Magic Nicaragua

Nicaragua welcomes us perfectly...hitchhiking is easy...even easier than in Costa Rica due to the fact that we are allowed again to go on back of the pick up, Nicaragua is not so strict, poorer and also more human...And the sun is shining! It seems that we are finally leaving the rain season behind...in no time we get to "Rivas", the harbor where ferries go everyday to Ometepe, a fascinating island with two volcanoes rising in the middle of the sweet water of the biggest lake in Nicaragua. One of these volcanoes is asleep and the other one smokes gently...We ask two restaurants for some food and one bakery, they all give us some food, rice and beans with a bit of salads. We are use to the menu; we have been eating the same for the last months! Without any troubles, we convince the captain of the boat to take us to the island for free! Welcome to paradise, the atmosphere on the island is amazing, really peaceful...it seems like we are outside of the real world...it feels safe, relax...people hang out at night in the streets, chat together enjoying the evening drinking some beers or smoking some joints. We get in the night in Mogoyalpa, the main village on the western part of the island...we trust in destiny again and we meet John, a visionary who owns a hotel and get fascinated by our story and invite us directly to his property, a old monastery situated close to the lake. We enjoy the place and we can relax and take advantage of the situation to visit the orphanage close by and share our story with 5 classes in one morning...intense but enjoyable work at the NPH, "nuestros pequenos hermanos", an organization founded in Mexico that is present in more than 10 countries in Latin America. the pupils are attentive and listen carefully to our story...

The energy of the island is special, we are all moved and touched by the unknown...One evening, we meet a strange character "el indio viejo" and with him we discover the existence of a forgotten tribe, the LNU, the first tribe on earth...the first humans that were united when the continents were together. There are only 23 of them today, 23 persons trying to "come back" to the essence of life. Some of them live in this island, they are trying to buy a land where they could buy their eco village that would function without money in harmony with the nature, with a no waste policy, no plastic...only love and nature. ...fascinating, these people have a great knowledge when it comes to plants, food, and how to use nature to produce everything you need and to reuse everything...no waste, they use all type of plants, skins, waste to make shampoo, tea, marmalade, medication, etc...They are 100% vegan and very open to the world with the will of sharing their knowledge and culture with everyone. That's why they still use money to run their hostel which is kind of an open door for the world to ensure they don't cut themselves from it and can give the chance to everyone to enter their world…Step by step.

That is the first time in the whole journey that we meet people who are so close to our beliefs and philosophy and who are as coherent as it gets...strange feeling in our hearts...it is hard to leave but we want to get to the climate change summit. We hitchhike directly to Granada, a beautiful colonial city where Quiso, one of the LNU, lives in a neighborhood where they have installed a sample of the eco village they want to build. In the middle of a concrete jungle, she lives behind a huge bamboo door in a "Huam", type of Tipi. We spend the night there and she taught us a lot about the LNU, their social organization, plants, compost and how to live more in harmony with the cosmos respecting its circles...no plastic...perm culture...lot of love...she is great and take care of this spot to give another opportunity to the students and pupils and anyone who would be interested to see how we can live more in harmony...

The government is supporting the "maquilas" using it as an excuse to give job to the people. Daniel Ortega, the president, claims himself as a socialist and we can see the same type of propaganda as in Venezuela...however, Nicaragua seems far away to be a socialist country, it might be a bit less capitalistic...but it remains highly an unfair society. The countryside had been flooded by the heavy rains, a huge crisis of the beans have shaken the country. Nicaragua is really different from Costa Rica...poorer; the ecological consciousness is also way lower. We are back in Latin America with trashes everywhere on the streets, in the fields…People burn it or just leave it there. On the road, we see a father taking his child by the hand throwing away a plastic trash bag on the other side of the road...sad example. Fernando leaves us in front of the lake of Managua that went over its bed, there entire fields of coconuts trees submerged. He buys some fruits and wishes us good luck...we just wait the time to make a picture and we are back on the road. We quickly get close to the border to stay one more time with the firemen in a small village. The atmosphere is great there, good vibes, nice people, a old guy who stops us in the streets to invite us some sugarcane...the humble restaurants offer us food and we enjoy our last night in Nicaragua with the promise we will come back soon...As a matter of fact, the climate change summit starts in two weeks…we must hurry for now…