"The Java Zone: Nicaraguan coffee growers are preserving ecosystems that nurture banana trees, sloths, and a new breed of tourist"

This feature article in the new issue of Sierra is by Gregory Dicum, coauthor of The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry From Crop to the Last Drop (The New Press, 2006).

Dicum discusses the humble homestay accommodations for adventurous tourists in Nicaragua's mountainous Matagalpa region, where coffee grows well in the coolness of the cloud forests. The experience offers tourists a chance to experience life in a Central American coffee-growing family—at least for a day or two.

When we first arrived in Nicaragua in 1998, the revolution that undid Somoza's cruel dictatorship was already 19 years behind us, the ensuing Contra civil war had sputtered out a full eight years earlier. Everyone said what we all knew: the war was over. Three years later when we published the first edition of Moon Handbook Nicaragua, that was the point we set out to make: the war is over.

And then along comes this book. Read on for a review of this phenomenal photography collection for Nicaragua's civil insurrection.

Thick with cool mist and rolling countryside, surrounded on all sides by coffee but not itself a coffee town, the little mountain pueblo of San Rafael del Norte is one of my favorite destinations and one of the towns that best evokes for me the spirit of Nicaragua's rugged north. As we wrote in Moon Nicaragua, to know San Rafael del Norte is to know Nicaragua's history. General Cesar Augusto Sandino made this wild corner his home for a while as he staked out positions against the US Marines and formed his philosophy of rugged determination, nationalism, and independence. That his philosophy and name were later co-opted into the basis of the Sandinista party is another story, one that the locals certainly would not be much interested in hearing.

Jinotega is probably one of my favorite corners of Nicaragua, and because it's a bit out of the way, well off the realtors' map, and relatively untouristed, I like it even more. Jinotega is authentic, it's unapologetic, and it is remarkable.

Find Jinotega in the mountains northeast of Matagalpa (itself rather out of the way relative to the traditional tourist circuit), covered most mornings with a cool mist as the sun creeps up over the surrounding peaks. Those peaks define the flavor of the town: mountainous, a bit isolated, at the edge of a wilderness much less traveled than the roads that led you there. In many ways, Jinotega is a frontier town, and that's how we portray it in Moon Nicaragua: your last good place to stock up on groceries before you hit the really off-roads.

The new issue of PerceptiveTravel.com includes a piece on Nicaragua by The Omnivorous Traveler himself, Darrin DuFord. In his piece, "Subdued by Street Vendors: A gastronomic exploration of Nicaragua's post-war highlands reveals renewed talent for suckling and a stubborn joie de vivre," DuFord samples three of Nicaragua's most alluring, memorable qualities: public buses, Matagalpa mountains, and savory street food. Not only does DuFord offer evocative scenes and details—and flavors—from the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes, he puts it all in historical context as well.

Property developer Grupo Mariana Family of Resorts has revealed a large masterplanned resort called the Seaside Mariana Spa & Golf Resort in Nicaragua.

The central American property will be located near the village of San Rafael Del Sur, around an hour’s drive from the capital Managua.