From Siuna, Nicaragua

A happy coincidence that I discovered upon arriving in Nicaragua is that the five-dollar straw hat that I bought at a Hawaiian convenience store has profound cultural significance here. According to the locals, it is identical to the sombrero worn by Augusto Cesár Sandino, the national hero of Nicaragua.

To give you some background, Sandino became famous in the late 1920’s for fighting a U.S. Marine invasion and avoiding capture for five years. Eventually, the Marines gave up trying to capture him, and they left the country after placing a man named Somoza in power. Once the Americans were gone, Sandino and his men laid down their arms and signed a peace treaty. However, after attending a presidential banquet celebrating the new peace accord, Sandino was promptly assassinated by one of Somoza’s men. This event marked the beginning of a brutal, 45-year, dictatorial reign by the Somoza family. Mercifully, it was brought to an end in 1979 by an immense, popular uprising led by a group that called themselves “Sandinistas.”

Sandino, and particularly his sombrero, symbolize the Nicaraguan yearning for freedom and autonomy. Unfortunately, it is also a tragic symbol, as Nicaragua’s history has been marked by dictatorships, assassinations, and U.S. invasions ever since gaining independence from Spain in 1821. I guess it’s ironic that there is a gringo running around Nicaragua wearing Sandino’s hat, but perhaps it’s not so strange if you consider that many of the locals here wear baseball caps and professional wrestling t-shirts while singing along to old Lionel Riche songs. Do you remember, “Oh, what a feeling, when I’m dancing on the ceiling.” I try not to, but I can’t help but laugh every time I hear it here.

I´m continuing to grow my hair, and it gets shaggier by the day. For those of you who see me around New Year´s, I should have the Paul McCartney look, circa 1968. Also, I´ve followed the method of uber-catholic Mike-- I don´t use shampoo any more. Instead, I just rinse it with water every day. Since we don´t have running water in Siuna-- we use rainwater to take bucket baths-- the rinse method is very apt. After about two weeks of this method, my hair and scalp started looking and feeling better than it ever did back in the States. Who would have guessed?

By the way, if you ever want to do a bad-ass mountain bike tour, bring a bike to Nicaragua. This country is the safest in all of CentralAmerica (and probably in all of Latin America), and there are tons of unpaved roads that are ideal for cycling. In fact, on a bike you can go faster than the buses, who have trouble negotiating all the potholes. If you made Matagalpa your home base, you could do a series of sweet one-week tours in the mountains and towards the atlantic coast. Keep in mind that nobody speaks English here, so it is imperative that you or whoever you´re with has a good command of Spanish.

If I were an entrepreneur, I would consider starting a local mountain biking business that would bring North Americans down here. In addition to some great riding and beautiful scenery, they could learn about Nicaraguan history and politics, which have included (lamentably) a lot of bloodshed, both through internal conflicts and through direct and indirect U.S. military involvement for the past 100 years. It would be a great way to spread goodwill and international understanding, as well as diversify the Nicaraguan economy. Besides, I´ve met a couple of local Nicaraguans who work as trekking guides who would jump at the chance to get onboard with this business.

Things started a little slow here in Siuna (where everything is slow), but are beginning to pick up. The first day I was here, we went to a rodeo, which is indicative of what kind of town this is. More people own horses than cars, and it´s great to sit on the front porch, swing on the hammock, and listen to the clackety-clack of horse hooves on the ground. I imagine that life here is quite similar to that of my grandmother who grew up in rural Missouri during the Great Depression. Unemployment is a huge problem here since the international mining companies left, and now the local guys mine with pics and shovels, much like they did before the Industrial Revolution. There are many other problems here too, but I don´t want to dwell on the negatives, because the people here are generally upbeat. They make do with what they have and find happiness in their relationships and their laid-back lifestyle. Last weekend, we watched a great basketball tournament, pitting the mighty team from Leon against the local Siuna guys. And soon, the baseball season will start, which is especially exciting for me. I brought my glove from my high school baseball days, so I´m all ready to go!

The english classes that I´m teaching at the university have just gotten underway, and I´m probably going to teach some high school students as well. I don´t know a lot of people yet, but recentIy I met a nice girl named Candi who is our age and works with teenagers at her church (similar to Jeremy´s old job). I went to her church on Sunday, and though it felt excessively Pentecostal at times-- I´ve never heard so much about the Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit) in all my life-- I will continue going. It´s a great way to meet people, learn about the culture, and participate in a vibrant international community. It is fascinating to compare the various Christian communities that I know in the United States, Austria, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. I could tell you much more, but that will have to wait for another time.

I think it would be fun to work with the teenagers at the church, and I´ve already been invited to go with them to an International Christian Youth Conference in Guatemala in late November (I imagine that it´s something like CHIC). I´m very curious to see how they fundraise for this, as it is a very poor community, and it will cost $170 per student for the travel, hotel, and conference. To give you a sense of how much this is, my entire living expenses for an entire month (housing, food, and incidentals) are only $100. Still, I think it will be money well spent. Most of the kids have never left the country before, and it will give them an opportunity to meet others from all over Central America. I imagine that they will have access to literature that they can´t get in Siuna (there are no bookstores here, and even in a big town like Esteli, selection is poor), and it will definitely broaden their perspective.

Since arriving in Nicaragua, I’ve read a number of fascinating books, and I’ll tell you briefly about two of the best. The first is Salman Rushdie’s The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey. This concise account about the state of affairs in the Sandanista government during the crisis of the 1980’s is both insightful and hilarious. If you’ve read this already and want to learn more, I can also recommend a more extensive account in Where is Nicaagua?, by Peter Davis, written during the same period in a similar style.

The other book I can enthusiastically recommend is Justo L. Gonzalez’s Mañana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective. Gonzalez, an excellent historian and theologian, is a Cuban-born, Protestant Latino, giving a minority perspective that few other people in the world can claim. After taking traditional Christians to task for expropriating religion for dubious ends, Gonzalez presents a powerful vision of community-based, socially just, spiritually-attuned, ecumenical Christianity. Regardless of your personal position on religion, I think you would find this a very engaging work.

For the rest of my time in Nicaragua, I will be focusing on books written in Spanish. Right now, I reading Rubén Darío’s complete works. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, he is Nicaragua’s most famous literary figure. Some of you have read a great deal of Hispanic literature—if there is anything that you think I must read in the next three months, please let me know.

I miss you guys!