The swell took a break for a few days, so we saw it as an opportunity to escape from our nest called Popoyo and see what else Nicaragua had to offer. Bound for Leon in the countries north, we spent a night in the capital Managua before the final leg in morning. Managua is a pretty ordinary city, over developed and sweaty is the best way to describe it. To us it was just a pit stop. The highlight was a handful of awesome burritos for dinner and smoking little waitress with a rig that could stop traffic.
Next morning we mounted a 2 hour aircon bus to Leon. Originally I was just keen to zone out with my iPod, but I was seated next to a pretty interesting character named Osca. With his developing english we briefly spoke about my surf trip, the fact I’m Australian and attractions of Leon. A bit a silence acted as an intermission until we passed the US embassy. “American embassy (pointing out the window) Fucking Americans, wrecked my fucking country” blasted Osca. Interesting, lets delve deeper. For the next hour I got the political perspective of a Nicaraguan civil engineer - his views on the US and the positive outlook for Costa Rica and Nica relations. Couple of take outs were - the US interests in Venezuela after huge oil deposits have been found and that the famed Nicola Peninsula in Costa Rica, home to some of the most famous waves in Central America including Witches Rock was Nicaraguan land in the 70’s until it was peacefully claimed by Costa Rica - a big thorn in the current Nica/ Tico relationship. Next fact that I was amazed to discover was Osca english was only 3 months old. He started downloading BBC english lesson podcasts and teaching himself. Despite the length of time he had been leaning, Osca had no problem with a conversation. On top of that, I was the first person he had actually spoken english with - other than the man inside the podcast. Pretty damn impressive. Osca was off to his property in the mountains near Leon to work on his house and land. A few months earlier, with the increasing demand for Nica coffee, he and his family (with the help of his Japanese High School teacher wife) were developing the land to grow coffee beans. As luck would have it, they dug up gold nugget the size of a 50 cent coin. Nicaragua is apparently known for its gold deposits, so Osca and the fam kept on digging, uncovering a gold field on his property. Already he has had interest from US and Korean miners, which he had pushed aside, opting to use locals, but only when he needs gold to sell and nothing more. We continued to speak of our travels - he’d done Europe, Dubai, Japan (where he met his wife) when it occurred he didn’t know my name (typical move by me). Letting him know my name was Jamil, he replied “that’s an Arabic name yes?” I was having a chronic case de-ja-vu. “We are natural enemies” he stressed. Oh shit, what are you talking about. Turns out his family name is an old Spanish name ‘Mata-Morro’ which roughly translates to ‘Kill Arabs/ Muslims’. The name originated centuries ago when Spanish Christians were locked into a religious war with Arabic provinces. Suss on this new development, I checked to see if he was packing. Osca reassured me that its just a name, and we kept on at improving his english.
After a 2 hour chat, we arrived in Leon. We checked into the Bigfoot hostel, locked in Volcano boarding for the next day and set of in search of ice-cream via the cathedral and central square. Like many central american towns, Leon is an old colonial settlement so the place still retains much of the original spanish architecture. After treating ourselves to ice-cream, we chilled in the central square which is Leon’s afternoon social centre before deciding it was appropriate to get back on the cervezas.
No comments:
Post a Comment