In Search of Authenticity
Hot, humid climates have a weird way of depleting all ambition and desire from a person´s blood. I stayed six days at the beach in San Juan Del Sur and each day felt a little more lethargic and a little less inclined to explore. I met and became friends with five other travelers while there, surfed, played disc golf, hiked and did yoga - and on the sixth day every person in our little social group got fed up and left. Two in search of surf and Caribbean culture on the eastern shores of Costa Rica, two in search of surf and Pura Vida on the Pacific shores of Costa Rica.
For me and my new friend Eric, it was the search for an authentic Nicaragua. San Juan Del Sur could exist in any country, anywhere. If a person were to only look to who the inhabitants are, it would be impossible to tell where it is. Like the alien bar in Star Wars when all of the weird, muppet like aliens are playing musical instruments and boozing it up. Middle aged drunk Irishmen sit at a restaurant bar at 8am while I eat my fruit bowl. Australian kids stumble out of hostels at 11am wearing ridiculously large white sunglasses. Tanned, toned, health-crazed surfers from every continent walk barefoot down the street carrying dinged up boards. Chubby, pasty skinned senior citizens from Canada shop along the boardwalk. And the Nicas cook for them, clean up after them, take them on tours, sell them souvenirs and beers all the while looking detached, aloof, and slightly hostile.
After a pep talk from back home, I felt revitalized to take on a new adventure so decided to come north to the colonial city of Leon. Leon is described as the center of Nicaraguan culture, like the heart of the Nica people. In addition it is in the proximity of six active volcanoes, and near to a beach.
The trip was hot, sticky, and more than a little annoying (crowded chicken bus, loud mexi-polka music, people constantly yelling and selling), but after 5 hours we made it, checked in to an amazingly beautiful hostel (complete with free internet,swimming pool, pool table, hammocks around gardened courtyards, and good free coffee all day), and got into the groove of Leon.
Today we explored the city via foot, saw the most extensive collection of contemporary art in Central America, and explored a chaotic central market that sold everything from bras to Miley Cyrus backpacks, to exotic fruits and spices, bloody cuts of meat, and children´s toys. Tomorrow we hike a volcano, set up tents in the crater, sleep overnight as though our beds were in the stars, and watch the sun rise from the edge of a crack in the earth´s surface, high over the Pacific Ocean.
I don´t know that any travel experience anywhere can be completely “authentic”. We´ll always be outsiders, our accents, clothes, hair color, and wide-eyed curiosity will always give a traveler away as being foreign so our experiences will always be limited and tailored to that which has been relegated our place as a visitor. But I feel like I am seeing more of who Nicaragua is and I´m trying to get to know her, and I´m glad.
Tags: 1, Art, Nicaragua, Posts by Bri, Tag Index