Bluefields, Nicaragua

As many of you may know we have recently returned from a trip to the Atlantic Ocean, Carribean Sea side of Nicaragua.  We visited a couple of very interesting places - Bluefields and Laguna de Perlas.

Both places are very different to the rest of Nicaragua, having been settled and governed mainly by the English instead of the Spanish.  In 1633 the English apparently arrived and by the early 1700 had established governmental authorities.  You might as well be in a different country, so different is the feel of these places - there is very little Spanish spoken and instead you hear a lot of English, a Creole that includes a lot of English and Miskito.

There is quite an ethnic mix in Bluefields with the the Rama, Miskito, Creole, Garifula, Ulwa and the mestizo people.  If you just take a general look at the people in the street the majority seem to be of black African descent and may are likely are able to trace their roots back to the slaves that were carried on a  Portuguese slave ship that was wrecked in the Miskito Cays back in 1641, the black slaves brought from Jamaica when in 1744 a number of English colonists arrived from there or the black Jamaican slaves that arrived later looking for freedom.

The governmental history of the place seems quite erratic, apparently in the late 1700's England recognized Spanish sovereignty over the area but Spain never seemed to bother with properly taking it over.  Then the British once again got involved in 1860 putting the Carribbean Coast of Nicaragua under its protection, declaring Bluefields as the capital of a newly formed Miskito Reserve.  Jamaican slaves kept arriving by their own choice and the Brits and the Americans used the native workforce to create quite an economy based on banana and wood export.  It can be seen that at one time it was probably quite a thriving little town although now much of the town is run down and dirty.

But enough of the history, to the trip!  Off we set with our backpacks .... Kieran travels so light it's very impressive.  I on the other hand had real trouble fitting two weeks worth of stuff into one not very large backpack, but credit where credit's due I did manage in the end and that, might I add, was including three pairs of shoes ;)

Chase prefers not to take pictures when everyone is ready and/or looking at the camera he considers it much more artistic to take photographs when at least one ore more of the subjects are unaware.  Interesting concept.  Speaking of pictures, these pictures are now all courtesy of Dio, thank you Dio!  Paul Danger Henry now having left, Dio has kindly lent me his little canon point and shoot which is awesome!  I hereby dedicate this blog to the generosity of Paul DH and Dio.

It is quite a mission to get to the Atlantic Coast from San Juan del Sur.

Firstly we took a bus from San Juan del Sur at lunchtime to Rivas, about $NZ2.50 each (50 cords), about an hour.  

We were able to grab a roadside meal of fritanga before the bus left.  It consists of pork and crackling, a kind of vinegarry coleslaw and some yucca (manioke).  Yum!

This poor creature looked like he needed it more than me though so we shared.

The bus soon filled up ....

From Rivas we took a bus to Managua, it took about 2.5hrs.  The guys on the buses are awesome they get your backpacks off the roof, tell you the best place to get the next bus and if they see it coming will flag it down and put your gear on, telling the next bus guys where you're headed.  

It started to rain on the way and little did we know it but this was to set the scene for our whole trip.

The taxi ride in Managua.

We arrived at the Mercado Roberto Huembes at about 4pm and took a taxi to the Mercado Ivan, there we had to wait until 9pm for our next bus to El Rama.

For those planning on doing the trip, the bus from Rivas to Managua takes you to the El Huembes market but you need to get yourself to the Ivan Mercado Ivan Montenegro.  There may be buses but the easiest way is to let the bus guys know where you're wanting to go and they'll let you get off a little before the final stop, right by the taxi stand and you can grab a taxi direct to the other market.  The bus guys said it shouldn't be any more than 50 cords each, there were three of us, but the taxi guy tried to get 100 each and would only let me beat him down to 80 each.  Then as soon as you get there buy your bus and boat ticket combined - I think it was about 460 cords each, $NZ20 more or less.

The bus Ivan Montenegro Mercado.

....  still waiting.  

Two buses then arrived and we all piled on for the 6-7 hour trip to El Rama

The bus station at El Rama where we waited for the boat from 3am to 6am.

As soon as you arrive here take your passport and get into the queue that will form by the office door.  Although you have your boat ticket you don't have your boat number which you will need to get on the boat in the morning.

Then at around 6am you head across the road and down to the water to listen out for when your boat number is called.

For most of us that meant standing in a queue for half an hour or so (thankfully it was only drizzling at that time).

Others were a little better prepared and this young man spent his time sitting in his very own little rocking chair, something the Nicaragua is renowned for, nearly every home has at least a couple.

After a quick bag search, although the guard seemed determined to look at and in everything that I had in my bag (no mean task), we were on our way.

The pangas (little boats) zip up the river but as it had been raining quite heavily we had to do a fair bit of swerving floating sticks etc. 

Two and a half hours later we arrived at Bluefields.

With elections soon coming up we found ourself in the middle of a political rally.

It seems that Sandinismo and worship of Daniel Ortega is alive and well here in Bluefields.

Apparently earlier that week gifts of food, home repairs and cows had been made around the town by the representatives of a certain political party.  I wonder how much that had to do with the enthusiasm shown here.

Raphael and Suleika, the lovely special pioneer couple in our Spanish congregation in San Juan del Sur had asked some friends of theirs if we could stay with them in Bluefields and they were so lovely and hospitable it was a pleasure to stay with them and they spoilt us like crazy.

They own a bakery that makes amazingly delicious food, the best we've had in Nicaragua and they seemed bent on having us try every single item that they produce in the bakery.

Here are our lovely hosts David & Katy Alvarado.  Boy could Katy whip up some delicious meals on a simple double gas burner.

Pastries heading off to the bakery.

Enjoying yet another meal with the Alvarados.

Good old 'gallo pinto' (rice and beans) - the staple of Nicaraguan meals.

  I'm pretty sure they even gave up their bed for us and we had aircon!

David and Katy had recently bought Wi so Porl and Kieran had the odd competition, here they are playing the national game of baseball.

There's a lot of reggae influence around the town ....

... and some quaint little houses.

We checked out the kingdom hall where Porl would be giving the talk on the Sunday.

On our first wander around town we came across this cute little couple, Takeo and Johana.  He's from Japan and she's Nicaraguan.  Takeo has been serving as a pioneer here in Nicaragua for quite a few years and they live just behind the kingdom hall in a little flat.  We went to the hall one morning to go witnessing with them but there was such torrential rain that we ended up spending the morning at their place playing games on their Wii.  Must be the thing around here lol.

Here's a few shots from around the town.  The local shoeshiner and his client kindly let me take a picture of them, he was doing a very good job, those shoes were beautiful and shiny by the time he finished.

The harbour water was very muddy due to the heavy rain.

Porl was interested to see that there were Russian fire-engines in Bluefields.

The town is filled with teeny-weeny taxis that all looked the same apart from the colours.  I guess if they were brought in by boat that would be the best size to transport.  Amazing how many people and their luggage you can fit in one car though.  We had 6 and all our backpacks!

I love the colours in the street displays.

Well I think I'll just make this part one of the Bluefields adventure as I have a few more images to sort out.  I hope you've enjoyed the trip so far .... until next time, adios!