Cloud Forest: Take 3

Is it a bad sign when you walk into the airport at 5am and the fire alarm starts going off? Apparently it means nothing because no one moved, business as usual. Not disturbing in the least...the automatic announcer periodically switching between "a fire has been reported and fire people are checking it out" and "everything is fine" for the next 2 hours. Maybe we almost died, maybe not. It only gets better.

Flight to Miami = uneventful

Miami airport = lame sauce

Our connecting flight was in Terminal E. There is nothing in Terminal E. Terminal E was last visited in the 80's. They hardly even bothered to turn the lights on. Seriously, dark and depressing. As a result, I failed to re-caffeinate. For this, I blame the shoddiness of Terminal E. It was all down hill from there.

Flight to Managua = headache (from lack of sleep and lack of caffeine)

While trying to get off the plane, some guy makes a bee-line for the bathroom at the back, like a salmon going upstream. Apparently something wasn't sitting well. I think he made it?

It seemed to take forever to get to the customs line, which is hard to do considering the airport is not so big, but when you get stopped by cross traffic it takes a while and maybe it seemed longer because I was also starting to feel a little nauseous. At any rate, we made it through customs and getting questioned about all the weird equipment in our bags. Phase 2 was deciding which mode of transport to take to Matagalpa: bus or taxi. For a split second it was up for debate (buses being much cheaper) and then I had to throw up. Made the decision easier. Getting stuck on a bus for at least 3 hours did not seem like the best option. Instead, some poor poor taxi driver got stuck with us. Ha! He certainly had to work for his fare and by that I mean we had to pull over at least 3 times on the side of the highway...so I could puke. Amazing. 

Although, perhaps if we weren't swerving into oncoming traffic to try to pass someone or tailgating large trucks belching diesel exhaust it might have been less...I figure he now has a good story to tell all his friends, or considering the incessant texting, was communicating it via live feed. I'm quite sure he thought we would never make it to Matagalpa. 

Eventually we made it (only slightly the worse for wear) and were deposited in the MaxiPali (mini Walmart) parking lot to wait for our next ride. Nothing like sitting in the middle of a parking lot on top of mountain of luggage to make you stand out. And then it started to rain...ok, heavy mist...

We did get picked up and after a longer than expected drive up winding roads into the mountains we arrived at Finca Esperanza Verde.

Things did improve vastly the next day and pretty much every day following. I was able to do things like eat food and walk up ridiculous numbers of stairs. You can't tell from the picture, but them there stairs are STEEP and they just keep going...and going...buns of steel, people, buns of steel. At least that's what I like to tell myself.

The coffee plants were hit pretty hard by La Roya, a not so nice, highly destructive fungus that is wreaking havoc in much of Central America, so the coffee harvest was significantly reduced and basically finished when we arrived. Only a few beans left drying.

Our first mission was to suss out the Golden-winged Warblers (and learn the trails). Those pesky little birds we were sent here to study.  During one of our hikes we came around the bend to a lagoon (on the map) and then discovered a maze of wooden ramps, stairs, and platforms around a little waterfall. Very Jungle Book-ish or Swiss Family Robinson. 

Obviously, we didn't really "discover" it but it was a very unexpected and fairly awesome surprise.

Eventually, we continued on our way

 -  For the longest time we thought our jungle book discovery was super far away in the woods due to the fact we were still unfamiliar with our surroundings. Only recently did we figure out how close it actually is. Geniuses - 

Oh hey, another waterfall. 

Sharna tries to get artsy...

So, yeah, it may have taken me forever to post this (and/or 3+ weeks) but I am going to try my darndest to post some more stuff soon, like before I leave. ha!