My husband and I took a trip into Matagalpa, a north-central department of Nicaragua, to see the countryside and to make the required tourist trip to Selva Negra, a beautiful coffee plantation in the mountains of Matagalpa. The road out of Managua, Caratera Norte through Tipitapa, was great until we reached Sebaco, where the road turns northeast toward Matagalpa. From that point on, we slowed to a snail's pace in order to try to avoid all the pot holes, road cracks and chasms. It was hard on our vehicle, on our brains and backs, but the beautiful views were not to be missed! The photo, above, is of the valley in which the city of Matagalpa sits.
Matagalpa, the city, is the capital of Matagalpa the department. The city has about 105,000 residents. The entire department is famous for its coffee plantations. The higher elevation (3000 ft. above sea level) produces a cooler and more humid climate, which supports deep forests and misty valleys. Many of the locals are starting eco-tourism companies that cater to tourists from around the world. The influence of international visitors is quite strong in this region -- from the initial coffee farmers to modern-day tourists. According to World 66 travel-site (www.world66.com/centralamericathecaribbean/nicaragua/matagalpa), Matagalpa is the only city in the country to have a cemetary for foreigners!
In my on-line research, I also learned that Matagalpa refers to an extinct indigenous language that was spoken by an ethnic group in the central highlands on Nicaragua, including the Matagalpa and Jinotega departments, and in Honduras, El Paraíso department. The Matagalpa speakers were a group of between 18,000 and 20,000 individuals, who were farmers. Wikipedia reports that many historians, archeologists, botanists and ethnologists have arrived in recent years to carry out research in this region. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matagalpa), many of them descendants of the American and European descendants from the previous century.
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