Notes from Nicaragua

I dont trust my memory very much so I had started jotting down my travel notes in a diary which is precious to me. But I dont trust my 'looking-after-precious-things' skills as well, so bringing that practice online.

Dec 2017.

1)      The first impressions are very similar to cities in south Mexico (like San Cristobal).  Vibrant colours, music and native faces. The cities (except the capital which we bypassed) are all colonial Spanish architecture – streets laid out in perfect grids, the main Church with a public park adjacent in the heart of the town. Key public buildings – City Hall, University etc – encircle or are in close proximity of this central church/park. Houses are coloured in rows of pastel shades. No high rises. A climb to the Church’s bell tower provides a view of the city to its far edges in all directions.

2)      The country has quite a lot of horses, they are found in all places. Never seen these many horses in any tropical place.

3)      Remember the obnoxious part in ‘House of Cards’ where Kevin Spacey is the President and his wife is the Vice-President? Well, that is the current situation in this country. Says a lot. This is the first thing most people tell you when you ask how the political situation is in the country.

4)      Nicaragua is one of the few countries which bans abortion outright – no exceptions.

5)      The east coast of Nicaragua, La Miskitia, did not have a Spanish presence for a long time. The first Spanish governor to the area, Diego de Gutierrez, was eaten by the natives.

6)      What’s an average Nicaraguans view think of India? – India makes good tuk-tuks (autorickshaws), primarily made by Bajaj and TVS. At least 2-3 people were raving about their superior quality (perhaps overdoing a bit to be polite to us).I also saw Bajaj showrooms selling Pulsar bikes.

7)      Nicaragua is a land of poets. Their history mentions several poets, especially during the revolutions. The guy who assassinated dictator Somoza was a poet, now a national hero. The most powerful lady in the country (the Vice President) - some say she’s actually the real power behind the President - also claims to be a poet. The supreme hero of the country – Ruben Dario – was also a poet, the main International airport in the capital is named after him.

8)      We were in a city called Leon. Apparently in the old days the local indigenous people of this place (Maribios) used to scare the living daylights out of the Spanish and their horses by dressing in the human skin of a ceremonial victim - worn inside out.

9)      Before Panama Canal and the American crosscountry Railway was built, Nicaragua offered a very lucrative route to go from Coast to Coast thanks to its interesting geography.

Its San Juan River connects the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic) to a huge lake in the middle of the country, Lake Nicaragua. On the west side of the lake is a narrow isthmus separating it from the Pacific Ocean. So one could go in a boat between Pacific and Atlantic oceans except for a mere 18km stretch on land. This route was exploited by thousands of people from the East Coast who went across to dig their fortunes during the Californian Gold Rush.

10)   Due to its unique geography (see point 9), Nicaragua was one of the obvious candidates when a canal was being conceived by the great powers. The then president, Zelaya, insisted that no single country would be permitted to finance the canal project in Nicaragua, and what’s more, only Nicaragua could have the sovereignty over a canal built inside its country. The project went to Panama.

Later, in 1909 Zelaya was flirting with Japan to build a rival canal, he was pushed out of power with the help of US Marines. The Marines entered the country and installed a General (Estrada) as the President. Stuck with debts Estrada was forced to borrow from the North American banks. Soon after, there was a new round of internal infighting. The US Marines entered again (1912) and installed their choice, Adolfo Diaz, as the new President. Two years later Nicaragua signed the Chamorro-Bryan Treaty, with Nicaragua conceding perpetual rights of any Nicaraguan canal projects to the US, in exchange for $3 million, which went to pay US banks for outstanding debts. There was no intention to build a canal in the Nicaragua; the deal was rather to keep Nicaragua from building a competing one.

More than 100 years later, the current President still promises to build a canal and calls it their ticket to ‘economic independence’.

11)   Nicaragua has good relations with all its neighbours except Costa Rica, its rich and more successful (tourism) neighbour in the south. The bone of contention is the San Juan River which separates both (see point 9). The river and its north bank belong to Nicaragua but the south bank is Costa Rican. Nicaragua has long been suspicious of Costa Rica desire to usurp the river due to its strategic importance. Costa Ricans are allowed to use the river for commercial purposes, but when one of their military camouflage boats was caught patrolling the river in 1998 it caused a lot of bad blood between both countries.  The river caused rift again in recent years when Nicaragua wanted to dredge the north bank, both sides sent their forces. The International Court ordered both to withdraw forces.

12)   Ruben Dario is by far the country’s most famous poet. But it was the second most famous poet – Alfonso Cortes - whose story struck me. At age 34 Alfonso moved into the same house where Ruben Dario had spent his childhood. One night he apparently became mad. He spent much of that year chained to the iron grillwork in his bedroom. It was from that vantage point he composed what some say is the most beautiful poem in Spanish language La Ventana ‘The Window’. He spent rest of his life in chains in different places. Cortes had his moments of lucidity when his family would unchain him; he spent that time playing guitar. He wrote his poetry in microscopic script in the margins of newspapers. He is buried in Leon Cathedral along with Ruben Dario.

13)   There are wildlife refuges for turtles in Nicaragua. Reading about them I learnt an interesting fact. The turtles come in thousands during the season, cross the beach, dig up and lay their eggs in sand. The hatchling’s gender is decided by the temperature in the sand – below 20 degrees it’s a male, and 30 degrees or above is a female.

14)   In less than three years the Spanish had taken away 700-800 years of accumulated gold from the natives in Nicaragua.

15)   The Sandinista revolution ended a 44 year dictatorship by the Somoza family. But as they say – power corrupts people. The Marxist revolutionaries who took power were no better. They were divided, conniving and corrupt. One of them (Daniel Ortega) is the current president (his 3^rd term). But one of the severe factors which worked against the revolutionaries was Ronald Reagan who backed a covert operation to destabilise them fearing a spread of communism in Central America. The Contras (counter-revolutionaries, CIA) waged a guerrilla war with a motive to harass. They attacked soft (civilian) targets, infrastructure – bridges, schools, hospitals. The new government could not do much country building as they were losing the backbone infrastructure. This was another 8-10 years of fighting which stopped when Reagan left and the good man Jimmy Carter arrived. But as this all happened pretty recently (1980s) the country still doesn’t have much infrastructure. It’s not possible to go from coast to coast on road even today.

16)   In 1969 during the Sandinista revolution the ruling forces learnt about a safe-house where the revolutionaries were hiding. Somoza the dictator sent a force of 300 men, tank and an artillery plane to destroy them. He broadcast the attack live on TV. But after 3 hours of fight when the forces finally entered the house there was only one dead body there – Julio Buitrago. This one man’s fight against the army made the revolutionaries even bigger heroes in the eyes of the public. The live broadcast had backfired massively.

The End!