Happy Halloween! So here´s the first installment of a Nicaragua travelogue, choc-full of silly tourist meanderings. Sadly, not nearly as witty as a Bill Bryson account.
*Sat 10/23: Sat in the San Salvador terminal at 9AM waiting for the 8AM departure bus (ETA Managua 6:30PM). I chatted with a Nicaraguan lady, who tried to convince me we would make it there no later than 4. We arrive at 10:30, and I stayed overnight in the capital.
*Sun 10/24: caught a minibus to the nearby town of Masaya, and jumped off when I saw clusters of children dancing in traditional costume around the parque central. Each group of dancers is surrounded by dozens of family & strangers admiring the dances (they were great!). I took photos for awhile. Everyone I talked with gave a slightly different explanation, but the gist was a 3-MONTH celebration for their patron San Jerónimo. I also walked through the nationally-known artisan market, fighting temptation to buy from every jewelry-vender. Then I made my way to the neighboring village of Catarina, one of the charming "pueblos blancos" where Masaya´s artesania is made. I sat for awhile at a lookout point over the crater-lake Lago Apoyo. As lovely as the natural beauty was the fiesta atmosphere of Nicaraguan families who also came to enjoy the view.
At the bus stop (i.e. unmarked spot by the highway where people say buses pass), I met 3 nice guys, fellow-travelers, and together we took an indirect, rainy route to Granada--a tourist hotspot in Central America (like Antigua in Guate, but not as pleasant, IMO). So obviously, there was a Norteamericana style sports bar, where my fleeting friends and I stopped to watch the Vikings vs. Packers.
*Mon 10/25: explored the colonial buildings & streets & markets. I wasn´t able to see the convent where St. Bartolome de Las Casas wrote his famous 1525 letter--with its outlandish proposal that indigenous people were, in fact, people and therefore deserving of human rights. I remember reading that letter in Fr. Gutierrez´s class, long ago... After a full morning, I´d seen most of Granada´s highlights, so I caught the 4-hr boatride across Lago Nicaragua to the Isla de Ometepe.
We (handful of backpackers) arrived at the island´s muddy docs well after dark. I had called ahead to a lodge hotel on a coffee finca, and was lucky to find others going the same general direction to share a taxi. Taxi = standing crammed in the back of a pickup as it rumbled for an hour over the rocky, muddy roads. Rocky & muddy enough that at some point, we had to change to a heavier-duty pickup. A quick bout of sickness was gaining fuerza in my belly at this most convenient time, so I had a moment of low & lonely self-pity. I was thrilled to finally curl up under a cosy mosquito net in my lodge bed.
*Tues 10/26: as I regained my full capacity, enjoyed a morning at the lovely Finca Magdelena. Met a handsome French photographer who entertained me by talking about his research and personal experience with "lucid dreaming." Worth googling, as trivia knowledge if nothing else. Later, I made my way around the island to the port town of Moyogalpa to arrange an excursion for the next day.
*Wed 10/27: climbed Volcan Concepción, one of two volcanoes on the island; at 1630-meters, it´s the second highest volcano in Nicaragua. With an Icelandic guy and our guide, started from 100m above sea level. While still in thick vegetation, our guide pointed out trees of glue & howler monkeys, among other things. My compañero decided to stop once we passed the treeline, so I continued with our guide. Unfortunately, once we reached 1400, he decided the sulfuric gases were too strong--the volcano is in its annual-ish period of eruption--so we couldn´t summit. In retrospect, that was probably for the better, because as he watched me frequently fall *UP*, the guide told me, "you will have real problems getting down." He was very right. I slid & slipped all the way down, scraping my hands, and swearing profusely at my sore knees and clumsy feet. Moutain climbing may never be an activity I can do with any skill, but I loved this challenge.
*Thurs 10/28: rented a moped to explore the island (30x10km for a size ref). Of course it was a big lavish & touristy (though 22USD/day was a great deal). And, soy turista! When again in my life would I be in place with a chance to ride the wind through such natural and human beauty? Hands down, awesome day.
While traveling this week, I am reading Che Guevara´s "Motorcycle Diaries" (in Spanish). Coincidental to read it now...since Che was also a 23-year-old medical student, on a yearlong leave, when he drove around South America. His perceptions and vision are naturally far deeper than anything I´ve yet conceptualized myself. But I like thinking about the path we are all riding: a journey of young minds & hearts realizing the desperation of our times, resolving to be part of history. To struggle forever, and live the memory of those we encounter along the way.
A wise man said something along these lines yesterday, at the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear." So Nica-continuation pending, will close with the words of Jon Stewart:
“We know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.”
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