Where the HeLl am I

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SO I recently returned from the Atlantic coast on Sunday of this week and I am back in Managua. First and fore most it is not at all like any other part of Nicaragua. It seems totally like its own country. The majority of the people there are creole or mestizo. There are also many indigenous tribes on the atlantic coast. I was in Orinoco which is in the southwest side of the pearl lagoon. The main tribe there is Garifuna but they are quickly losing their heritage and trying to rebuild it.

The Atlantic coast has a very interesting history. At the moment there are two autonomous regions; the north and the south regions which are both very large pieces of land and rich in natural resources. Anyway Columbus came by and didn't much care for it. Eventually the Atlantic coast became a british protectorate. At this time the coast had a king and a government that followed the british style. then America wanted to build a canal through Nicaragua and persuaded the brits to give up the coast as a protectorate. America never built the canal but they did help the pacific side of Nicaragua fight against the atlantic side. However the pacific soldiers didn't know the american soldiers were for them so all they did was ask them to help them flee and the atlantic side some how got out of it. The atlantic side sometimes asked the british to help when the pacific side encroached on their autonomy and sometimes the brits helped and sometimes didn't. Anyway the tribes and regions of the atlantic eventually got their asses kicked and were tricked into signing over all their rights under the government of Zelaya in the early 1900's. Then came Samoza and things got darker and bloodier. So only in 1980 did they once again receive autonomy under the sandinistas and they only got similar human rights in 1987 and are working now on what they want exactly as an autonomous region.

So that is a brief semi-inaccurate history of the atlantic coast. And i went there. Most of the population is black and they talk in a sweet rastafarian creole.

I was in a group of 8 and we stayed in the hostel of Miss Rebecca. Who was a large lovely creole nurse who worked in the health clinic of Orinoco. We were there for 4 days and nights. We swam in bath temperature water and danced Garifuna dances nearly every day. We ate fried fish once and some of the best fried chicken i've ever had for a couple of meals. But we had little seafood concerning our position on the globe. We were taught Garifuna drumming and dancing by artistic leaders of the community, and we had members of the community like a priest, judge, teacher, and community leader come talk to us about the situation of life in Orinoco and the Garifuna culture. We went to the fadcanic school of agriculture where there is a lot of science and splicing going on to provide farmers with the most productive seeds and methods of farming. We also went to the bar a couple of nights, the first night Tueday, we were sort of the only guests because the drumming instructor's uncle owned the bar and opened it up for us. In Orinoco they make a sort of bootleg moonshine rum that is stronger that 151 proof and makes your eyes water and nose cringe when you smell it. Any way most of the group got real pissed off the stuff and that was prety funny. The next time it was offered to us not nearly as much was consumed by the group, because we learn quick here at SIT.

Thats sort of the brunt of it. It was a great time of learning and relaxing. It was also like a completely different world from here in Managua. We also watched the stars every night because we could actually see the millions of them out there. It was awesome and I love trying to talk in a creole accent as much as possible.

On another note I think I collected a parasite somewhere along the way and was sick as a dog on our last day which was spent in Bluefields which is the main town of the region. But I've been taking some pills and feel a bit better now.

Until next time.

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