We did manage to do one of the tours while we were at El Pantano, and that was the tour of Finca de San Antonio. The finca is run by four brothers and is home to them, their families and their 80 year old parents. Manuel, one of the brothers, picked us up at El Pantano and we began the walk from there to the finca. The dirt road was steep and the day, even at 8 am, was already hot and muggy.
We followed his horse up the road, the view of Jalapa and the neighbouring hills getting better and better as we climbed. Manuel spoke no english, but we were able to understand much of what he spoke about.
Following the cargo horse up to the finca.
We crossed a field that they use to grow corn and beans for the family, and were quickly into what looked to Derek and I like virgin jungle. Piper, meanwhile, was having the time of her life running off leash with Mariposa and Lu Lu, two of the dogs that live on the finca.
This field is planted annually by hand, with corn and beans in May when the rainy season starts.
Manuel showed us beautiful tropical flowers, fed us bananas, oranges, limon dulce (sweet lemons), and mandarins picked right off the trees. He showed us vanilla vines, many varieties of medicinal plants and orchids, cacao trees, bamboo, tropical hardwood trees and small herbs and throughout the forested parts coffee shrubs thrived. He took us to three different waterfalls on the property. What really struck both of us is that what looked to us like virgin jungle was actually tended and planted forest, as Manuel showed us several trees and plants that he and his father before him had specifically cultivated or transplanted there from the valley floor….so it was like a garden, they just hadn’t torn everything out, tilled and then planted in straight rows. Much of the jungle was intact, and plants had been added throughout it to make a living grocery store.
Banana tree and flower. Once the bananas are harvested, the tree dies and a new shoot growing beside will bare future fruit.
Tropical flowers
I ended up with one of these beauties as a gift from Manuel.
More flowers.
Manuel harvesting some mandarins for us.
One of the 3 waterfalls we visited on the property.
After a few hours of hiking we were taken to the house of one of his brothers for lunch. First we were presented with a cold drink made with cocoa and cinnamon. Then we were served an amazing soup with sardine cakes and root vegetables, fresh tortillas and a bowl of steamed vegetables, more than we could finish. Afterwards came the best cup of coffee we have had in central america, made from coffee beans grown, roasted and ground right there on the finca.
Before we had lunch, three nieces and one nephew of Manuel, ranging from about 3 years old to 14 years old, shyly stared at us. We tried to talk with them in spanish, and also in english with the help of an older cousin who spoke quite a bit of english, but they were not very responsive. Then Derek took out his tablet and started showing them pictures of Canada and of things we had seen earlier in our trip. That broke the ice, and soon they were chatting with us, running up the hill and coming back with black berries for us to try, asking us questions about our trip and our lives.
Although they snapped dozens of pictures of us, they became quite camera shy when we took out ours…Derek got 2 out of 4.
Our guide Manuel.
After lunch we climbed higher to a view point, Manuel showing us several additional varieties of orchids that grew on the property, the kids pointing out flowers and plants that they knew the names of. It came time to leave and we walked back to town with Manuel. Along the way we caught up with an older man also walking to town. It turns out he is a poet, and as we stood overlooking the town of Jalapa, he recited from memory a poem he had written about his beloved Jalapa. We didn’t understand all that he said, but caught enough to appreciate how much he truly loves his community and the beautiful valley in which it resides.
The view of Jalapa from the lookout.