Points in Nicaragua History: The US occupation

From 1909 to 1933 the United States occupied Nicaragua, with our ever-famous marines.
The US's interests in Nicaragua lied in their abundant natural resources and the very convenient location for a Atlantic-Pacific canal (through the San Juan River into Lake Nicaragua, and then a small length of land left until the Pacific Ocean).


As you might also know, the US is really great at finding reasons to occupy a country. Our reason this time was that on November 17, 1909 two Americans were executed under the orders of President Zelaya (they had confessed to having laid a mine in the San Juan River with the intention of blowing up the Diamante, but whatever). Zelaya was also very against foreign access to Nicaraguan natural resources. Through US pressure Zelaya resigned later that year, replaced by Adolfo Díaz, who essentially became a figurehead for the US government.
(A photo of the dapper Zelaya)


And so began the US occupation, which only had a nine month break beginning in 1925, but the Marines came back after a little scuffle between the conservatives and liberals. In 1914 the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty was signed, which gave the US control over the proposed canal (which never happened, obviously).

From 1927 to 1933 General, and beloved national icon, Augusto César Sandino led a guerrilla war against the regime, but his main goal and purpose of the war was to evict foreign influence and interference in Nicaraguan political affairs. In 1933 the Americans left due to the Great Depression and also to the incredible success of Sandino's guerrilla war. But, if you thought the Americans would leave that easily, you would be wrong. For assurance, they created the National Guard, a military and police force trained by the Marines and left Anastasio Somoza García (a grand friend and supporter of the US and its policy) in charge.

Here is Sandino with Somoza, after they had just signed the peace agreement ending the guerrilla war. On February 21, 1934 only days after the peace agreement Somoza ordered the assassination of this national hero, and soon after systematically sought out and killed his followers and army.

Pera pears

It is pear season folks! The pear trees here bear these vibrant fuchsia flowers, and then later these pink pears. But, much to Dylan and my surprise, these are not the pears we are familiar with. The pears are lighter, with a thin skin and spongy flesh, and a flowery flavor. The seeds (pit?) are also huge, making the pears more seed than pear.

Here is a picture of a ripe “pera” and an unripe one (which is apparently delicious with salt – the Nicaraguan precedent when it comes to unripe fruit).


Here I am munching down on a delicious ripe pear directly from the pear tree outside our bedroom window.

It's a boy! And another boy! And a girl!

Good news everyone! Our host-brother has two dogs, Cadir and Tummy (pronounced Toomy), well turns out Cadir has fathered a litter of Tummy's puppies. There are three of them and their eyes are not even open yet. Look how cute they are!


Look at them nursing and just being their cute little blind selves.



And the proud Papa, Cadir

Where Else Have We Been?

On the 20th of March, my brother Duncan and his girlfriend Katy, arrived in Managua for a ten day visit. Ciara and I took an early bus to enjoy the very swank Best Western across from the airport that convenience (truly, a lack thereof) dictated we spend the night in. At eight, we retrieved
Duncan and Katy from the airport and crossed the highway back to the hotel. We ate there- Ciara and I split the imitation pizza.
The next day, Sunday, we caught a taxi and a bus to the city of León in the Northwest of Nicaragua. We dropped our ample baggage off at the very backpacker-y hostel Bigfoot, which could have been León's response to The Bearded Monkey, but with a foot shaped pool and a much better tended bar, and set off in search of food. Somehow, almost every restaurant we looked for was closed because it was Sunday, though one that we were seated in had just run out of food. In looking, we stumbled upon a skating competition set up on a basketball court. Finally we found a pizza place, which got closer to the real thing, at least, and devoured a pizza. We ate dinner across the street from Bigfoot at Vía Vía, a hostel with a great menu of typical food from nearby countries.



The skate park in León.



Monday, we ate at a restaurant attached to Bigfoot, in which Ciara enjoyed a bagel almost too much, and contracted a taxi to take us to the nearby beach-town Las Peñitas, where we stayed at the high class, but reasonably priced Barco de Oro. Of Las Peñitas, no apparent aspect can escape absorbing and radiating the immense heat beating down. León was hot, but here the sand was scalding, the ocean like a warm bath, and the sweat a stream. Even the showers, sometimes unpleasantly cold in Matagalpa, in Las Peñitas, when the cold would have been most welcomed, were terribly warm. The only shelter was Duncan and Katy's air-conditioned room. That said, the town and the beach were very beautiful, a nature reserve within was in walking distance (but remained, regrettably, unexplored), and our hotel and its restaurant were great.



The beach at Las Peñitas.




On Tuesday we returned to León and made the long, hot, and burdened walk from the bus station to Hostel Lazybones, which we had be seeing fliers for everywhere and which looked promising. The hotel was opened fairly recently, offered us two nice rooms in a secluded upstairs area, and had a nice, big pool. We dined first at a Comedor (sort of like a buffet), which was cheap and fun, walked around a bunch, bought a ton of pastries, and dined a second time at the Restaurant Sacuanjoche, which had terrible service, but great food.




One of the numerous beautiful cathedrals in León.



The next day we got up and broke fast early, and took a taxi to the bus station. Duncan, Katy, and I took a bus to the scorching Chinandega, Nicaragua's hottest city, if you believe everyone we have talked to about our trip, and from there a bus that crawled up North to Jiquilillo. For unclear reasons, we had to check into our hotel there before 1:30, and we made it just in time. Ciara took a bus South to spend some unfortunate time in Managua, picked up our friend Sara from the airport, took a bus up to Chinandega and met us at 6:30, just as dinner was served.
Hotel Rancho Esperanza, where we stayed, is a very cool set of cabañas located a convenient two minute walk from a beautiful beach. The thatch-roofed cabins have sand floors, and the hotel offers three pretty tasty meals a day. It's also the center for a number of community service projects, many of which were run by its owner Nate, who seemed like he should have been cool, but was actually quite unfriendly. Outside of that, and the surprisingly high price at checkout, staying there was a great experience. The beach was great, and pleasantly cold, and you could see fishermen as they motored out for the night every day around dinner time. Duncan got a serious sun burn, and we all bonded with other travelers of Nicaragua.



One of the cabañas.











Fishers heading out for the night.



Friday we took the long trip home to San Ramón, first from Jiquilillo to Chinandega, then from one part of Chinandega to another, then to León, then to Matagalpa, across Matagalpa, and finally home on a packed bus. We helped Duncan and Katy check in at their hotel, up a steep hill, and got Sara settled in our house. On Sunday we went back into Matagalpa, walked around, and ate at Comedor Oasis. And at night we went to our friend-boss Beth's house to paint her new pool. Monday morning Katy rode our host family's horse, and Sara, Ciara, and I went to teach swim lessons. In the afternoon, in an unfortunate rush, we got Duncan and Katy onto a crowded bus to Managua, so that they could spend the night before their early flight home.
Tuesday and Wednesday we spent bumming around San Ramón, eating pastries, and enjoying Beth's new pool. Thursday morning we went to El Chile, and came back with a mountain of woven goods. Good Friday at midday we sent Sara back to Managua via taxi. Since then, we've just been chillin' and watchin' the Easter processions rollin' by.

Where Have We Been?

Folks, it's been a while. March always promised to be a busy month, and it proved to be truly jam packed. Early in the month, our friend Emily came to see San Ramón and to travel with us to Granada. Days after she left a brigade from University of New Hampshire arrived for a little over a week, and then Duncan and Katy came for 10 ten days, and we met up with Sara who stayed with us until yesterday. Anyway, we will make up for our lapse in posting with a rapid fire succession of entries describing our March traveling.

To start from the beginning, on Thursday, March 4th, Emily flew into Managua's Augusto Sandino Airport from Boston. I took a bus from Matagalpa to the Airport and picked up Emily. Managua is huge and unfriendly, so we took a relatively expensive taxi from the airport to Mayoreo, one of the many Managuan bus stations, demonstrated the convenient lack of copyright laws (burnt copy of the [at the time] unreleased Ninja Assassin DVD- $1), and got us onto an express back to Matagalpa. Another taxi, another bus, and here we were in San Ramón. Friday we had a tranquillo day touring San Ramón. Saturday we went to Matagalpa to check on some postcards with the host mother in charge of them, Juanita, had a small lunch at the very cheap smoothie-oasis Don Chaco's, separated from Juanita and drifted around a bit . We made a lengthy stop in MegaBoutique, a huge used clothing store, with three floor- the higher you are, the cheaper the prices. Ciara and Emily both got some kind of clothing, or something, and I found a Kanye West concert T shirt for just C$25 ($1.25). At the Picoteo cafe, we split a liter of Toña, and at La Matagalpa, we did some food shopping. On Sunday we taught swim lessons in the morning and hiked to the top of a steep hill in the afternoon.
On Monday, we left for Granada; Ciara has already written about this some, but I will add a bit. We stayed at the smelly backpacker haven The Bearded Monkey in a stuffy room with two beds. We took a long walk around the city, which is very beautiful, and very full of white tourists. We ate at the pricey, but delicious Tercer Ojo, and returned to the hostel to enjoy some exceedingly incompetently made mojitoes (you can stay at The Bearded Monkey for free for a few weeks if you work as their bartender, which means that most of the bartenders have never mixed a drink before arriving and are constantly consulting a recipe book). On Tuesday morning we ate at Kathy's Waffle House, which is an incredible experience after having the same few panqueque, gallo pinto, and oatmeal breakfasts for a month. We stopped at Palí, a grocery store where we brought fruit, snacks, and a fateful knife, to make lunch and breakfast at our next hostel.
We then caught the Bearded Monkey-run shuttle to Laguna de Apoyo, a beautiful and pristine lake situated in the top of a volcano. We stayed at the Monkey Hut; we were one of only two small groups staying and it was basically deserted. While unpacking, I examined our C$20 ($1) knife, and, while resheathing in its cardboard sleeve, cut through the cardboard and into my hand between my thumb and pointer finger. The cut was pretty deep, and it sure bled a lot, but, because of the improbable sharpness of the knife and the hours spent swimming that day and on Wednesday morning, it healed very quickly. We spent all day swimming and had a delicious and reasonably priced Nicaraguan meal for dinner.
On Wednesday we caught a truck back to Granada that left us off right across from the Bearded Monkey at Hotel La Libertad, which, while paying, we realized was much nicer and slightly cheaper than the hostel it opposed. Our room there was huge, with tall ceilings to alleviate some of the heat of the area, and an included bathroom and shower. While there, we got to know the temporary bartender, Gina, from England, who had been traveling for months and was about to return home (in June she's returning to work on a hostel a Volcan Mombacho with her boyfriend) and Chepe, the oddball owner of the hostel who kept insisting we try his very high quality tequila.
Thursday, we went to Masaya, where we stayed in the vaguely motel-y, but pleasant, Hotel Mi Casa for only $5 each, and enjoyed on-site smoothies. A trip to the old market, where two hammocks were purchased, and to a grill restaurant, where we each got a huge strip of grilled meat and a plantain. By chance, we met up with another traveler who had a flight at almost the exact same time as Emily, and they got to split the cab fare early on Friday morning.
Later on Friday, we made our way home, and on Sunday the group from UNH arrived in San Ramón.

No more pictures; see Ciara´s recent post for some good ones.