Dipilto

Well, I’m going to sneak in one more, short travelogue before I leave.  In looking for another interesting, nearby place that I haven’t visited yet, it turned out that Yelba, the wife of one of the technicians at the Centro Solar, grew up in Dipilto and offered to go there with me.  Dipilto is a town about the size of Totogalpa (so in the 8-10 thousand range for the municipality) that is located about the same distance north of Ocotal that Sabana Grande is to the south, or in other words, about 30 km north of Sabana Grande.  It takes a bus change in Ocotal each way and all except the last bus home were relatively uncrowded (i.e., there was room to at least shift your weight  from foot to foot if you were standing).   It turns out that Yelba (who is not very big) is a pro at the get-on-the-bus-and-get-a-seat-even-when-there-is-mob-pushing-to-get-on game, so I had a seat on 2 of the 4 buses!  (I just can’t bring myself to push as much as I guess I need to in order to get a seat—she said the key is being small and being able to squeeze through/under as needed.)

This was my first time north of Ocotal (although hopefully I’ll be retracing this path again on the way to Honduras next week) and it was truly amazing how much different the landscape becomes within less than 30 km.  The elevation is several hundred feet higher, which puts Dipilto in the midst of pines and even a little coffee (although the real coffee production is still a bit higher and farther north.  It is enough higher to be noticeably cooler/fresher than Ocotal or even Sabana Grande.   It is also located in/on/among real mountains as opposed to in a broad, flat valley, plus it has a clear, running river cascading down among rocks (even now in the heart of the dry season, which is called “summer” here).  The overall feeling is more like a small town in the Rockies than anything else I’ve seen in Nicaragua—however you could never mistake it for the US West because of the bananas and other more tropical plants.  It was really nice to sit there and hear both the rustle of wind through pine needles and the sound of rapids—it was reminiscent of our time in the Olympic Mountains two years ago or some of the forest streams up around Ashland.

Sign along the highway welcoming travelers to Dipilto, “with the aroma of pines and coffee.”  The building on the left is the municipal building (city hall), a very nice looking building right along the highway.  One other minor thing to notice is the Spanish solution to the he/she, him/her problem we have in English.  In Spanish, of course, masculine often ends in o and feminine in a, so in the word “bienvenid@s” (welcome), they insert an @, which is actually an “a” and an “o” in one symbol!  I’m not sure how it’s pronounced, however.

A view looking downstream at one of the foot bridges and also at a pathway along the stream.  Note the obviously tropical plants in the mix.  (The walkway is the same one you see at the right of the upper picture.)  During rainy season, this could be a much more exciting place to be!

The Pan-Am Highway through Dipilto is on the side of a steep slope, so there is not much at the same level as the road—you must either go farther down into the valley or farther up the slope to arrive at most houses or businesses.  In addition, the hills preclude the dense wall-to-wall packing of buildings as is typical in cities/towns here and they also prevent imposing a square street grid, so you don’t really get the feeling that you were left off the bus at much of a place.  Along the highway are:  the ubiquitous statue of Sandino, a small park (there is no typical central park across from the church here) and the municipal building—everything else requires an elevation change to get to.  

Statue of Sandino on his mule (and draped in the Sandinista colors).  The municipal building is the one to the left.

A small park with gazebo along the highway.

As you walk down into town, the streets are much narrower and windier than in Ocotal or Totogalpa, and also much steeper on average.  The highlights of Dipilto (in addition to the lovely setting) are the church and the Virgen de la Piedra (Virgin of the Rock).   The Virgin is a shrine to (surprise!) Mary and is located where she purportedly appeared to some locals in a vision.  The shrine is perched on the top of a large boulder with a small chapel next to it and this is all set in a beautiful garden along the river and leading up the hillside.  The plants are all watered so even in dry season, it is very lush.

Typical street in Dipilto:  paved with concrete pavers as is common in Nicaragua, limited line-of-sight due to curves and relatively steep.  Snow, of course, is not a consideration here.

A close-up of the Virgin of the Rock, although it’s very hard to get a good angle.

A telephoto view of the rock and the adjacent chapel from the highway.

The church is interesting to me to see how it was rebuilt after having the walls collapse with the rains of Hurricane Mitch.  Outside, it doesn’t look much different than many, fairly simple, old, small-town churches (and incidentally, in case you are wondering from past posts, it DOES face west), but it was rebuilt of concrete block rather than adobe.  Inside it is obviously much more modern and therefore less interesting (at least to me), but it does have some nice design features, such as stone/tile work and some pieces from the old church.  The acoustical tile ceiling doesn’t match other options for beauty, but the white ceiling and more windows than adobe churches give a much lighter interior.

Exterior and interior views of the Dipilto church.

It was mostly just a relaxing, restful stroll through a really beautiful place.  There are no doubt more interesting things to find, but the topography would have made more exploration more tiring that I’m currently in the mood for.  One hates to wish too much success on a place that is naturally so nice and uncrowded, but this is the kind of place that I think could generate some tourist activity for those looking for quiet, cool, restful beauty.

There is some tourism here as there are a couple of nice restaurants that draw folks from outside of town.  This one includes a pool for pre/post-dining swimming and has a lot of flowering trees and bushes such as that on the left.