To my friend who’s flying in to visit me this week from the States:
I can’t recall where all you’ve traveled outside of North America (Canada, USA, Mexico), but I’m going to guess that Nicaragua will be the poorest and thus the most exotic destination for you yet.
Nicaragua makes the Baja California Sur Mexican town of Loreto, where you last visited us, look nearly as upscale as parts of the United States in comparison.
Despite the poverty, you will surprisingly not see beggars or homeless people. But you will see hard working hawkers of sunglasses, ceramics, cashews and woven hammocks calling out to us along the streets and beaches.
You’ll see some large, fancy houses. But mostly simple, small, open-air dwellings bustling over with large extended families and clotheslines as colorful as the adjoining flowers.
And children and dishes and laundry being washed (but not together) in raised concrete basins in front of the house.
And families of three to four on a single motorcycle. And two to three on a bicycle. Most people though are walking. Some barefoot. Most in flip flops.
You will see a lot of beautiful smiles. Nicaraguans have the most beautiful smiles in the world. Each one breaks my heart open and all of my love comes tumbling out.
You’ll see pigs and chickens and barking dogs.
You will see lots of skinny dogs, so you’ll want to prepare yourself for this – there’s one in our neighborhood in fact that I can’t believe is still alive.
And skinny horses who, along with their foals, roam freely through the neighborhoods.
And birds and flowers and butterflies and monkeys.
And waves and sunsets and rock and cliffs.
You’ll see the huge Ceiba trees with their bark that reminds me of elephant skin. And tall, skinny cactuses too.
And of course there’s the giant Christ statue, lit up at night, on top of the northern headland, stoically watching 24/7 over us all.
You will see a lot of garbage, so prepare yourself for that too, although the town is working now to change that.
I think you will have your mind blown. And your heart cracked open. In a good way. In a very good way. You will see how little is needed to live. To be happy. Just opening your eyes in the morning. Just taking a breath. And then another one. A cup of coffee is nice too.
