most important spanish to learn is numbers. All of the high numbers, because you will be paying in cordobas. Also, don't count on finding an ATM out there. Just take plenty of cords.

Thanks much. I can see you have an advantage over me, My Spanish is very, very basic, but with the help of some bodylanguage and a dictitonary I can probably make myself somewhat understood if the conversation is very slow and uses very basic vocabulary. Did you find you had to stop to ask for directions a lot?

I've been looking at tours too and have found a couple that do this area. So I'm still trying to decide what to do. Are you are saying that even though everything I've read says the roads in this area are terrible, potholed and rutted, we should be okay with a rental car? And as long as I can make it to the lodge on my own, I should be able to hire a guide from there?