Greetings still from the Miskito Coast of the Region Atlantica Autonima of Nicaragua! First a quick apology for leaving my fans waiting for so long, but between being completely off the grid for weeks (read further for an exciting overview) and the power in Puerta Cabezas vacillating between on and off every couple of hours, I just havent had the opportunity to write. but now here´s the story....
The miskito people are so called due to a set of kings that lived through out the region referred to as Reyes Moscas, or Fly Kings. They are a people that for me at first glance do not have the outward cultural brilliance of people such as the Mayans or Embera, as they no longer have traditional clothing, traditional handicrafts or overt daily customs. What fascinates one as you become immersed with the miskito people is the thick threads of history that are woven into every aspect of their being. The miskito people are not a uniform people...they are a color wheel of black, brown, chocolate, cafe, light skinned, to white; hair that is kinky, braided, straight as an asian; eyes that are deep brown, blue, green or gato as they say here. To identify a miskito person requires that you are actually in the miskitia, as the varied features of a miskito person could easily be confused with chinese, thai, balinese, japanese, latino, african, or occasionally german. The history of the miskito is one of fighting to maintain their land as different cultural groups aimed to conquer it, and as one friend said over drinks last night, they have never lost a battle. One of the main peoples were the english that have left their mark in language and food, as evidenced by the Worcestershire sauce sold at corner stores and the baking bread found at night in the markets. The african slave trade and spanish conquest also played large roles in the development of modern miskito people. The language of the miskito is probably the most culturally rich melting pot of words and expression that describes the richness of this people. It is common that miskito speak the three languages of miskito, english, and/or spanish. The indigenous language itself is as far from any language that you could possibly think. To say good afternoon you would say tetam yamni. But in this same language you have words that are distinctly english, and generally of a variety of english that has long passed. Words to describe items that were not present in the past such as spoon, door, plastic, are often heard sprinkled into a miskito conversation. Words such as dear for expensive or basin for a bowl harken to old school english. Counting is simply done in english. How much is it is Dia price, which may be answered by 5 dollar! Spanish words are also interspersed in the language. This amalgamation of words and speech color the miskito people as deeply as the variety of shades their skin take on.
Today the miskito people maintain a living that is from the sea and the land. Harvesting and using coconuts and breadfruit, diving for lobster and fishing in the deep carribean atlantic sea. They live in stilted homes, many now made of concrete, painted brightly, bringing up images of old sugar shack towns in the southern US. The one thing that still remains about the miskito people, is that they are off the grid, extremely rural. Once you have made contact they are kind, open hearted people that are thrilled to share their turtle meat with you...its just getting there thats the complication! So here is where I interject about my fabulous travel partner Cody. For those of you who are not familiar with the story he is my best friends brother and has been traveling to the miskito coast for the last five years making contacts and winning both respect and opened armed welcomes into the communities. He has been building and installing solar panel systems in the most remote areas to power lights in a world of darkness after 6 pm. It was with him that I had the wonderful opportunity to know the infrequently visited miskito communities of the north as well as the even more rural miskito keyes.
Entonces...we set out early in the morning to find a panga to take us up the coast. After securing our ride we waited as he went to get gas. We boarded the panga several hours later. Upon leaving the driver quickly began to sip from his bottle of flor de cana rum, only to become ridiculously drunk within a short period of time. When attempting to change the gas tanks he was so cross eyed that a wave hit us filling the panga with water. Quick thinking form my man told him to cut the top off our only water bottle to start bailing the water out of the boat, as there was nothing in the boat to do this with. In the meantime I am thinking, the coast isnt that far, i can swim if I have to. By the time we make it just a few miles from our destination the driver is so drunk that he is falling off the back of the boat when i say to cody, we are either getting off here or i am swimming! we disembark at a small beach in a community called Dakura, home of the most beautiful crystalline blue lagoon, to be greated by children shouting "cody, cody!" We spent the night in a home of friends only to be transported to our true final destination by sailboat across the lagoon, a 1km walk across land and then a canoe ride to the end. Just the first of many adventures to be had! To make a long story short we spent many days in a community called Sandy Bay as Cody installed a solar system and I buddied up to the local midwife Dona Esmeralda and prepared herbal solutions to put on a crazy jungle fungus growing on my back.
Later we returned to Dakura to prepare for a one week sailing trip to the Keyes. During this time was probably the largest and most important cultural event in the miskito coast: the campesion baseball series. We opted to go to Awastara to see the festivities by horse. Now most people know my history and can say, kari is a person that likes to ride horses. Ive had to rethink that opinion after sitting atop a horse that is virtually no more than a bone digging into your pelvis as you kick with all your might to get it to move. needless to say, we arrived dragging the horses and returned walking the 2 and a half hour trail.
So many stories, but by far the best and most amazing was the sailing trip that Cody organized. We set sailing in the morning of a clear day, he and I and our crew of three cien por ciento pirates. We sailed the open sea by land marks, gently pushing through the waves of the caribbean, sails high. When you imagine sailboat, I hope that you are seeing a hand built wooden hull that is painted bright blue with masts made from large widdled tree trunks and handsewn sails waving. BY the early afternoon we reached the first key called whipling, a set of 14 wooden fishing shacks set upon a sandbar in the middle of the ocean, no land to be seen. All of the keys are of this fashion, wooden houses that are stilted to withstand the hightide that reaches up to six feet, and low tide averaging around two feet. Many of the other keys are surrounded by establishments of mangroves, but still no land. So we spent the next several days, evenings, and nights watching the sunrise over one side of the ocean to set on the opposite, eating a culinary feast of lobster, conches, crabs, and fish caught earlier in the day. We eventually made it back to land with our crew of well versed pirates to arrive in time for the ripe mangos.
hope that all of you are well up there in gringolandia as spring starts to show her face!
