Nicaragua - thoughts about coming back
I am home in Israel. It is fun to be back. I have decided to keep up with the mailing list and continue the stories until I reach the end of the trip. So now I am writing in retrospective. Please feel free to reply and comment, and if you want off the mailing list, let me know. Noa.
Nicaragua
I had travelled from Utila across Honduras and into Nicaragua. Again choosing the road less travelled by, I decided to stop at Estelì, the next city by the border, instead of going directly to some tourist destination. It is a less visited town which played a big part in the Nicaraguan revolution in the 1970's. This was why I decided to stop there; I was also dead tired after having spent 2 days on buses, and still felt restless after the previous negative experience in Utila.
I went to see the local Museum for Heroes and Martyrs and learned a lot about the Nicarauan revolution. In short and general, what happened was that the US had inserted soldiers to the country and had controlled a puppet dictatators for more than 40 years, until the people had had enough and revolted. They succeeded, and now the president is an ex-revolutionary, and I got the impression that most people are pleased with the current government.
The museum was run by the organization of dead revolutionary soldier`s mothers and wives. The curator was an white-haired woman whose two sons joined the revolution when they were 14 and 16 old, and died fighting. I asked her if she had supported their decision. She said yes, she wanted them to go.
Now in retrospective I think of all the revolution stories I have heard in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua. I heard many beautiful folk songs about the revolution, and the people know them and sing them together, with passion. How poor are these people that were stomped under the boots of financial interest of the upper illite in Mexico or in the case of Nicaragua, the United States. How brave are these people for having fought against it, and in some places they still do.
A few weeks later I was in a pub in San Salvador and had commented to my host, Allen, that we in Israel don`t have many revolutionary folk songs. He said: well, in a democratic country you hardly need them, do you? And I think - not only is Israel not as just and democratic, we also lack the unity in which they all sing together. Maybe we need it after all. Maybe our revolution is simply yet to come. What has to happen to make people understand that a change is needed?
Laguna de Apoyo
Back to the trip. When I was in Estelì, I went to a cafè one night and met two interesting people, who had, too, just met the same evening and who both work for non govermental organizations. Skyler, who has an Iranian girlfriend back in the US and appreciates, like me, the Farsi cuisine, works at constructing schools in undeveloped countries. Khalil, from Canada, runs his own NGO for tree planting in Nicaragua, to cover the human carbon-footprint (so you get an offer to cover your carbon footprint by financing tree planting somewhere in the world, there is a chance that he manages it). Pretty cool. Skyler had offered both of us a sponteneous ride (the next morning) to a beautiful lagoon in the mountains. The water was clear and warm, the forest beautiful and undeveloped. We stayed the night and next day. I met new friends there, and it was fun.
From there I went to Granada, a famous touristy town by the lakeshore of the biggest lake in Central America, Lake Nicaragua. The town had nice colonial buildings but I was unable to enjoy the beauty, and I escaped it quickly; it was hot and humid and overly touristy.
I had developed mixed feeling towards the locals; they were definitely more friendly than in other countries, saying hello in the street (in the city!) and even once "enjoy my country", but I have also been given some really rude remarks, from people who, I guess, just wanted to show off their English, and were very offensive. Nicaragua was definitely the country where I have gotten the most of the rude remarks, the whistles in the street, etc.; I had also taken it hard because of the mental state of disappointment I was still carrying, despite the positive experience of the road trip with Skyler and Khalil. I felt everyone was desparate for foreign money, maybe because it was off-season, and it culminated in a funny situation when I walked into a gallery to see local paintings and I met the painters. They offered me their work and I had said I cannot afford nor carry a painting; and they said - "OK, we´ll give it to you cheap!" as if they werent listening at all.
Some Nicas also had an unnerving tendency to approach you in the street and offer to walk you somewhere - it was friendly and maybe innocent, but inconvenient when you just want to be by yourself. Some times it felt like they are too interested in the tourists, that they don`t have their own life. Weird.
So the next place I went to was Ometepe Island, in the lake, which is made of two joined volcanoes, one active, one dormant. The place is very quiet and there is a lot of green and great view of the volcano. My friend Karoliina had recommended me to volunteer in an organic farm, El Zopilote (The Vulture) and I was condsidering it. However, when I got there I was just exhausted and didn`t feel like working. I stayed there a week, enjoyed the nature, cooked, read and talked to other travellers. I made a friend, Shanna from England. It was warm and rainy so it was fun to sleep in the hammock under the roof, with the rain splashing away but not reaching us.
I had many worries about coming back - money mostly. How will I find a job and an apartment? What do I want to do when I get back? How will I get along? I was trying to leave the worries aside and enjoy the time I had left, but I was homesick and felt down on energy and all I could think of was the looming cloud of uncertainty upon my return. If months earlier I spent fantastic days exploring the sites, just me and the guidebooks, now I couldn't do it anymore. I didnt feel like being with people, and I felt bad about feeling bad. I think it was the worst I have felt on this trip.
How did I get out of it? Eventually I realized that what I was fearing was not going back, but going back a failure. I really admired these people that I had met on this trip that had travelled for years and were so carefree and happy. And I have already shortened my trip to go back in June, so I felt that maybe I can never be like them, like I am failing by being homesick, by not being entirely free. Then I talked to Juan and he said that if we are carrying something heavy with us, like a memory or an unresolved situation, we can never be free of it, never travel carefree until we resolve it. So I realized I want to go back, I have to be back to close the cycle and complete the job which I had started by setting off - to make peace with my family and with myself. And I think I had done it, so now it is time to go back and see them; and I started to be really happy and excited to go back, and finally I was able to enjoy my trip again. I have my own path to follow.
Pictures from Ometepe:
Shanna on the boat to the island: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Nicaragua#5480495437915806210
The bottle-walled shower: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Nicaragua#5480495927057435778
Our sleeping area - the hammocks: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Nicaragua#5480495615901371042
Nicaragua
I had travelled from Utila across Honduras and into Nicaragua. Again choosing the road less travelled by, I decided to stop at Estelì, the next city by the border, instead of going directly to some tourist destination. It is a less visited town which played a big part in the Nicaraguan revolution in the 1970's. This was why I decided to stop there; I was also dead tired after having spent 2 days on buses, and still felt restless after the previous negative experience in Utila.
I went to see the local Museum for Heroes and Martyrs and learned a lot about the Nicarauan revolution. In short and general, what happened was that the US had inserted soldiers to the country and had controlled a puppet dictatators for more than 40 years, until the people had had enough and revolted. They succeeded, and now the president is an ex-revolutionary, and I got the impression that most people are pleased with the current government.
The museum was run by the organization of dead revolutionary soldier`s mothers and wives. The curator was an white-haired woman whose two sons joined the revolution when they were 14 and 16 old, and died fighting. I asked her if she had supported their decision. She said yes, she wanted them to go.
Now in retrospective I think of all the revolution stories I have heard in Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua. I heard many beautiful folk songs about the revolution, and the people know them and sing them together, with passion. How poor are these people that were stomped under the boots of financial interest of the upper illite in Mexico or in the case of Nicaragua, the United States. How brave are these people for having fought against it, and in some places they still do.
A few weeks later I was in a pub in San Salvador and had commented to my host, Allen, that we in Israel don`t have many revolutionary folk songs. He said: well, in a democratic country you hardly need them, do you? And I think - not only is Israel not as just and democratic, we also lack the unity in which they all sing together. Maybe we need it after all. Maybe our revolution is simply yet to come. What has to happen to make people understand that a change is needed?
Laguna de Apoyo
Back to the trip. When I was in Estelì, I went to a cafè one night and met two interesting people, who had, too, just met the same evening and who both work for non govermental organizations. Skyler, who has an Iranian girlfriend back in the US and appreciates, like me, the Farsi cuisine, works at constructing schools in undeveloped countries. Khalil, from Canada, runs his own NGO for tree planting in Nicaragua, to cover the human carbon-footprint (so you get an offer to cover your carbon footprint by financing tree planting somewhere in the world, there is a chance that he manages it). Pretty cool. Skyler had offered both of us a sponteneous ride (the next morning) to a beautiful lagoon in the mountains. The water was clear and warm, the forest beautiful and undeveloped. We stayed the night and next day. I met new friends there, and it was fun.
From there I went to Granada, a famous touristy town by the lakeshore of the biggest lake in Central America, Lake Nicaragua. The town had nice colonial buildings but I was unable to enjoy the beauty, and I escaped it quickly; it was hot and humid and overly touristy.
I had developed mixed feeling towards the locals; they were definitely more friendly than in other countries, saying hello in the street (in the city!) and even once "enjoy my country", but I have also been given some really rude remarks, from people who, I guess, just wanted to show off their English, and were very offensive. Nicaragua was definitely the country where I have gotten the most of the rude remarks, the whistles in the street, etc.; I had also taken it hard because of the mental state of disappointment I was still carrying, despite the positive experience of the road trip with Skyler and Khalil. I felt everyone was desparate for foreign money, maybe because it was off-season, and it culminated in a funny situation when I walked into a gallery to see local paintings and I met the painters. They offered me their work and I had said I cannot afford nor carry a painting; and they said - "OK, we´ll give it to you cheap!" as if they werent listening at all.
Some Nicas also had an unnerving tendency to approach you in the street and offer to walk you somewhere - it was friendly and maybe innocent, but inconvenient when you just want to be by yourself. Some times it felt like they are too interested in the tourists, that they don`t have their own life. Weird.
So the next place I went to was Ometepe Island, in the lake, which is made of two joined volcanoes, one active, one dormant. The place is very quiet and there is a lot of green and great view of the volcano. My friend Karoliina had recommended me to volunteer in an organic farm, El Zopilote (The Vulture) and I was condsidering it. However, when I got there I was just exhausted and didn`t feel like working. I stayed there a week, enjoyed the nature, cooked, read and talked to other travellers. I made a friend, Shanna from England. It was warm and rainy so it was fun to sleep in the hammock under the roof, with the rain splashing away but not reaching us.
I had many worries about coming back - money mostly. How will I find a job and an apartment? What do I want to do when I get back? How will I get along? I was trying to leave the worries aside and enjoy the time I had left, but I was homesick and felt down on energy and all I could think of was the looming cloud of uncertainty upon my return. If months earlier I spent fantastic days exploring the sites, just me and the guidebooks, now I couldn't do it anymore. I didnt feel like being with people, and I felt bad about feeling bad. I think it was the worst I have felt on this trip.
How did I get out of it? Eventually I realized that what I was fearing was not going back, but going back a failure. I really admired these people that I had met on this trip that had travelled for years and were so carefree and happy. And I have already shortened my trip to go back in June, so I felt that maybe I can never be like them, like I am failing by being homesick, by not being entirely free. Then I talked to Juan and he said that if we are carrying something heavy with us, like a memory or an unresolved situation, we can never be free of it, never travel carefree until we resolve it. So I realized I want to go back, I have to be back to close the cycle and complete the job which I had started by setting off - to make peace with my family and with myself. And I think I had done it, so now it is time to go back and see them; and I started to be really happy and excited to go back, and finally I was able to enjoy my trip again. I have my own path to follow.
Pictures from Ometepe:
Shanna on the boat to the island: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Nicaragua#5480495437915806210
The bottle-walled shower: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Nicaragua#5480495927057435778
Our sleeping area - the hammocks: http://picasaweb.google.com/noaspics/Nicaragua#5480495615901371042