"Beauty and The Beast" Part II

I continue my writings about our family’s trip to Nicaragua, the homeland of my wife to which she had not been back in 30 years. As I said last week, Nicaragua is a country of stark contrast, or what I called Beauty and The Beast. Last week I wrote about the beauty. This week it’s the beast.
The beast is in large part due to the country’s history of civil wars and natural disasters. Since the 1920’s the country has experienced at least four civil wars that were directed against either the right winged American back governments or the left wing communist governments backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union. At least two of their presidents and numerous political rivals have been assassinated in these revolutions.
Added to the political chaos have been several major natural disasters. In 1972 the capital city of Managua was rocked by a massive earthquake that killed 5,000 people, left the city in ruins and 60% of its inhabitants homeless. The aftermath of the earthquake also took the life of the Pittsburg Pirate’s Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente. He was killed in a plane crash on his way to help the victims of the earthquake. Hurricane Mitch and the resulting mudslides in 1998 killed 9,000 Nicaraguans and left 2 million homeless.
The end result is the second most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere. Over 50% of the people are unemployed or underemployed. 80% of the people live on less than $2 a day. My mere words can not adequately convey the utter poverty that we observed. Nicaragua is the largest country in Central American and the vast majority of the people live in absolute poverty.
The cities are the worst in many respects. Managua has to be one of the most filthy cities in the world. Trash is everywhere and the stench of sewage can be smelled frequently. The rural areas often look like they probably did 100 years ago. Horse drawn buggies and tin shacks with dirt floors are common sites.
The most heartbreaking though is the children. Many are orphaned or working on the streets. They are begging or selling anything you can image (except of course hot water and air conditioning). It is no wonder that Nicaragua has become one of the top mission fields of evangelical churches from the United States.
For us the major discomforts were 8 days of no hot water and little to no air conditioning in 95 degree weather. The trip made me realize that we Americans are spoiled. Even our most impoverished folks live like kings compared to other parts of the world. And I have even less tolerance for all the Americans, both on the left and the right, that want to complain about the ills of our country. Sure, we’ve got our problems but, Simply Put, we’ve got it made in the shade compared to many of the folks around this world.
From the front porch: Coach said sorry looks back, worry looks around and faith looks up.

“Beauty and The Beast” Part I

I continue my writings about our families trip to Nicaragua, the homeland of my wife to which she had not been back in 30 years. The country of Nicaragua is a country of stark contrast, or what I’ll call over the next two weeks Beauty and The Beast. This week I’ll write about the beauty.

There were several locations that we journeyed to during our eight day visit that were very beautiful. The most beautiful to me is what they call Laguna De Apoyo (Apoyo Lagoon). Nicaragua has more volcanoes, some dormant and some active, than you can shake a stick at. The Apoyo Lagoon was created when one of these volcanoes erupted thousands of years ago. The lagoon is now surrounded by vast hills and the dormant volcano known as Mombacho. The water is crystal clear blue and is great for swimming. We rode horses down a mountain trail and after a 1 ½ hour horse ride, the swimming was fantastic. After a horse ride back up the mountain, we were treated to some breathtaking views from the hill tops (See photos on the right).

Another location that we enjoyed was the beaches of Las Penitas / Poleloya / Playa Roca. These beach areas are on the west coast of Nicaragua and feature the Pacific Ocean. Playa Roca (Rock Beach) features some very large rock formations on the beach that my wife’s grandfather would take all the grandchildren to many years ago. When the tide is just right, these rock formations create tidal pools that youngsters can enjoy, safe from the hard pounding waves of the Pacific. By the way, those hard pounding waves are a favorite of the surfer dudes, several of which came from the United States just for the surfing.

In the towns of Granada and Leon we also visited several of the Cathedrals that date back to the 1700’s. While I’m not much on architecture, even I could appreciate the craftsmanship that built these cathedrals 300 years ago. In Leon we toured one of the cathedrals (they have 18 in the city) and the artwork and interior were stunning. Our tour took us to the top of the cathedral for fantastic views of the city.

While not necessarily beautiful, one fascinating stop that we made was at the Volcuno Massaya National Park . This park features an active volcano (Massaya). You can drive to the top, park you car and then peer over the edges of the volcano. You can see the actual crater as well as see and smell the gases billowing from the volcano. That was quite a sight.

Next week I’ll write about “The Beast,” as there were plenty of aspects to the country that were not at all beautiful. But there are parts of the country that are certainly worth seeing and, Simply Put, I will treasure the opportunity to have seen them.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob said he doesn’t mind the wrinkles on his face because wrinkles only go where a smiles has been.

Simply Put

"Home "
As I wrote in last week’s column my wife is from Nicaragua and had not been back to the country in 30 years. She had not been back for a variety of political, family and financial reasons. But we bit the bullet and made the trip last week. It was quite a trip, or maybe adventure would be a better description. I hope you won’t mind, but I plan to take the next few weeks to write about our trip.
This was not a typical vacation and I’ll be the first to say it sure was good to come home. You know, sleep in my own soft bed, recline in my own recliner, take a hot shower and things of that nature. But it was also good to come home to Marianna and Jackson County, the place of my birth, my child hood and teenage years. The place where I have chosen to reside as an adult and raise my family.
I have a newfound appreciation for being home. My new found appreciation for being home is because of watching my wife for the past week. As I said my wife had not been back to Nicaragua in 30 years. From the late seventies until the early 90’s the country was ruled by a communist government. That communist government, known as the Sandinistas, came to power in a revolution that resulted in the death of my wife’s father. He was a pilot in the Nicaraguan Air Force and was killed in the early stages of that revolution. So with the Sandinistas in power, traveling back to Nicaragua was not an option for my wife.
The Sandinista’s fell out of power in the early 90’s but the country was still in turmoil. Add to that that our children were small and medical services in the country are poor at best. We just did not feel it was safe to take small children into that situation. Before we knew it 15 years had gone by and we still had not made the trip. So this year my wife proclaimed we were going and we did.
This was an emotional trip for my wife. For 30 years she had not been to the country to which she was raised as a young child and spent her summers as a teenager . She had not been to the grave site of her father. She had not been to the grave site of her grandparents, both of whom died since she was last in the country.
It made me realize that those of us who live in the same area in which we grew up are fortunate. We have roots and those roots are right here with us. We can see and touch those roots on a daily basis.
Simply Put, we’re home.

From the front porch: Uncle Bob said that the same dog that brings a bone home will carry one away.

"Check Another One off The Bucket List "

Simply Put

Last month I wrote about my bucket list. I got the idea for a bucket list from a recent movie that I saw called "The Bucket List." The movie is about two older fellas that come up with a list of things they want to do before they kick the bucket.
Hopefully it will be awhile before I kick the bucket, but I came up with my own bucket list. Things that I want to do and places that I want to go while I’m still young enough to do them. As you read this column I’m on one of my bucket list trips as my family and I have traveled to the Central American country of Nicaragua. While some of the locations on my bucket list like Key West and the Grand Canyons are travel hot spots, Nicaragua is probably not at the top of a lot of folks preferred travel destinations.
So why Nicaragua? Well that is easy. My wife’s father was from Nicaragua and that is where she lived when she was a young child. You might wonder how a Jackson County boy marries a girl from Central America. It is an intriguing story complete with local flavor. My wife’s father was a pilot in the Nicaraguan Air Force and came to train at Graham Air Force base in Marianna back in the 50’s. While here he met a young local girl name Patricia Griffin. Her parent’s family had moved to Marianna some years earlier from the metropolitan area of Gap Pond in Washington County. Gap Pond is south of Wausau, home of the world famous Possum Festival.
So this young Nicaraguan Air Force pilot fell in love with this young Marianna girl. They got married in the Graham Air Base Chapel, which is still used as a Chapel for Sunland. They moved to Nicaragua and had four children, with my wife being the 2nd oldest.
If you know much at all about Nicaragua, you know that it is a country that has had its share of political turmoil, including civil wars and revolutions. My wife’s father was tragically killed in the early stages of a revolution that would ultimately result in a communist take over of the government in 1979.
My mother-in-law found herself widowed in a foreign country with four small children. She eventually returned to Marianna to live and raise her four children. The end result of that, at least for me, is that I met the young lady that I married in 1986.
We’ve always wanted to go to Nicaragua but for a variety of reasons (political, family and finances) we’ve never pulled the trip off. My wife has not been back since 1977 and has yearned to return to her homeland. So we made our minds up to go and have made the journey south of the border. So, Simply Put, check another one off the bucket list and Adios Amigos.

From the front porch: Coach said that a good sport has to lose to prove it.