One Last Beach in Nicaragua

I am spending my last night in Nicaragua by the Pacific Ocean in the town of San Juan de Sur and surprisingly good Italian pasta, coffee and gelato. I previously spent two days on the island of Ometepe on Lake Nicaragua. The largest lake in Central America with a deep trench running south of the island where bull sharks have been found. Very relaxing on island time, bike riding along the beaches and watching the fire flies dance across finca fields like Christmas lights and whole communities gather around a baseball or soccer pitch on Sunday afternoons to cheer their local teams. Baseball, a remnant of the past  American presence in the 1930's remains Nicaragua's favorite sport. San Domingo beach between the two island volcanoes is particularly beautiful at sunset.

I have been impressed that the people in Central America have not held any animosity towards the United States with all the American meddling and influence into their countries. Whether it was a CIA funded coup or the powerful influence of the United Fruit company in Guatemala, or the funding of a corrupt government dictatorship in El Salvador or early American attempts to annex Nicaragua in an attempt to make a passage between the west and east coast during the Californian gold rush (prior to the panama canal) to the Iran-Contra scandal where the CIA was secretly selling arms to Iran and diverting the profits to arm the Contras fighting the leftist goverment. American travelers and tourist groups come and go and there is not a bit of animosity and many locals I have spoken to have lived and worked (legally or illegally) in the US and are fond of their times there. Perhaps it is the American Dream, where one can make a fortune through hard work. Given that the average income for a Nicaraguan teacher is about $155 US a month and 40-45% of the population live below the poverty line, this remains true if they send the money home. Maybe the locals here are like the people in Iran, where they differentiate the US government from the people or it could just be a lack of education.

In fact, it is said that one possible origin of the word "Gringo" comes from the Mexican and Guatemalan peasants in 1850's telling the American army and presence to "green go!" in reference to their uniform and/ or money.

Speaking of an alternative canal to the one in panama, there is one controversial proposal made by a rich Chinese business man to made across Nicaragua and mostly using the deep waters in Lake Nicaragua to increase traffic and cargo capacity, and have a lower canal fee. How history repeats but there is a lot of public opposition to this new canal and there is talk the indigenous people have armed themselves in anticipation of a struggle.

I will be in Costa Rica tomorrow and in Brasil for the world cup in a few days. Kick off for the tournament starts in two days and I will be wearing my Brasilian t=shirt (sorry, Croatia).