Matagalpa is in the hills in the central north of Nicaragua. We came here to get away from the heat of the lowlands and to fill in time over Semana Santa, Easter, when everyone gets a week off and heads to the beaches. We will stay one more day and on Monday will travel south back to Rivas and then on to Costa Rica.
Matagalpa is a nice town, nothing really special but we have a nice big airy room at Hotel Apante (220c) with an ensuite and cable tv so can watch shows in english.
Easter Friday Carol was woken early by the strains of music in the street. She went and looked and there was a procession going through the town. People carrying a lifesize model of Christ carrying a cross. They were followed by a band of trumpets and a tuba and another statue of Mary. The band was a bit umpah but drew the attention.
In the evening the same thing but this time Christ was in a coffin, still followed by Mary. This time they went all over town then back to the church. The platform that they carry Christ on looks pretty heavy, the young men carry it and just sort of rock along even when they are standing still.
Other than that it was a pretty low key Easter. We talked to some guys in the park, they were great but as usual hit us up at the end for some money. We did go up to Jinotega for the day, it was a great journey even higher up into the hills. We had a nice day there just looking about but Carol lost her good poloroid sunglasses somewhere (really important because of her eye problems) luckily she carries a spare pair, we haven't been able to find any here.
The area here is fairly brown, the rainy season starts in a month and we could imagine that it will be lovely then. There are lots of trees but even so high up it is still fairly hot. We sleep at night with the fan on.
