Estelí and Segovias
As you travel north and up out of the sultry Pacific lowlands, your introduction to Nicaragua’s hilly interior begins with the Sébaco Valley, green with rice, carrot, and onion fields. From there, the Pan-American Highway struggles upward to the pleasant city of Estelí, “Diamond of the Segovias” , then continues through mountains and valleys dotted with rural villages whose inhabitants are proud to call themselves norteňos. Most folks here get along by subsistence farming and ranching, while cash crops like tobacco and coffee also define the land; a few communities boast talented artisans in pottery, leather, and stone. Underneath the north’s gentle…