Once outside the Airport, to get to the city of Matagalpa you take Carretera Norte going north. You will be crossing little villages like: Tipitapa, San Benitothis is the intersection of roads either going to Matagalpa or going to Bluefields then comes Ciudad Dario in kilometer 86 Ruben Dario´s birth place, he is one of better poets of Spanish language, the "Walt Wiltman" of Spanish literature, then cross Sebaco ("Serpent Woman" in Indian language, kilometer 102 Finally you get to Matagalpa Citykilometer 127this is the capital of the province of the same name. Once in Matagalpa you can look for local hotels, or mountain lodging, within 7 miles on the road to Jinotega there is a mountain resort. Matagalpa is a historical Indian city of 100,000 inhabitants, where you can find restaurants and cyber cafes. Many Central Europeans German, Brittsh, French and Italian famlies settled here since 1848, after they changed their minds about reaching the Californian gold mines, decided to stay here, other followed them years later.One of them was William Richardson, grandfather of Bill Richardson, the current Governor of New Mexico. William senior (Grandpa is buried in the well known "Matagalpa Foreing Cemetery" a few blocks south. The province of Matagalpa has 12 different protected forest areas, great variety of birds and orchids, and all kind of wild life Mountain lion, deer, howler monkies, quetzal and toucan birds, sloth, ocelot, wild pig, etc.
