A (Too) Brief Return to Latin America

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.

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.

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Ghost Resort

A couple of months ago, one of my good friends decided to spend a week on a beach to celebrate her birthday. She asked me to join her and we decided to meet halfway in Central America. She booked a place on an island in Panama and off we went!

Isla Contadora is one of the Pearl Islands off the west coast of Panama in the Pacific. It’s less than a 30 minute flight on a tiny plane from Panama City – a huge, modern city, quite different from where I’d been staying.

The island itself isn’t very big and the short runway seems to head directly into the ocean. Fortunately, my pilot stopped the plane on solid ground!

The island was charming and full of beautiful beaches. We spent most of the week beach-hopping and snorkeling.

Who Doesn't Look Hot Wearing a Snorkel & Mask?

Panama is beautiful and Isla Contadora is a small, but gorgeous place to get away and enjoy the Pacific!

I enjoy a “beach vacation” as much as the next guy. But, what made this vacation unique was the abandoned resort we came across on the largest beach on the island.

It was fascinating to wander through the ruins of a huge, formerly beautiful posh resort and picture what it must have looked like in its heyday. We wandered the grounds and took lots of pictures. Then I did some research on the internet to find out more.

Isla Contadora was purchased in 1960 by a wealthy Panamanian. He personally financed the construction of the infrastructure for the island: water, sewers, electricity, roads, etc. He then built a small, fancy hotel with 60 bungalows which became incredibly popular with the rich and famous of the time. John Wayne, Mickey Rooney, Julio Iglesias, and Joe DiMaggio all vacationed at the Hotel Contadora.

In 1974, the owner expanded the property to be a full-blown resort with over 200 rooms on a huge white sand beach, two outdoor pools, even a mini-zoo with ocelots, spider monkeys, and peacocks as well as deer and other animals freely roaming the property. The resort included an outdoor disco, 3 restaurants, 5 bars, and a casino. From the internet pictures I found, it looked beautiful!

Sadly, when the visionary who created the Hotel Contadora died in 1981, the resort started its slip into decline. The corrupt Noriega government attempted to run the hotel, but sold it to a Japanese company after two years of mismanagement. In 1992, it was again sold to a Colombian operator who, sadly, used the hotel as a front to run drugs.

By 2005 the hotel was consistently getting poor reviews due to poor service and aging amenities, but it remained in operation until fall of 2010 when it shut its doors for good. At that point, the owners told the locals to take whatever they could use from the property – and they did. When we were there in the spring of 2011, this “ghost resort” was eerie – the structures were still in place, but the ruins looked as if they had been abandoned for years. The locals made use of everything, from drywall to murals from the reception area!

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History Revisited

I’ve written several times about meeting people from or learning about indigenous cultures in other countries on my travels. Indigenous is defined as: “originating or occurring naturally in a particular place, native.” I thought it only fitting to write a bit about indigenous Americans, especially after spending some time in the western United States.

First, a bit of history: by the mid-1870’s the US government policy of relocating Native Americans to “reservations” had been mandated and Native American tribes had been ordered to relocate to these designated areas. Many of these people did not want to forego their way of life and refused to acquiesce. Accordingly, the US Army sent troops to force the remaining free Indians onto the reservations during the Great Sioux War – one of several “Indian Wars” that took place as “the west was won.” The stories of this time (and associated memorials) offer a prime example of how history is written by the victors.

On June 25, 1876, George Armstrong Custer, leading approximately 600 soldiers of the 7^th Cavalry in the Montana Territory (now southeastern Montana) came upon a settlement of roughly 7,000 Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho along the Little Bighorn River. The cavalry attempted a surprise attack but were met with resistance from approximately 1,800 Native American warriors. The resulting battle, the Battle of Little Bighorn (or the Battle of the Greasy Grass to the Indians involved), was an overwhelming Indian victory – with the 7^th Cavalry suffering 52% casualties (including Custer and his entire five companies) while the Indian combatants suffered fewer than 50 casualties.

After the battle, the dead soldiers were buried where they fell while the Indian dead were removed by their families for a traditional burial.

In 1879, the Secretary of War preserved the site as a US National Cemetery to protect the graves of the soldiers and a temporary monument was erected.  In 1881, the 2^nd Cavalry erected a permanent granite monument and reinterred the soldiers’ remains near this monument. However, they left stakes in the ground marking where each soldier had fallen. In 1890, marble memorials were placed on each of these spots.

These marble blocks dot the fields of the battleground indicating where each soldier fell in the battle.

In the 1940’s, the National Park Service took control of the site and named it “Custer Battlefield National Monument.” It wasn’t until much later that the indigenous perspective of this battle was considered.

In 1991, George H.W. Bush signed a law changing the name of the monument to “Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument” and calling for the creation of an “Indian Memorial” to be built near the army memorial on Last Stand Hill. This memorial includes the names of each of the Native Americans killed listed by tribe, quotes from many who were in the battle, and an artistic representation of warriors heading off to the battle.

On Memorial Day 1999, red granite markers honoring the Indians who died at Little Bighorn were added to the surrounding fields and hillsides alongside the white granite markers honoring the soldiers, giving a more complete picture of both sides of the battle, and, in a small way, both sides of this part of American history.

The Indian markers give the name (in both their native language and English) of the warrior, their tribe, and the text: “A Cheyenne warrior fell here on June 25, 1876 while defending the Cheyenne way of life.” I was moved and a little saddened by this beautiful choice of language.

It is too easy to visit other countries, learn about other cultures and then make judgments on their treatment, in both the past and present, of indigenous societies within their borders. But I think it’s best to remember that there are precious few examples of “modern” societies handling indigenous people well.

At the very least, we should always look at history from BOTH perspectives, that of the victors, and that of the vanquished.

There are lessons to be learned from both sides. While I don’t have any easy answers, I suggest that we strive to both remember and act on those lessons.

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