Battles and Baseball

Okay, alter all this time I have spent diving and staying outside a 100m radius of any computer, it is time to told you about the final week that Eliot and I spent together.

We took a short flight in a short plane across Lago de Nicaragua to the point at which the Rio San Juan meets the lake before it snakes through to the Caribbean. From here we took a three hour boat down the river to a place called El Castillo. The boat ride itself was an unforgettable experience. Engine humming we saw humming birds having sex with flowers, large birds of prey circling and all of that cool stuff that you expect in an ancient remote volcanic wetland.

I mentioned in an earlier entry that the Rio San Juan and its El Castillo is historically significant. Why?

When the Spanish first explored the river in 1525 they recognized the site's strategic potential and began construction of a fort. Completed in 1673 it was the largest fort in Central America and, armed with thousands of weapons the fort would be the primary defense against forces fighting for control of Grenada.Would it work?

In 1762 the Seven Year War between Spain and Britain started when the governor of Jamaica began an invasion on Nicaragua through the Caribbean mouth of the river. The Spanish, led by Jose Herrera, had no intention of fighting off the 2000 or so English backed fighters until they reached El Castillo which was two thirds the way up the river toward the Lago de Nicaragua. The Spanish waited and prepared. We all know how lazy they are anyway.

On July 29th 1762 a battle began. The English had a difficult task. Standing atop El Castillo it is clear that the Spanish had the strategic advantage. El Castillo is atop a hill, at a bend in the river where there are small rapids. Of course, both sides suffered losses. Jose Herrera, Commander of the Spanish forces died during the final stages of the one month battle. Okay, this is the good bit.

Jose Herrera had a 19 year old daughter, Rafaela Herrera. She was apparently pretty hot. After the death of her father Rafaela took command of the forces and ended one month of tropical bloodshed with Spanish victory. That is one of the reasons I am learning Spanish I guess.

Thank you Eliot for inspiring my interest in this story.

The town is gorgeous. Small, with no roads the riverside it is a friendly community. Our short stay was a lovely respite from the backpacker-heavy coastal towns of Nicaragua.From there we took another couple of memorable boat rides to the Archipelago of Solentiname on the Eastern side of Lago de Nicaragua.

We had been very excited to visit the islands, originally home to a small community of poets and artists. Apart from some local women selling painted balsa wood fish and three German art buyers staying on the other side of the island, Solentiname could no longer beconsidered an artist colony. It is however, a beautiful place. The community is isolated and interesting. Eliot and I stayed at a small hotel run by one family. Later we found out that that the entire island was populated by that one family. The patriarch of the island has18 children, more on the way. His mother has 320 descendants. I am serious.

On the Sunday, toward the end of our stay we were invited to a baseball game between the two major islands (and families) in the archipelago. We took a boat across the island with our team, excited about the game ahead. As we landed on the beach on the opposing island I had visions of the battle that unfolded at El Castillo some 500 years prior. I imagined troops landing on the shores of the river in a similar fashion. We traversed the island in the heat across banana plantations until we reached a clearing. Wonky lines painted between rice sacks formed the diamond. The referee was dressed in his Sunday best. The teams stood in line for the national anthem. I shed a tear, it was truly fantastic. The game itself was a little tedious, so we sat and drank beer with our team for a good eight hours.

Eliot and I parted ways a few days later, we intend to meet again somewhere in Brazil.

In the next entry I will tell you about farming, facelifts and freediving.

Once again, thanks for tuning in.



























Guard atop El Castillo

















When two tribes go to war

Criminal Behaviour

It is not that I am lazy, or rather my laziness is not causing the current hiatus in communication. I am simply, in a place where it is criminal to be on a computer. I am sure of it.

I am on Utila, the smaller of the two Bay Islands in the Caribbean off the cast of Honduras.

I am here to do an Open Water SCUBA course and eat fish. After my open water course I intend to do a Free Diving course.

Here are a couple photos to illustrate.

BIG post coming...

I like lists

Purchases and Acquisitions

• 2006 Panama Jazz Festival t-shirt
• Ubiquity records t-shirt with the slogan ¨Music is the weapon of the future¨.
• A small knife, mainly to cut fruit and to fight bandits.
• 50 cent bottle of shampoo, to use as soap.
• One pair of Ray Ban Aviator sunglasses.
• One Time magazine.
• On jar of Skippy peanut butter. Smooth, could not find crunchy.

Books

• Yann Martel - Life of Pi
• Patrick Suskind -Perfume
• Jonathan Safran Foer -Everything is Illuminated (Second attempt)

Listening

• Nick Cave and the Badseeds (live)
• Fat Freddys Drop (live)
• Johnny Cash (live)
• The Roots (live)
• Donny Hathaway (live)

A challenge

In my entry below I said I was about to head to Solentiname, a rempote archipelago of islands in Lago de Nicaragua.

Well, things change.

We decided to stay on the beautiful Pacific coast of Nicaragua for a couple of days, giving me time to plan a personal challenge and piss fart some more.

For a couple of days I trained for my challenge. What did my regime involve? Mainly bodysurfing, swimming and walking.

What was the challenge? We were staying in a small bay that had little surf. The two beaches at the place we were staying were separated by a large craggy point. I swam out to sea at each beach and scoped out the challenge. I figured the point was 200m long and 100m wide at the narrow tip. I figured that the distance from sand to sand, beach to beach was about 500m on low tide. I figured.

The following morning after I had digested my breakfast of rice, beans, eggs, coca cola and oreos with peanut butter I put on my black speedos and my black goggles.

The tide was low, the water still and the sky grey. I was ready and quietly confident that I could meet my challenge. I have done my share of ocean swimming, surfing and stupid things. Sure, I was ready.

Eliot watched as I walked to the waters edge and swam into the distance. The swim out to the point was long, but not difficult. I was swimming at an even pace with steady breathing as the water became a darker blue and then navy grey. Almost as I rounded, perhaps 20 minutes into my swim I saw a bird dive into the water at speed, wings in a W shape.. Out it came not more than a second later with fish in mouth. I have never been scared of things in the water, but just for that second my heart slowed and I felt dizzy. Then hunt and kill that unfolded in front of me ´was followed by scary projected images in my mind’s cinema. I shook it off and settled back into my rhythm and swum further toward the point.

My goggles were very dark, mirrored on the outside. I was finding it difficult to see as I neared the open water. As I swum nearer to the rocks the water beneath me became more turbulent. It was not choppy, nor was there swell. Rather, the water beneath me felt as if it was shifting in a tectonic fashion. It moved me meters at a time toward the barnacled black rock and then out to sea. The preferred direction of pull was of course, out to sea.

As I rounded the point, the last few meters took many strokes, I realized that my narrow point was in fact a whole other bay made up only of a only a rock shelf. No problem, just another couple of hundred meters to swim.

I swam a few strokes and then, as one of the movements of water shifted me toward the rock shelf, I felt a broad punch to my stomach and chest. I didn’t hurt, so I swam on. There was a mass of water moving in and out from the newly discovered bay that was enough to keep me in one spot for ten minutes of solid swimming. I had not really moved anywhere. I flipped over onto my back to look at my stomach. I had been washed onto a rock that was just below the surface. I had not seen it beneath the water. Goggles too dark. The cuts were not threatening but for some reason I became fearful.

I have never felt out of control in the water before. Not that I can recall. Remembered the fishing bird. I thought of big things in the darkness below me. I could not see sand anywhere, only wet rock. Fear is a powerful emotion. I felt energy drain from me like rice from a slashed sack. I felt like a speck. I felt vulnerable. I did not panic, I was confident in my abilities to get back to sand safely. I had not entered into a challenge that was beyond my means. I was however, beaten. I floated for a few minutes, swallowed my pride along with a gallon or so and made my way back around the point. I spotted Eliot and a couple of friends standing on the point in the distance, I swam to the rocky edge and carefully made my way out of the water.

As I walked toward them, although defeated I was happy. Better that I tried and failed than never tried at all, isn’t that what we are meant to say? I inspected my cuts. Extensive but fine.

I walked the rest of the way around the bay to my destination. My heart would not slow. I kept looking back at my challenge. Dozens of ¨if only I had…¨ scenarios flicked through my buzzing brain.

If I would have stayed at that place longer, I could have done it. Although that is my ego talking, he promises me that he tells the truth and nothing but the truth. This time at least.

That night we around a bonfire on the beach toasting marshmallows and talking about socialism, pineapples, happiness, German engineering, steak, Scandinavian currencies and of course, how cool fire is.

Then, in the morning we surfed and left for Solentiname.

The essentials















Walking back around the point
















Could have been a kitten













The point (Thanks to Eliot for the awesome pic)