Matagalpa

Matagalpa lies in a valley at around seven hundred metres surrounded by green mountains, and coffee runs through everything here: the surrounding hills are covered in shade plantations, cooperatives have offices in town, and the city has developed a genuine cafe culture around beans grown within sight of the streets. German settlers arrived in the nineteenth century and left a mark on the coffee industry and on some of the architecture. The cathedral faces the main park, there is a small museum on the poet Carlos Martínez Rivas and a cultural centre, and the Cerro Apante reserve rises directly behind. It is a base for the northern highlands rather than a sight in itself, and it is noticeably cooler than the lowlands.

History

Matagalpa was a town of the Cacaopera, or Matagalpa, people, whose language has been extinct since 1875, when the first Spaniards arrived in 1528. Gold was found nearby by 1840, and the German settlers Ludwig Elster and Katharina Braun planted the first coffee trees in the area, which drew more than 120 European immigrants; some Danish families followed in 1923 (Wikipedia, Matagalpa).

What's there

• Coffee cooperatives - offices, cupping rooms and cafes in the centre.
• The surrounding plantations - shade coffee on the hills around the city.
• The cathedral and park - the centre of town life.
• Cerro Apante - the forested peak rising behind the city.

When to go

December to April for dry weather; harvest runs roughly November to February and is when cooperatives and mills are at work. The highlands are cool and evenings need a layer.

Practical notes

The city is workaday and there is little in the way of monuments. Cooperative and farm visits need arranging rather than dropping in. Traffic in the narrow centre is heavy. It rains a good deal even outside the wet season.

Nearby

Selva Negra lies north; Jinotega is beyond it.

Key facts