I left South America in August for a brief visit home. Unfortunately, the brief visit turned out longer than anticipated. By October I was getting antsy to get back on the road and decided to spend a week in Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America but the least densely populated. It is also the second poorest country in the western hemisphere (after Haiti). Nicaragua has both a Pacific and Caribbean coast as well as the two largest lakes in Central America so I was able to spend much of my time in or near the water. I noticed right away how green the country is.
18.2% of Nicaragua is federally protected land. According to one of my guides, much of Nicaragua was spared from commercial deforestation for years due to the lengthy civil war.
In the mid 1930’s, the United States Government helped to install a dictator in Nicaragua. This man and his descendants (the Samoza family) ruled for over 40 years. In 1979, the FSLN, (the Sandinista National Liberation Front) succeeded in taking control of the Nicaraguan government.
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| We need more statues of men throwing hand grenades! |
This revolution sparked years of war (with the United States again getting involved to back the Contras). Fortunately, the fighting ended over 20 years ago and Nicaragua has a stable, democratically elected government. Interestingly, for most of the past 30 years, the FSLN (the political party created by the revolutionary group) has been elected to the presidency and many other high offices. On a drive through Nicaragua you’re sure to see dozens of FSLN flags and statues as popular support remains strong.
Unlike in the United States, the ruling party uses government funds to pay for posters and election advertisements. Since I was visiting in an election year, FSLN materials were everywhere! In November, the FSLN candidate (and former Sandinista fighter) won reelection with over 63% of the popular vote.
The most popular sport in Nicaragua, unlike much of Latin America, is baseball. The US marines who occupied Nicaragua have been credited with this, but in fact, Nicaragua’s first national championship baseball game was back in 1915, before the marines were ever there! Today, there are pick-up basesball games in neighborhoods and small towns all over the country. Several days in a row, I happened upon a baseball game in the middle of the main road through town. I felt bad interrupting the game to head to the store.
Despite baseball being the national sport, soccer remains popular. While relaxing on the beach one afternoon, groups of kids kept appearing and a soccer game started in the sand. It’s impressive how little space is really necessary to play these sports!
I spent a few days in the middle of Lago Nicaragua (the largest lake in Central America) on Isla de Ometepe. This large island is made up of two volcanoes, one active and the other dormant.
The island is shaped like a barbell with a thin strip of land connecting the two volcanoes on either end. The main road, which is just over 48 miles (78km) long, circles both volcanoes and connects the two halves of the island. The road is only paved on the more populated side of the island. On the other side, it is barely passable due to huge potholes and washout from the rainy season. A trip from one side of the island to the other took over 3 hours in our bus!
There is quite a difference between Central American “chicken buses” and the relative luxury of South American buses! Most Central American buses are former US school buses so reclining seats, climate control, and bathrooms are out. In fact, on my bus, all seats were taken, so I sat on my bag in the back.
The buses have the nickname “chicken buses” because you can expect to see people traveling with anything and everything, including farm animals. I didn’t see a chicken, but did see a guy in a poncho carrying his duck. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get a photo but it was a great sight.
Ironically, after two hours of driving over rocks and through mud, streams, and potholes, not long after we arrived at the paved part of the road, the bus got a flat.
There was no announcement, the bus just stopped moving and everyone started getting off. I eventually asked and they said this bus wasn’t going anywhere. The forty or so Nicaraguans on the bus had all started walking down the road carrying their things, so I followed. About twenty minutes later we came to an intersection and waited there for another bus. I’m thinking this happens regularly since no one seemed at all surprised.
While on the island, I spent an afternoon kayaking through the lake and down the Rio Istiam. The “river” turned out to be more of a swamp with so much vegetation that I felt like I was kayaking through a salad!
The Istiam River is home to turtles, caimans, monkeys, and over 63 species of birds.
Kayaking back to the hostel, we passed the two “Monkey Islands” just off of Ometepe. Years ago, someone abandoned 4 spider monkeys on one of the islands (spider monkeys aren’t native to Ometepe). Today, two descendants of these original inhabitants remain and fiercely guard their island.
One guy in our hostel drifted too close to the island in his boat. The monkey pulled the boat over and attacked him! I’m not sure why these poor animals were abandoned on this island or how they’ve been mistreated to become this violent, but the situation makes me sad. They are, however, beautiful animals.
The other “Monkey Island” houses a family of capuchins. No one seemed to know the back story on how these guys got here, but since they are native to the area, maybe they swam over? Their island is more densely forested than the spider monkey island so they were tougher to spot, but I did manage to catch a couple of glimpses.
Nicaragua is a naturally beautiful country. Unfortunately, a week was not nearly long enough to see all that Nicaragua has to offer but I certainly enjoyed getting a brief taste – and I hope to return for a longer visit.
