lindas travel blog: Homestay at Las Palmas in Miraflor

I slept in the quite beautiful town Esteli 3 nights before I went to see the Reserva Natural Miraflor. On leaving Esteli at 05:30 in the morning, I found that a couple from USA was going with the same bus to another part of Miraflor. An old local lady came on the buss, and the expression: "the cat it out of the bag" came true as one of her plastic bags came to life and suddenly a tiny kitten was crawling all over her. The old lady put the kitten back in the plastic bag to keep it from wandering about, the 3 of us, the gringos, laughet at the sight of the kitten sticking out of the plastic bag. The lady did not mind all the attention she and her cat was given, and soon the kitten got to know all of us as the lady tied a tread around its neck so that it would not get lost in the bus. The busride was beyond bumpy, so the poor thing struggeled to stay on its feet. Not only had the lady a cat in a plastic bag, but she had also chickens in a box. On the bumpy and very slow busride on dirtroad with a ratteling box for a bus, I had a very, very interessting conversation with the couple. She had traveled in Nicaragua before, and I have never met someone who has been as well informed on history and the culture as I usually am. Usually I am like a tourguide with WAY too much information, and people ask me about things. We were so deep in conversation that I forgot to get off at my families house, the father of the family, Dennis, came and picked me up on a motorbike.

I wanted to do homestay there and learn about the life of the families there and see how they lived, since their life is quite primitive in our point of wiev. What I found is that despite the lack of electricity and the tons of things that we are used to haveing in Norway, is that it is not a primitive life at all. On the conterary it is a very natural, calm and stressfree life that I would not mind living myself. No pressure of owning things, and no loud commercials from TV telling you how unhappy you will be without a certain uselss thing. The house of Estela and Dennis, my first family was so beautiful. The original and simple design of their selfconsttructed home really impressed me. The walls are made of brick and bamboo. The flors are made out of cleansweept concreet. There are 3 entrances into the house, throug the open kitchen area, the "sala" (family room), where the family spends their evenings. They have one bamboo sofa with big pillows too sit on and for the back, and a couple of chairs. One enterance to the small eating area next to the kichen, the wall between the kitchen and the eating area is made of bamboo. In the eating area they have a long table to fit the family and some guests, and plastic chairs. Outside is teeming with beautiful butterflies, hummingbirds and flowers. I was so impressed over the homemade decore, and found myself admireing every detail of the house all the time. It is so clever and resourceful done that I was thinking that it is a perfect house. And indeed, living a natural life, with just the things most nessecary and in the middle of beautiful flowers and trees makes people happy, relaxed and really, really kindhearted. I was so warmely welcomed and comfortable that I did not want to leave. Their children are so lovley, I can never meet anyone like them all over Norway, and to my surprise they said that they could never live in a city, all though they actually have travelled a bit and know Managua, Granada, and even Costa Rica. They are not bored spending a day in their own sole company, thinking about life, riding in the woods and so on. They sang and danced for me, and showed me how they dance the kumbia in Miraflor. But that was in the evening. I arrived at 7:00 am, and Estela made me a delicious breakfast. The guide, Nelson, came to pick me up at 08:00 am and he took me hiking in the area by a 30 m. free fall waterfall where we swam. I had a delicious lunsje with the family and then I got to ask about their farm and life. They have 2 pigs, 1 cow, a few chickens and 2 horses. They grow beans, corn and coffe
organically. They also have a few vegetables, and when they need something they go to the neighbour (the ucmother of Dennis or the cousin of Dennis; Nelson, my guide for the day) and they change: a tomato for a lettuce. Some of the crop they sell as organically certified products from the naturereserve. One of the places where you can buy their organic products is in Cafe Luz opposite of Hospedaje La Luna where I stay when I am in Esteli. They have a few organic veggies and organic coffe.it The children in the family goes to school manday to thursday for 6 hours. The boy, Dennis is 11, the girl Rosario is 16, and a cousin that grew up with them, Daisy is 17. They told me they are like sisters. daisy grew up between the grandmother (also Rosario) and Dennis and Estela. I enjoyed a nice dinner with the whole family, and later all heavens opened up and let out all its waters. We were outside under a leafroof constructed over a comfortable hammock, but even the short distance back to the house were enough to drench anyone that tried to step out of the safety of the roof. I was very tired for sleeping in a dorm.room in Esteli and then get up at 5 am in the morning, so I asked the family when they go to bed, and that is 20:00 pm! But, they told me, sometimes when they have visitors they stay up until 21:00!!!! The family had a few lights in the house that was connected to a few solar pannels that Dennis got just 4 months ago, he told me. They told me a little bit about the sivil war and how they have had to fight to get the house constructed, and of all the suffering they had to go through to get were they are now. To me they were a really, really content and happy family. And when I asked how it is to be a woman there I was told that it is very good and safe, and also a relaxing and good place for children to grow up. Even though they go to Esteli and Managua frequently, the family has no longing for the modern life with TVs and noisy cars. Since the rain was pouring down so hard I feared that I had to get up in the night to go to the "latrina", outdoor toilet, during the night. But actually it was so quiet there and pitch dark (there are no street lights or any artificial lights so I had to bring my flashlight in case of nature calling in the nightl), that I slept like a baby, and was rested and full of energy to go on a long horsebackride the day after.

Pic. from my hike in the area. The pic are far from giving justice to the beauty and richness of the landscape.
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