Estelí

Estelí is a city of about 100,000 70 km south of Sabana Grande on the Pan-Am Highway.  I’ve been through several times on the way to/from Managua, but this is the first time I’ve actually been there.  It was founded in 1711 by Spaniards fleeing Ciudad Antigua (not far from where I am) to escape attacks by the British and their Miskito allies.  It was heavily bombed by Somoza’s National Guard in 1979 and it remains a stronghold for the Sandinistas.  (If I can get a handle on the politics here, I’ll try to write about that later.)  Due to that bombing, it is not a beautiful city in the aesthetic sense, but it seems to be an energetic, progressive place.  Today it is most famous as the cigar capital of Nicaragua, if not of Central America, and the gateway to the Miraflor region, a large collection of private land that has declared itself a nature preserve and has an economy driven by sustainable, organic agriculture and experiential eco-tourism.  Due to its proximity to the Miraflor, Estelí is a town with more health food stores and vegetarian restaurants that one would normally expect in Nicaragua and it is also a center for natural medicines. 

This is a sign for Cecalli, a natural medicine lab/holistic spa very near La Casita restaurant.  In addition to herbal remedies, they offer massage, acupuncture and physical therapy, among other services.

One of the cigar factories in Estelí.  It is possible to arrange tours through some of them, but not really where my interest lies.

The trip to Estelí had 3 purposes:  1) to visit the new hardware store that was rumored to be the holy grail of Nicaraguan hardware stores, 2)  to get to know the town a bit and 3)  to check on bus schedules for my upcoming trip when Susan visits in March.  (Reason 3 may seem a bit strange, but you have to understand trying to figure out bus schedules here.  The only real way to know the departures from a certain location is to go there and look at the departure board, and this may not even be up-to-date.  I think the bus experience is probably worth a post of its own sometime.)  I’ll discuss these three purposes in order.  The trip started by taking the 8:00 am express with reserved seats (about $1.50 fare), but we (another volunteer and I) opted to return with servicio ordinario (i.e., the chicken bus), which was not so luxurious (but saved us a whopping $ .40!).

Sinsa Ace Hardware:  As if by some karmic twist of fate, the express bus dropped us off literally at the front door of the hardware store exactly one hour after boarding—and the store did indeed live up to its hype, at least in the context of Nicaraguan hardware stores.  My project here revolves around finding the right material and tools, which involves a physical search of various hardware and building supply stores.  These stores are typically a strange mix of very well stocked on some items (e.g., power hand tools) and mysteriously lacking other items (e.g., screws or nails).  Well, as I said above, the Ace in Estelí is the real deal.  It still has some holes in the inventory (the fastener section is woeful, hinges are limited to rectangular, etc.), but on the whole it was a very satisfying excursion.  We spent about an hour just soaking in the availability!  It is still not Heiser’s (my local ACE in Platteville), mind you, but I must confess that its machete section is far superior to anything in Platteville.  Well after an hour in hardware nirvana, we set off to explore a bit of Estelí.

The impressive display of machetes at the Ace in Estelí.  It is common to meet people carrying machetes on the street in Sabana Grande.  They are very multi-purpose and can serve the role of axe, scythe, sickle, hedge trimmer, draw knife, …  You can also see a bit of an Ace leaf rake on the left—exactly like I have at home.

Observations of Estelí:  The church towers were visible from the hardware store, so we headed that direction.  Before we went 100 m, we were assaulted by the sight of my first hummer in Nicaragua.  To me, these always seemed on the verge of obscene in the US, but in a Nicaraguan context it seems to be an obscenity with an exclamation point!   

A Hummer at the gas station.  The hardware store is actually the colorful building in the background.  Just as typical in the US, it is fitted with a lot of shiny chrome and macho grill guard, but gives little indication of ever being driven off-road.  A Nico example of conspicuous consumption.

The church looked nice from the outside, but the grounds were completely locked up, so we couldn’t see any of the interior.  It was built in 1823 in the “Nicaraguan primitive Baroque” style (quoting the guidebook, however, "primitive" and "baroque" together seem like a bit of an oxymoron, at least from my recollection of Baroque architecture in Germany and Austria--maybe I'll run across another church in that style and it will make sense), but was remodeled to the current neoclassical façade in 1929.  The guidebook says the interior is unimpressive, but we had to take its word for that.  As seems to be standard in Spanish-built Latin American cities, there is a central plaza directly opposite the church (and in Nicaragua at least, the churches seem to face west).  Estelí’s park is not as aesthetically pleasing as Ocotal’s, but it is more to be enjoyed by kids rather than to be enjoyed by old folks sitting on benches. 

The main church in Esteli.

The central plaza.  They rent the powerwheels cars and you can see an ice cream vendor passing through.  A band stand is on the right.

As we wandered the streets, it was apparent that Estelí is a bustling city with a lot of commercial activity and some degree of prosperity, especially compared with the rural areas.  We wandered through several artisan shops with local handcrafts, including ceramics, leather, wood and stone carving and ran across quite a number of murals.  The Sandinista leaning of the city is quite apparent, not only in the subject matter of the murals, but other things as well, such as the name of a radio station or a storefront that appeared to be analogous to a precinct office in Chicago.  The one disappointment on the walk was that the Gallery of Heroes  and Martyrs was closed.  This is a museum about the sacrifices of those who fought and died in the war to overthrow the Somoza dynasty.  It was developed and is staffed by mothers of those killed in the war, so it should be very moving and have a uniquely personal touch to it.  (Perhaps when Susan and I return it will be open.)

Amural intended to instill pride and patriotism; tolerance is another common theme.  It is a sort of “liberté, fraternité, egalité” type message, but in the current FSLN lexicon, it has morphed into “Christianity, socialism, solidarity.”  One small thing to note on this picture is in the upper left.  There is a small sign (not part of the mural) that identifies this street as being Calle Transversal Este (the east-west street that marks the beginning of the numbering system and we are to the east of the north-south datum).  This is almost unheard of in Nicaragua.

Amural depicting one of the urban uprisings during the revolution against Somoza (probably representative of one in Estelí).  There is also a commemorative plaque visible in the foreground.  If you look at the far right of the mural, you’ll see a bit of a concrete block barrier through an opening.  These were street blocks that were used to build protective walls against the police or National Guard.  The irony here is that the Somoza family had a monopoly on concrete and concrete block, so it is likely that these barriers , crucial to the uprising, were, in fact, made by the Somozas' enterprises.  You’ll also note several women in the group;  the Nicaraguan revolution probably had as many or more female combatants and participants than any other conflict.

A mural with much brighter colors and a children’s theme.   The message of equality is prominent and explicit in the panel to the far left.

A mural that is as much propaganda/advertising as art.  It is actually in reference to last year’s election.  Shown is Daniel Ortega (the embodiment of malevolence during the Reagan years and who is simply referred to as “Daniel” in Nicaragua) on a white horse leading a group of riders.  To me, it has a Teddy Roosevelt feel to it, but I think the symbolism to Nicaraguans reflects Augusto Sandino in the 20’s and 30’s.

The office of the departmental committee of the FSLN party (Sandanistas).  A department is analogous to a state in the US and FSLN stands for Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front). 

Radio Liberation.  Nicaragua is only a bit over 30 years past the overthrow of Somoza so a “revolutionary mentality” and mythos is quite prominent, especially here in the north, where the Sandinistas were particularly strong.

Another observation is that Estelí is laid out on a square grid (like Ocotal but definitely unlike Managua, which is more reminiscent of old European cities).  But unlike Ocotal (and most cities in Nicaragua), the streets are numbered from a central location (somewhat surprisingly, not the church) with calles east/west and avenidas north/south.  Along with street/avenue numbers is a designation NE, SE, etc.  In spite of this, houses are not given numbers, so addresses are given as is typical in Nicaragua: across from "x" or so-and-so many streets north of some well-known landmark, such as the cathedral, the bus station, a supermercado, the children’s  park, etc.  It seems to work ok for locals and taxis, but it is not the most convenient for strangers.  In Managua is gets even stranger because the landmarks used for directions are frequently former landmarks that that no longer exist:  they were destroyed in the ’72 earthquake, in the war or simply torn down and replaced.

We had also heard from another volunteer about a great restaurant called La Casita about 1 km south of town, so we opted to walk.  Unfortunately the distance was from the city limit, not from the city center or the bus station, so it was more like 3-4 km when we finally arrived.  However, it was really worth the walk.  We’d not been given details, but it turned out to be a vegetarian restaurant, located on a Finca (large farm) and surrounded  by beautiful gardens and playgrounds.   I had a small loaf of whole-wheat bread (my first real bread in a month—tortillas are the standard bread in Sabana Grande), hummus with tomatoes and cucumbers, rice pudding (arroz con leche) with bananas and ICED jamaica to drink.  The setting was also very peaceful and sylvan.  On our way walking out to the restaurant, we had seen the end of the city bus line at the hospital, so we took advantage and only walked a short way back to there, then caught the city bus back to the bus station for our return.

The seating area at La Casita restaurant.  The stream is just beyond and the gardens are on the far side of the stream.  We are only 20 or 30 m from the highway, but it feels like another world.

This is taken near just a few feet to the left of the previous photo at La Casita.  This shows the stream flowing through;  these bridges both lead to gardens and play areas on the other side.

A picture of the cacti-succulent garden at La Casita.  Other gardens have flowering shrubs and flowers;  many of the plants are labeled.

Because it is such a beautiful, quiet spot, the restaurant and grounds attract novios looking for some quiet time alone, which has inspired this interesting sign just after crossing the creek.  It roughly says:

“Young lovers:

This park was created for the healthy enjoyment of families-especially children.  We expect your behavior to be in line with the confidence we have in you.”

This is where we caught the city bus back from the restaurant.  The hospital is barely visible through the gate and trees on the right.  What struck my fancy for this photo is the 24 hour funeral home next door to the hospital (plus there is a second one almost directly behind me.  Talk about the vultures hovering around!  It certainly doesn’t inspire much confidence in the hospital!

Bus schedules:  Obtaining bus schedules was not an unqualified success.  There are two bus stations in town, a north station and a south station, that are only separated by a couple of blocks.  One of the reasons I wanted to verify schedules is that my information indicated that all buses to a particular destination do not leave from one designated terminal, so you need to know not only where you are going, but also on which bus in order to pick the right station.  The north station is bigger, has more buses and is much more chaotic.  The waiting area is outside (as is the rule here) and there is nothing that resembles an information office, only stands selling various wares and a small gambling joint (one-armed bandits)—couldn’t even find a rest room.  All in all, it is probably the station with the fewest amenities that I’ve seen here.  What I was hoping for was a large board that included all the destinations and departure times from the station, something that has been in every station I’ve been in so far.  I can then take a picture of the sign and simply refer back to the picture in the future.  It was confounding butthe re was no such sign.  For some reason, this relatively primitive station had installed TV monitors to give the schedule, completely contradictory to the state of everything else in the station.  As is often the case, I found the high-tech solution to be a step backward.  First, I would have to take about 25 or 30 pictures since each screen had only a few departures, second, pictures of a TV screen don’t always work well, and third, 90% of the time, the screen had ads and music videos, so I was usually not paying attention when the schedules popped up and I missed some of them.  The south station was something of a polar opposite:  organized, a ticket window, and indoor seating area, not so crowded or chaotic, AND… It had a painted departure board!  So at least I got the information for one station and I’ll just have to ask and confirm our precise schedule when Susan and I pass through.

A rather random picture that captures for me the way apparently unrelated things are often juxtaposed in Nicaragua (and I suppose often in the US as well, but I’m not so attentive at home).  This is across the street from one of the bus stations and is akin to those yard ornament seller you run across occasionally driving in the states, but the range of subject matter and the size of the sculptures are impressive.  From a “Christ the Redeemer” knock off (from Rio), to Michelangelo’s David, to an almost life size crucifix, to shrines ready for the statue of Mary to Augusto Sandino to elephants to fountains with the Manneken Pis (Brussels)…this place probably has what you want.  The question is, since so many Nicaraguans have only a bus for transportation, how do you get these things home?

There were a few other interesting aspects of the trip, but they can fall under other topic areas on a future post.