Managua and Selva Negra, Matagalpa

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First of all, sorry I haven't written for a while, but...actually, I do not have any excuses, I was just lazy!  Anyway, it is never too late.  So, on Sep 25th, Carla, a very nice (aren't we all?) portuguese girl  who is also thinking of coming to do volunteer work, was visiting here so she and I went to Nicaragua.  We took the bus from San Jose, a direct bus that takes about 8 hours.  A very boring journey, fortunately we had lots of food so that helped to pass the time.  We also watched a Jean Claude van Damme film, which is bad enough in English, but now imagine it dubbed in Spanish.  Anyway, we got there in the end, after having to go through the hassle of the border.  Managua is not a very pretty city but it was interesting to see.  We went to visit the clinic the Foundation has there and went as well to the thermal spa outside Managua.  We also visited Selva Negra in the mountains of Matagalpa.  The Selva Negra Mountain Resort was built in 1975 and is located on a coffee estate. The owners are descendants of German settlers.  They have their own clinic, school, chappel and their workers live on the estate.  It has a hotel, youth hostel, restaurant and they produce their own food and electricity.  It is really beautiful, we hiked around it and then went horse riding.  On top of it, I am not sure why, they did not charge us to get in.  We also managed to get a lift back to Matagalpa so we could take the bus back to Managua.  Buses in Nicaragua (called chicken buses in Central America) are old US school buses (that cannot be used in the Usa anymore) so they send them to Nicaragua.  A very interesting and fun experience!  Next stop:  Granada!