From the Rio

I'm writing this from a fairly remote corner of Nicaragua, although not so remote as to not have internet access, as I had originally suspected. Having pretty thoroughly explored my surroundings and feeling quite exhausted from several days of travel and organized activities, I figured this would be a good time to take a breather and write about my last few days in Nica - tomorrow, Costa Rica beckons!

I last wrote from San Carlos, where Tom and I killed a few hours before boarding a boat to the Islas Solentiname, a cluster of islands on the east side of Lake Nicaragua that are home to a population of about 800, many of whom are artists or craftspeople. The abridged recent history of Solentiname involves the arrival of a Catholic priest and former Sandinista leader named Ernesto Cardenal in the 1960s, who came to the island to start a church based on the principles of liberation theology in which he strongly believed. In lieu of Sunday Mass, Cardenal would gather with the campesinos who inhabited the islands to discuss the Gospels, ultimately providing the basis for what came to be known as La Misa Campesina Nicaraguense, or Nicaraguan Peasants' Mass. If you're so inclined, you can find passages online where Cardenal speaks eloquently about why he was compelled to form this type of church and his feelings about how the simple words of the peasants reflected a theology as profound as anything in the Bible. In addition to forming the church, Cardenal encouraged the people to pursue artistic avenues of expression, the influence of which is alive and well today - a great number of Solentiname's residents are painters and/or sculptors in a primitive style distinctive of the islands.

Tom and I had a chance to visit the little church founded by Cardenal all those years ago and we were both quite moved by the simple, colorful beauty of the place. Instead of somber fixtures and scenes depicting the life and death of Christ, this is what we saw:

I must admit, I was a bit saddened to learn that the Sunday gatherings are a thing of the past. Although Cardenal no longer lives in Solentiname, it would seem that the type of mass that he encouraged could continue in his absence. However, I was informed that mass is now rarely celebrated - only when a priest from another community is able to come and officiate, and then a traditional Catholic mass is performed. Ah well. Back to the rest of our stay in Solentiname...

We opted to stay at a place called the Albergue Celentiname on the second-most populous island of San Fernando. We spent our first afternoon strolling around to visit with various artists (many of whom work in their homes and will invite you in to watch them work and/or purchase art), including a woman who was painting a giant canvas on her front porch and whom I originally walked right past without noticing; fortunately, Tom was a bit more attentive than I. We ended up chatting with her for quite a while about her work, life on the island and the efforts of an American man and his family to assist the island, including providing support for the development of a library and an artists' cooperative.

When we returned to our hotel, we were surprised to discover a couple of other guests, two Nicaraguan bankers who were planning to go out exploring for potential investment opportunities the next day. After dinner, they invited us to join them and our hosts in sipping some Flor de Cana rum and told us about the  places all over Nicaragua that they've had occasion to visit through their work. At one point, the conversation turned to the history of the island and our host, Daniel, talked about the people of the island taking up arms in the struggle for independence including Maria, the owner of the hotel. Maria spoke briefly about her involvement in the war and her acquaintance with Eden Pastora, a former Sandinista who later left the party to become a commander for the Contras and still re-surfaces from time to time in Nicaraguan politics. Javier, one of the bankers, told us about how his father was taken by Somoza's forces while his mother was pregnant with him in 1979. She believed him to be dead, but several months later he resurfaced, having been subjected to numerous tortures including broken ribs, electric shocks through his wrists and having cigarettes extinguished in his ears. These stories of the revolution never cease to amaze and horrify me.

Tom and I spent our one full day in Solentiname visiting the great little museum on San Fernando and the artists' cooperative, where a bought a small painting that caught my eye. We had decided to check out the neighboring island of Mancarron in the afternoon, and Daniel offered up a canoe for us to row over there. However, when the canoe was brought around, we realized that it was a heavy, boxy, old style canoe with one paddle and one set of oars, quite different from the type of canoe to which I'm accustomed. We set out with good intentions, but soon realized that not only did we lack any ability whatsoever to steer the thing - in fact, the whole process seemed completely counterintuitive - we also realized that the only progress we had made in moving toward the island was the result of the current. I alternated between being seriously frustrated and laughing at the absurdity of the situation, but ultimately we threw in the towel and slowly managed to make our way back to where we started, after which we promptly tracked down Ramon, who had a boat to take us to Mancarron. Although we loved seeing the church, Mancarron seemed to lack the same friendly vibe of San Fernando and the artisans that we visited were basically all selling the same items, so we didn't stay too long before heading back to San Fernando, where we made our arrangements for the next day's travel.

Sunday morning, we said goodbye to Daniel and hopped a boat bound for San Carlos, where we would catch another boat down the Rio San Juan to the town of El Castillo. The boat was packed with people, most of whom appeared to be Nicaraguan, and we managed to wedge ourselves and our bags into two tiny seats for what we thought would be about an hour's ride, but turned out to be closer to 4 hours! I think we somehow took a slow boat rather than the express that we had intended to catch, but we didn't really mind because the ride down the river was absolutely beautiful. Picture a wide, glassy river flanked by lush greenery on either side, birds flying everywhere and a few tiny cottages dotting the landscape, with a light breeze off the river to keep the temperature just right. It was lovely! Still, we were happy to finally see El Castillo come into view, including the beautiful 17th century fort for which the town is named. We checked into a beautiful hotel with a view of the river and popped into a restaurant on the water for a couple of beers and a dinner of giant river shrimp that looked more like small lobsters.

The next day, we were met at 8 a.m. by our two guides, Pina - his nickname - and Gilbert, to take a boat ride further down the river and hike through the nature reserve of Aguas Frescas. Again, the boat ride was amazingly relaxing and scenic, and between the trip up and down the river, we saw caimans, turtles, giant iguanas lounging in trees along the side of the river, tons of birds, monkeys and a crazy, bright green lizard that ran past us across the surface of the water! When we stopped at an army post outside the reserve to check in, we saw a tiny black and green "camouflage" frog, and in the reserve we saw an even tinier red and blue frog, as well as lots more spider and howler monkeys at close range. 

Tom and I warily nibbled at a leaf known for its anesthetic properties, offered to us by Gilbert, and I know I was relieved when I experienced only a brief numbing sensation in a corner of my mouth rather than having my entire tongue go limp, as I had feared might happen. We both declined, however, when, passing a giant termite nest, Gilbert explained how termites had been eaten by indigenous peoples for sustenance and demonstrated by popping a few in his mouth, pronouncing them as tasting like 'wood'. Mm, I think I'll just hold out for lunch...

That afternoon, we visited the giant fort built by the Spanish in the 1600s and recently restored with funds from the Spanish government, and all I can say is that it is seriously beautiful and the view is breathtaking! The fort has an interesting history which, frankly, I don't have the energy to go into now, but it's worth checking out if you have the inclination.

This morning, we took a little excursion on horseback, which was enjoyable for the most part except for when my horse ran a little too close to the trees (yes, it was deja vu), and in addition to taking some scratches, I tore my shirt and was nearly pulled off the horse when I got caught in some branches. On a positive note, when we passed under a giant almond tree, I asked our guide to slice open one of the giant pods laying on the ground and got to see this:

Maybe it's just me, but I was really struck by the beauty of this almond. Maybe it was the fact that it took our guide about a dozen whacks with his machete to get the thing open, or the fact that such an elaborate system of packaging surrounds such a small nut, but I was once again reminded of the beautiful design that exists in nature and the joy that comes from knowing a little bit more about where our food comes from and what it takes to get it to us.

I am now sitting in my hotel room, listening to the river and going over a hundred details of my travel for the next few days. The plan is to catch a boat up the river to San Carlos at 5:30 a.m., after which I'll take another boat down the Rio Frio (love that name) into Los Chiles, Costa Rica, where I'll board a five-hour bus to San Jose. I should be in San Jose just long enough for a decent night's sleep before heading to Monteverde on Thursday for some rainforest action. Still can't believe I will be leaving Nicaragua tomorrow, but I'm also excited to see Costa Rica and whether it's truly as different from Nica as everyone says it is. OK, time to pack. I'll leave you with this glimpse of the view from where I'm currently perched.