Just check out those verdant hills, beset by rainforests and smothered in cacao and coffee, and awash with roaring waterfalls! Encompassing Matagalpa on all sides, it’s these that give the city its reputation as one of the most prodigious farming and agricultural centres in the country. And boy does that earthy, bucolic side of things still ooze through the streets here! Cantinas throb with mellifluous Spanish chatter, flak-clad mustachios evoke the spirit of Che, cigar smoke twists and turns in the air, cowboys cart oxen between the cobbled plazas, and artsy boutiques, galleries and quirky vegan cafes make this town something of a Disneyland for the revolution. There’s also a 19^th century basilica to see, while aged convents and parks pepper the roads besides. Matagalpa tour guides based in the city offer a whole host of excursions and packages out to explore the surrounding highlands dotted with mineshafts issuing gold dust and spectral miners from Nicaragua’s past, perhaps to see the adobe architecture of San Ramon, hike up to the cross at Cerro Apante Natural Reserve, or visit one of the many eco lodges and coffee plantations that just peek above the forest canopies.