Ambling around in Miraflor

For the first time in a while, we spent a whole day walking in the countryside in Miraflor. We had been set a task of sorts by our friend Nick, to visit a coffee cooperative in Cebollal, a few miles from Sontule, to find out a bit more about the work the cooperative is doing in the area. We had some vague directions and got lost a couple of times, which was absolutely fine, as the high plateau of Miraflor is a beautiful area of cloud forest, farming and quiet, rural communities. After a couple of hours wandering along tracks, we came to the community of Cebollal where several tourist ventures have been set up with lovely cabins. It's worth mentioning that these would be highly suitable for any family or friends who want to come and visit us from the UK (we're still waiting for offers). We had a yummy juice at one place and then got shown around another, where we were too stingy to spend £3 each on lunch (the local rate is 50p), but did climb up a rickety wooden ladder to its view point.

All the farmers we were hoping to track down in Cebollal were in Esteli for a meeting, so we just had a little explore ourselves around an environmental centre, an orchid garden, a coffee tasting lab and a beautiful area of coffee planted beneath tall native trees. The coffee cherries were abundant on the trees but still green. They should be bright red and ripe for picking come December. Luck was with us at lunchtime, when we stumbled not only upon the perfect house for a delicious, locally priced lunch, but also the home of the only coffee farmer, Luis Romero, in the village that day. He had stayed behind because he was overseeing a workforce fixing the road. On his patio, flanked by coffee and banana plants, flowers and herbs, we chatted to him for an hour or so about the coffee cooperative and the traditional medicinal plants which he is researching and has re-introduced to the area. With Luis and his youngest daughter Carla.

We found a shorter but equally pleasant route back to Sontule, which was fortunate, since we arrived back at Rogelio and Lucia's house the very second that an almighty, three hour downpour began. Rather than sheltering from the rain, the family were outside capturing rain water in very high spirits, relieved that there was a reprieve from what has been an worryingly dry rainy season.