This is Bluefields, Nicaragua, in the Caribbean coast. The standard breakfast, which I had this morning in the Mercado, is fried fish. The standard lunch is shrimp.
If you want turtle meat, it is widely available. I wandered into a turtle market by accident on Corn Island, and saw 13 large sea turtles, lying on their backs, ready to be slaughtered for their meat and eggs. I was shocked; every other nation in the world is working desperately to save the sea turtles, but in Nicaragua they eat them! I went to the police department to complain. The police officer, who spoke surprisingly good English, listened to my compliant, then said ¨So what is your problem?¨
Another man explained this was the turtle season, and soon they would be bringing on so many turtles that much of their meat would spoil. Many Nicaraguans oppose this, but they can do nothing to stop it. Obvously, the government doesn´t care.
I was in Nicaragua in the late 80s when the Sandinistas were in control. I visited again in the early 90s just before the Sandinistas were voted out. How the world was different then!
I'd got to Nicaragua the 2nd time from London via Moscow by Aeroflot (short stop Cuba). Due to a flight mix up I was trapped in Moscow airport's transit hotel for a week! Because I moaned so much they eventually took me in a bus to see Red Square, where I touched Soviet soil without a visa (you weren't supposed to leave the hotel without a visa, let alone the coach). A temperature of minus 14 and me dressed for the sub-tropics!
My great regret is that I never made it to Bluefields and Corn Island. Planned but never realised.
This is a wonderful place and I hope you keep posting.
Posted by: Bob | September 22, 2004 at 03:06 AM