Little Garden in a Big Forest

I often have moments of blissful scenes while following the monkeys through a forest that sometimes seems like it would love to eat your skin and your soul. Here, while with my favourite monkey group -Guanacaste- we came across what looks like a little garden. It was low-canopy forest that was very green and enclosed compared to the surrounding forest in this area. The monkeys were nice and low and EXTRACTIVE FORAGING -a very important behaviour I am trying to document as much as possible. They were being very playful and the juveniles seemed to be watching the older monkeys as they opened fallen fruits to obtain insects from within them. It is times like these that I am reminded that what I do is pretty magical -watch wild monkeys.

Semana Santa in León

The week before and including Easter (a.k.a. Holy Week) is called Semana Santa in Central America (a.k.a. when the entire ismuth shuts down and goes wild). In the heart of León, at the cathedral church square, there were artists putting together a wonderful form of art! The nicos were taking wood shavings, dying them with bright colours and making a picture in a frame with them. The were spectacularly bright and it was an interesting sight amongst the hustle and bustle of the center of town and in the middle of the road nonetheless! Each piece depicted a Christian theme or figure and I never saw the final product, but I imagine these pieces would have been a main spectacle for the Semana Santa celebration.

Murals of León

I knew I wanted to walk about the town of León because I had read about the plethora of history to be unfolded here. I had planned on wandering on my own and finding my own way, I had not planned on meeting Maria. I ran into una nica viejo, an elderly Nicaraguan woman, who had not only lived through the revolution and civil war of the mid-1990's, but had a burning passion to teach those around her of what happened in these hard times. Had I not run into Maria, I would have walked past most of the history even though it was painted on the city walls! Maria took me through the intricate details of each mural, pointed out each symbol and explained its significance. I had walked by some of these murals and noticed them, but had no idea they had deep meaning. I treated them like most murals you would see in Canada: a work of art that may have some meaning to the artist or a specific group of people. These murals meant something to the entire country of Nicaragua. Each had their story or multiple stories entwined around each other in an incredibly powerful display of artistic license. All of the murals looked brand new, like they had just been painted. This is because they were touched-up in preparation for an important anniversary -that of the death of the four students and professor. These five highly-intellectual individuals were murdered on the street because they were actively rebelling against the government at the time. They are depicted in one mural shown in the picture above. More murals, plaques, and statues were found all over town in commemoration of these individuals. It was so touching. I can't imagine living in a city that had so many visual reminders of its history. I've been to Europe, this was different. The colours were so vibrant and the art so contemporary, it was utterly surreal. The other picture above is a fraction of a two-walled mural in a corner of town that represented a timeline of events that lead to the end of the civil war and a bright new beginning for the children of Nicaragua.

Las Peñitas

A tiny fishing village 20km west of León, Nicaragua with nothing much other than a helluva lot of soul. Don't expect to live in any kind of luxury here, but that's the best part! The limited accommodations in number as well as conditions is exactly what attracts the most wonderful people you'll ever meet. Expect a handful of tourists that all speak fluent spanish (or pretty damn near close to fluent) and define what "down to Earth" means. When I wasn't kick-boxing the ocean (because the waves were a wee bit strong), dragging a surf board (because I couldn't ride it) and swimming-on-the-spot (not because I miss aerobics classes up north, but because the current wouldn't let me move forward), I was simply drinking beer and learning about the lives and adventures of three Brazilians, a Swede, an American, a Guatemalan, and a Mexican and they were all absolutely invigorating. Yet another place I didn't want to leave and that I'll revisit one day, although, because of its gorgeous location, I fear "real tourism" might infiltrate and ruin its carisma sometime in the next decade. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen.