Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Estelí
(US$2, 1¾ hours, 5:15am, 7am, 9am, 1pm, 2:45pm and 3:30pm)
Pantasma (Asturias)
(US$2, 1½ hours, 4am to 4:30pm, hourly)
Pantasma (San Gabriel)
(US$1.80, 1½ hours, 5:30am to 4:30pm, hourly)
San Rafael del Norte
(
ordinario
US$0.80, 40 minutes;
expreso
US$1, 30 minutes; 6am
to 6pm, half-hourly)
Yalí
(US$2, two hours, 6am, 8:30am, 10am, noon and 2:30pm)
Buses departing from Cotran Sur:
Managua
(US$3.40, 3½ hours, 4am to 4pm, 10 daily) Via new road, does not enter
Matagalpa.
Matagalpa
(US$1, 1¼ hours, 5am to 6pm, half-hourly)
TOP OF CHAPTER
Reserva Natural Cerro Datanlí-El Diablo
The mountains towering over and buffering the eastern end of Jinotega are part of this
stunning 10,000-hectare reserve, which climbs well into the quetzal zone at 1650m. It is a
magical place with butterflies dancing around coffee bushes that cling to impossibly steep
mountainsides in the shade of lush cloud forest. Cuculmeca (
Click here
)
has organized
tourist routes through the reserve and can arrange guides. For more on the park's attrac-
The main southern entrance to the reserve is 12.5km down yet another lousy dirt road
from the signed turnoff 'Km146' on the Matagalpa-Jinotega road. Stay straight until you
reach the village of
La Fundadora
, where you'll find the incredibly peaceful community-
run
Eco-Albergue
( 2782-3579, 8929-7439; La Fundadora; r per person US$10)
. It consists of
half-a-dozen cute brick huts with tiled roofs overlooking farmland about 1km outside the
village. If there is no-one around, ask at
Comedor Nilita
(La Fundadora; meals US$1.50-2.50;
7am-8pm)
, which also serves a great typical rural meal.
From La Fundadora, it's another rough 30-minute drive to the impressive
La Bujona
wa-
terfall in the community of
La Esmeralda
. Surrounded by ethereal cloud forest, La Bujona
is a wide wall of water that crashes over the rock face in various streams. It feels far from
civilization and receives very few visitors, a fact certified by the lack of rubbish and the
rotten planks you walk over on the trail. The path begins by two small posts just before
the wooden bridge. In La Esmeralda there are two
comedores
serving hearty meals.
