Mira Flore National Park

I spent the past couple days in the Mira Flore National Park in North Central Nicaragua. North of the FSLN strong hold of Esteli. Mira Flore has many collectivo farms in the area. They grow coffee and cabbage and other sorts of things. It is sort of a socialist experiment up there. Everyone works together and there is a lot of shared ownership. But now it is sort of shifting towards eco-tourism. Its crazy that a country which seems so raw and on the edge of revolution would invest in tourism infrastructure. Maybe because there is money to be made. It was only recently that so many people became landowners...

The countryside is beautiful. I found myself romantising the lives of the Nicaraguans. Everything was peaceful, green, fresh, and beautiful. But there life sucks. Also, with all of the gardens and crops and coffee all of the folks at the farm I stayed at kept saying "organic, organic." But as I toured around with my guide Lenin, I know seriously, I saw people spraying chemicals and huge bags of fertilizers. How are these folks going to transition into eco-tourism if they use chemicals. Just another contradiction of the third world, I guess.

Christmas in Leon

Leon is a colonial city about 100 miles north of Mangua. It is a bustling metropolis of 400,000. It is hot and filled with spanish colonial architexture. I think it is on of my favorite cities.

The majority of the buildings are one story, so the cathedrals are very noticable. It is a perfect grid (maybe just the area surrounding the main plaza.) The roads are narrow, the sidwalks are raised and very thin and chok full of holes and hazards. All of the homes touch the sidewalks. Private meets public in a very immediate way. And walking around all of the doors to the homes are open with just a metal gate. Inside the homes are beautiful and huge. It is very obvious who is poor and who is well off. Beds, dingy clothes lines and TVs and nice chairs. And walking around I get a glimpse of all of these lives. Its amazing.

Christmas was good. The party outside of the cathedral on the night of Christmas Eve was insane. Not in a boozetown express way but in a family celebration way. Tons of kids, fireworks, candy, toys, food and noise. And amongst all of this was the calmness of a mass. The way the two met was insane- all of these people attending mass in the largest church in Latin America and then all of these people celebrating right outside, thousands of poeple... and the people from the plaza party would wander into the church. And no one seemed to be drinking it was a total family celebration. Beautiful and bizaare.

And yesterday, I spent the day tanning by the pool at my hostel and reading old New Yorkers. I had a nice dinner with some Europeans and drank rum. Pretty nice.

And today off to Esteli. For a national park and the best steak in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua_Ride The Snake

¨Ride the Snake.¨ Yesterday, I met a young aussie who is about 20 years old and on a 5 month journey with his mate from LA to Rio. And what he told me was all you have to do is ride the snake, just like Jim Morrison said. He was entirely not aware of self. It was pretty incredible. On the hour ride back to San del Sur (or something) this kid told us of his adventures which included: renting a mustang to drive from LA to Vegas, surfing in Mexico, getting robbed at gunpoint in El Salvador (it was destined to happen at some point), finishing his 5 month budget in 2. Essentially, he said just live life and ride the snake. Do whatever comes along...

I do not think this young aussie was a sage or anything close to that but it did remind me of a younger self. I don´t think I ever quoted Jim Morrison but I definitely remember saying things like this. So, here I am after almost 4 years of only spending time in North America I am back on the road. Things have definitly changed. I feel calmer and more confident. I am less scared of people or trust everyone more or don´t really have anything to lose?

It is refreshing to be back in the world. I had forgotten what it was like. It also seems way to familiar. Nicaragua is unreal. I know, I know, most people say this sort of thing about where ever they go. But I am serious. It is calm and not in the cheesy Bula sort of way. From the moment I got through customs it has been chill, chill, chill. I mean there wasn´t even the cattle gaurd moment at the airport. No one begs. I don´t feel ripped off. There´s not that many people. It is beautiful.

I just spend the past week with two friends from Wesleyan Maggie and Daniel. And it was a total dream. We ziplined, chilled with Ukrainian acrobats, hiked volcanoes, rode state ferries, surfed, drank beer, smoked cigars, played cards, drank rum... It was incredibly peaceful. It felt like vacation. And this morning they left. No one here speaks english. My lack of spanish is very noticeable. Today I took two cabs and two buses and arrived in Leon a city in the north west. It is calm, colonial, and super hot. There was much confusion and laughter and the singing of hotel california on my journey. I am headed to the beach again in a couple days.

And one of my favorite parts was when our ferry was pulling into the harbor a guy jumped off into the water to tie and guide the ferry boat into its spot. Unreal. Lobster men don´t do that. The only time I remember doing or seeing something like that was in 2000 and 2001 on the French Broad River during the Huck Finn adventures. Absolutly incredible.

Ok. Off to ride the snake a bit more.