Esteli, Nicaragua is a great town full of activities and a great vibe. It is a dry town with beautiful skies and even more beautiful sunsets. Around Esteli, a traveler can live with families on the coffee cooperatives of Miraflor, hike to a waterfall, tour the tabacalera, and eat an assortment of amazing foods such as: freshly cooked bread and great street side foods.
The Tabacalera Santiago is on the south part of town where a tourist can tour the factory and discover the art of selecting leaves, drying leaves, and rolling cigars. The process is very in dept. The cigars from Esteli are organically grown, and take up to two years to cure the leaves before being rolled into cigars. Similar to my compost pile at home, the leaves have to be turned every few weeks or until the stack of leaves reach a temperature of 120 degrees fahrenheit.
Cascada Salto Estanquela
A pleasant 1.5 to 2 hour hike from the center of town brings a traveler to the Cascada Salto Estanzuela. The waterfall is surprisingly remote and very beautiful. It is one of the most pleasant waterfalls I have ever seen. A person is able to swim in the pool below and into the waterfall.
La Casita
On the way back from Cascada Salto Estanquela 600 m. west on the Pan American is a nice restaurant called La Casita. It has a nice garden and freshly baked bread in a fire brick oven. They also serve humus and tomatoes along with freshly squeezed orange juice.
I went to the SomotoCanyon today outside of Esteli, Nicaragua. It was a really beautiful and special place. A person is able to hike and swim down the canyon while enjoying the cool water, wonderful scenery, and a variety of plants, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife. It is a little bit off the beaten track, but I think it is worth mentioning.
To get to the Somoto Canyon from Esteli, get the express bus to Somoto (1.5 hrs.) at the Cotran Norte
Or-Catch the Somoto Express coming from Managua at the Shell Esqupulas just north of the Cotran Norte
Or-Catch the Ocotal Expreso. It can drop you off at Empalme and take a taxi to Somoto Station.
Remember the last bus to Esteli leaves at 3:15
At Somoto, catch the bus to Espino. The bus leaves every 45 minutes, and the journey takes about 25 minutes. Tell the bus driver you want to get off at the Entrada para Canyon de Somoto.
There is a big sign notably saying “Pali” marking the way to the canyon on the right side.
A guide meets you at the river with tubes and a inflatable raft to cary your dry goods.
Be sure to bring: picnic, plastic bag, water, bathing suit, sunscreen, and possibly a few beers.
The Fair Trade Coffee Trail is a project that works with five cooperatives and four communities, with the goals of: raising awareness and communication between coffee farmers in the South and consumers in the North, diversifying the income of cooperative members and their families, and promoting fair trade while conserving biodiversity in the region.
SEÑORA RAYO Y FAMILIA
The communities offer a perfect opportunity for a person to get to understand fair trade by living and sharing with a family from one of four communities in the north of Nicaragua, learn about the culture, cultivate friendships, and enjoy the beauty of this region. A person can enjoy: waterfalls, lookout points, orchids, birds, and other flora and fauna. It is interesting to see how sustainable development practices in coffee help preserve these habitats. During the time on the tour, a person is able to participate in a number of cultural, recreational, athletic and artistic activities.
Coffee has been farmed in Northern Nicaragua since the middle of the nineteenth century. Matagalpa and Jinotega are excellent regions for coffee production and the coffee is internationally renowned for its high quality and balanced cup.
The cooperatives have been finalists int he Cup of Excellence, which takes place in Nicaragua, as well as in international fairs in North America, Europe and Japan.
The north of Nicaragua does not only offer a great experience in coffee; it also offers a cool climate with a panoramic view of mountains, plus flora and fauna ready to be observed.
When the international coffee prices fell to historic lows in 2001, the crisis was felt strongly in all coffee growing ares such as Matagalpa. It is in this context that the cooperatives of small scale coffee farmers began to look for alternatives to the coffee crisis and strengthen the relationships between consumers and creating new forms of income for the farmers. Since 2003, CECOCAFEN and the UCA San Ramon have promoted a rural and community based tourism program as part of a strategy to diversify incomes of rural families, as well as promote direct contact with coffee consumers linked to the fair trade movement. The tourism promotes a direct relationship between visitors and farmers in the communities, with the objective of letting them get to know the culture, daily lives, and productive activities. These visits are organized in various communities which are grouped together in what is known as the Fair Trade Coffee Trail.
Barro negro from Trova Imports is made in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico outside Oaxaca city in San Bartolo Coyotepec. The mud (barro) is brought down from the mountains of the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca on the back of mules. Originally orange, in color, the mud is soaked in water for days to weeks or until it is the right consistency for molding pottery (candle holders, vases, decorative figures, and hudreds of more objects) using primitive tools such as bottle tops, points of pens, nails, ect. Once the object has been molded, it is placed in a kiln, where through oxidation, the orange mud turns black. It is then polished and sold in the market.
The barro negro industry supports the indigenous communities in San Bartolo. Most of the barro negro in Oaxaca comes from San Bartolo Coyotepec.
In Nicaragua has its own barro negro called ceramica negra. The process for making the pottery is the same, but the designs are different. This pottery comes from Mategalpa, Nicaragua, and it also supports the local artisans in preserving thier art and traditions.
Monimbo is a bario that is an artisan community in the city of Masaya. The products produced by the people of Monimbo can be found in the mercado principal in the city of Masaya. The artisans are experts at making hammocks, leather products, textiles, furniture, and a variety of hats. While walking through the neighborhood of Monimbo a person can hear the carpenters cutting their wood for furniture, cobblers hammering away at a sole of a shoe, and smell the leather of someone making a purse, shoe, or saddle. It is a very special place.
Carpentry & Furniture
Hammocks
Leather Products
Shoes
Textiles
Hats
Trova hopes to one day offer these products on its website to help support the economies of the indigenous community of Monimbo. If you are interested in any of these products, please contact us and let us know.
Lago Apoyo is a beautiful crater lake outside of Masaya, Nicaragua. Although it is normally expensive, David and Barbara, from Austria, and I were able to put up our hammocks on the banks of the lake at the house of Cesar. He was happy to have us, and we were able to share our time at the lake with his beautiful family.
The lake is supposedly the cleanest water in Central America. Motorized boats are not allowed, and the people, like in all of Nicaragua are very friendly.
I went to Leon and hiked to the summit of Telica with a group of volunteers called quetzaltreckers. I hiked with them in Guatemala as well. They are a nonprofit that gives the profits from the hikes to street kids for school supplies and education.
The hike to Telica is a two day hike that took us along a beautiful sunken path shrouded by trees while the volcano smolders ominously above. Climbing to the summit allows breathtaking views of the landscape below. We then set up camp in the grassy outer crater.
Afterwards a couple from Austria, that was on the hike, asked me to go with them to a surfing beach called Transito. It was amazing. David and Barbera bought a jeep in Merida, and they are traveling for a year to Chile. When we arrived in Transito, there was not a hotel, so we asked around and a senora let us hang our Trova hammocks on her front porch. It was great.
Transito is a small fishing village, so every morning I would wake up at sunrise a watch the fishermen bring in the catch from the night before. we ate fresh tuna fried, tacos, and soup. It was the best fish I have ever eaten. I suck at surfing.
Nicaragua is very poor. The traveling is tough, but it is very cheap. I am going to try to stay hear as long as possible before I leave to Guatemala.
Four years ago I bought a house and started an import company of hand-made products from Latin America. The first trip was in my 1976 VW bus from Austin, Texas to Merida, Yucatan. On the way, I hit a buzzard, the roof blew off the top of my bus, and my accelerator broke in the middle of Tampico (Luckily my buddy Q told me to take an extra cable). I ended up at the border with a bus full of hammocks and no broker. Picture a line in the X-ray machine consisting of 18-wheeler, 18-wheeler, VW, 18-wheeler, 18-wheeler, etc.
During the adventure and frustration of starting a company, I also refurbished a house where I lived in the root cellar for six months while I got rid of the termites and finished one room to put a mattress on the floor. The idea was for me to rent out the house while I traveled to Latin America setting up contacts for Trova. Four years later the dream lives on, and I am renting out the house and, once again, moving all of my belongings into the root cellar.
Trova Imports was started to promote the economies of indigenous communities of Latin America. All of Trova’s products are fairly traded helping to sustain the economies, art, and traditions of the indigenous communities of Latin America.
Welcome to the TrovaBlog. This blog will focus primarily on the economies of indigenous communities in Central America and Mexico starting January 1, 2009. The blog will be maintained by Blake Smith President of Trova Imports Inc. www.trovaimports.com He will be record indigenous economies and communities in Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico until March 2009.
Esteli, Nicaragua is a great town full of activities and a great vibe. It is a dry town with beautiful skies and even more beautiful sunsets. Around Esteli, a traveler can live with families on the coffee cooperatives of Miraflor, hike to a waterfall, tour the tabacalera, and eat an assortment of amazing foods such as: freshly cooked bread and great street side foods.
I went to the SomotoCanyon today outside of Esteli, Nicaragua. It was a really beautiful and special place. A person is able to hike and swim down the canyon while enjoying the cool water, wonderful scenery, and a variety of plants, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife. It is a little bit off the beaten track, but I think it is worth mentioning.
The 
