Miraflor should take one hour but we were on the bus for two. The bus travelled along every remote road you can imagine. Crawling up and down dusty trails at a snail’s pace, dropping off coffee plantation workers on their way to work. It didn’t matter that the journey took so long. The scenery was gorgeous.

Our arrival point wasn’t where we were expecting. Asking the driver when the bus returned, we were informed it was 3:00PM (having earlier been told the Miraflor / Yeli bus left at 4:00PM). We were now convinced our journey was on the ‘wrong’ Miraflor bus). Anyway, it was now 7:30AM, so it was a long time to explore.

Greeting us off the bus was a dog. Instantly taking a shine to Rose it led us down a path, through fields, fairy tale forests and farmers’ gates. This dog was the perfect tour guide. Looking out for our every move, fending off other dogs and even scaring away cows! (Although the cows didn’t need scaring away…cows are harmless).

The dog’s return trip lasted for an unbelievable three hours! We got treated to nature that was nothing like how I imagined Nicaragua to be.

Resting back where the bus dropped us off, we asked a lady in her home shop when the next bus to Esteli was. There was another bus at 11:30AM, but that was an hour’s walk away (clearly we had caught the wrong bus in the morning). Otherwise it was in that very spot at maybe 2:30 – 3:00PM. Hmmm! Still a lot of time on our hands.

We rested for a while. Over the course of an hour some interesting characters passed by the shop. We were visited by locals, chickens, other dogs, the army, crisp and then cake salesmen. I do enjoy people watching!

Not wanting to sit for hours, we set off on another adventure. The dog remaining a loyal companion and tour guide. This time we followed the main road and it led to a finca (coffee plantation). Although surprised at visitors, the lady rustled us up some food and of course, a coffee. Exploring the finca, we walked a nature trail and saw some beautiful flowers and fauna.

During the nature trail, our four legged companion got itchy feet and nearly started a fight with a bull. It was time to leave.

Enjoying the scenery and wanting to take full advantage of the fincas, we rested at another one a further half an hour up the road. Our dog (now conveniently christened ‘Finca’ by Rose and I), strolled in to their kitchen.

The owner didn’t seem to mind. Asking if she knew the dog, their reply was “Yes it’s mine. She’s called Bambino“. The owner was completely un-surprised to hear the dog had now spent five hours with us.

After relaxing with a coffee and freshly squeezed orange, we caught wind of the time and made our way back to the starting point. A journey in Miraflor wouldn’t be complete without a dog, so another one joined us. It stuck by our side all the way.

3:00PM rolled around and sure enough,  bus arrived. We were going back to Esteli after an unplanned and adventurous day.

Visiting Miraflor

If you want to visit Miraflor and get a real local experience, such as living with a family and staying in their home, Treehuggers offer eco tours.

Other things to see in the Esteli and Miraflor area

The area of Miraflor and Esteli is renown for cigars. I’ve heard of tours that let you smoke all you wish until the visit ends. More information is available here.

Coffee plantations are in abundance. Exploring the trails of Miraflor, you’re bound to find some. If you’d like to arrange a tour of a larger scale plantation, visit Matagalpa Tours for more information.