Nube Nueve/ Cloud Nine

  On our last night in Las Penitas, we had a lovely dinner party for a couple people in the community that helped us along our way.  Iain whipped up a delicious dinner of 3 dollars a pound filet, chicken, and lots of fresh veggies.  Hangovers in tow, we were able to leave the next morning and and head to Leon.  From Leon we caught a "chicken bus", which is a school bus on steroids, to Matagalpa.  We squashed in for the hot three hour ride to the area known as the cloud forest.
  Once we arrived, I realized the cloud forest was not nearly as gloomy as my imagination had illustrated it to be.  Checking into Hotel Alvabado was very  pleasant.  Owned by a nice couple and centrally located on the NW corner of Parque Dario.  The city skies were full of loud explosions and color.  This month is full of fiestas, the conception of Mary being one of many reasons to fill the streets with life.  Jimmy (surprise surprise) already had a real-estate guy ready for tomorrow.  We rented a truck to allow ourselves freedom to go to multiple properties in a short amount of time.  The following day we were taken to a few different properties, none encompassing everything we need.  Right before heading back into town a local man told us about another finca/farm up the road.  This place was a dream. 21 manzanas (1.7 acres per manzana) of rolling hills filled will coffee plants, papaya, coconut, and banana trees.  Walking deeper into the property we saw that the caretakers of the property were in the process of their early harvest coffee.  We were able to see the entire cultivating process.

1.      The bright red and yellow berries are hand picked off the shoulder high plants.  At this faze the berries are called cafe en uva.
2.      Then the berries are de fleshed.  They bright red or yellow flesh is removed either wet or dry.  At this farm they had a machine that removed the flesh by one person manually spinning a great big wheel that turns a "blade" under a funnel that the berries are being poured into.  The person pouring the berries in also constantly sprays the berries with water.  All the flesh is washed away to compost.
3. The berries still have coating on them.  After sitting for a day, they are then poured in a vat of water and stirred to remove the first coat.  At this point they are called cafe en pergamino (parchment coffee).
4. The beans are then laid in the sun
5. Next stored in a cool dark place for one month to really enrich the flavor of the beans.
6. Then they must be milled to remove the last hard coating.
7. Then roasted and packaged and shipped out.

A very good way to end the afternoon to an otherwise unproductive morning.  We now were ready to visit Esteli.
  We acquired a number to a man named Henry that is well known and respected in Esteli to show us around.  As soon as we arrived Henry took us to a farm just a couple Kil. outside of town.  Owned by an expat, the property sparked us all with inspiration.  A nice house, experiential crops, large mountain side and a year round river launched the area into our peek interest.  Even though the location was not exactly what we are looking for, it displayed the lands possibilities.  The next morning Henry took us into Mira Flor Nature Reserve.  Mira Flor has 5,000 citizens over 206 square kilometers.  This 28.9 acre property made us feel like we were on cloud nine(thank you Iain for the great name for our group).  There is a cabin in the process of being built with materials all taken from the land, some large areas cleared for crops, a gorgeous river side with massive rocks which create small falls, and an epic view of the surrounding reserve.  We were asked by the owner to return to the property, this time with him, tomorrow for a Christmas party he has every year for the community.  This will give us an  opportunity to interact with the community and them with us.  We are suppressing our urges to jump on the first farm we love by continuing to explore some other areas in Nicaragua.  This property is by far our number one.
  Yesterday Jimmy and I took a day off.  We searched for a couple of hours to find a cigar factory.  This is Cigar country!  After some frustration and multiple taxis we found Tabacalero Santiago.  We we warmly welcomed and given a full tour of the factory and in depth description of the process.  According to my Moon travel book (thanks Linda and Bruce) this factory is endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Charlie Sheen.  They also have a contract with the Playboy mansion.
  So between the properties, dentist (dental tourism woot woot), cockfights, horse parades, hen dress up pagents and cowboys we are all staying very busy and entertained.  We are heading South, after the Christmas party, to San Juan del Sur, the island Ometepe and San Carlos.  Until next time!!!!!        

Nicaragua WOOT WOOT

So we are finally here!  Jimmy and I arrived in Managua on the 25th of November.  Stayed one night in the Piramida hotel, owned by a very informative German man. After a simple breakfast of eggs, fried banna, beans n rice we headed North.  After a couple buses and a bit of confusion (and acknowledgment of my need of Spanish lessons) We made it to Los Penitas.  It is a small beach community about 20 minutes outside of Leon.  The beaches here rival Pensacola beach's beauty.  We found a hotel named Playa Roca and dumped our backpacks in the room and headed to the beach for a beer.  I spent the next days relaxing and cruising around with Jimmy checking out some rentals.  I did much more relaxing than Jimmy.  He just can not stop planning and thinking!  After a couple of days networking with people we met, we were able to rent a house!(Much thanks to Jimmy's inability to chill out)  Found a three bedroom place with an awesome yard and were able to move in hours before our friend Iain arrived from Haiti.  It was nice to surprise him with a HOUSE!  He laughed and asked "How long have you two been here?"  Two days later Neesh arrrived from Canada.  We had our first "formal" on site discussion on what exactly we all want out of this adventure.  So here we go!  We have looked at a couple different parcels of land around here close to the coast.  Also, a bit further inland we have checked out some farms!!!  We are thinking, buy a parcel close to the beach, build a modest house there and also find a farm to start our sustainable "community?"  Still have not sorted what to call it.  LOL every time I say community I think Hippy commune.  We are all very flexible so that plan might change.  There have been some promising places, yet not exactly what we want.  So, we are off north tomorrow.  Cloud forest here we come.  We are going to start in Matagalpa then possibly to Esteli.  The land seems more lush and fertile in those areas.  I have discovered a scorpion on my backpack, an iguana on our roof, been stung in the boob by a bee and started a photo series titled "farm animals on the beach!"  Life is good. La vida es buena! Lots of love to everyone and will talk to you soon enough.