Totogalpa

On the way home from another of my vagabonding trips, it occurred to me that I’m going to all these “far-away,” exotic places and that I had never been (except on the bus, of course) to the nearest city, Totogalpa.  Actually, thinking of this as an excursion is a bit of a misnomer, since I live in Totogalpa. However, I live in the municipality of Totogalpa (probably analogous to a county in the US but smaller) and there is also a city of Totogalpa.  The out-lying municipality is agrarian and is famous for tomatoes, while the city is relatively indigenous in demographic make-up.

The sign entering the municipality of Totogalpa, proclaiming that it is the leader in production of table tomatoes.  This is about 1 km south of the Solar Center.

Since it’s only 5 km, I walked there along the Pan-Am Highway, and as usual was able to observe new things on the road:  a compact pick-up truck loaded with 8 caskets, a truck that was piled 3-times higher than the roof of the cab (I’m not sure how dense the load was, but the center of gravity had to be high!), someone sleeping (at least lying down) on the top of a truck cab…  Upon arrival, I learned that Totogalpa has just over 10,000 residents, about the size of Platteville.  I also noticed that it had a sidewalk along the highway and that it was relatively accessible to wheel chairs—a first for Nicaragua.  The highway passes through the east edge of town and has a few shops, an Assembly of God church, the hospital and a few housing developments.  The site of an ancient village (circa 400 A.D.) has been identified just to the northeast of town, but it has not been excavated thoroughly;  there are plans for a future museum, however. 

Entry sign on the Pan-Am Highway for Totogalpa.  Such signs on secondary roads are non-existent.

A picture of the almost-ADA-compliant sidewalk.  Really impressive for Nicaragua, however.

One thing that’s evident in Nicaragua is that if any progress is made, there must be a sign or a plaque commemorating and honoring whoever was responsible.  Here is a very nice plaque commemorating the building of the sidewalk.  In the background is a new housing development with a standard, basic design.  There are a number of these I've seen in various locales.

As all the cities I’ve visited so far, the church dominates the skyline and sits at the center of town, facing west, with a central park just across the street.  On the way to the church, one passes an intersection with a statue of Mary Magdalene, the patron saint, and a plaque declaring Totogalpa as the “City in the Nest of Bird” and announcing the annual celebration to Mary in July.  It appeared to be “the” place to be on a Saturday morning, with several dozen folks hanging around and the bicycle ice cream vendor more or less parked there.  Arriving at the mid-18th century Church of Santa Maria Magdalena, one sees that it is currently under fairly extensive restoration, as is evident from the scaffolding surrounding the bell tower.  It is interesting that this preservation is funded by the US government to the tune of about $110,000 over the past two years,  (For details, go to:  http://nicaragua.usembassy.gov/nt_1000722_afcp_totogalpa.html)  With the renovation work, it was impossible to visit the interior, but it appears that the sanctuary is still available for Sunday mass.  It

Intersection with the statue of Mary Magdalene.  There are a lot more “loafers” off to the left, along with the Igloo man.

Close-up of the statue.  Note the wire bird’s nest at the bottom to represent Totogalpa as being in the nest of the birds.

View of the front of the church.  Mornings are just not a good time to get pictures of Nicaraguan churches as the there is always back-lighting.

Close-up of the scaffolding on the church tower.  I don’t think this would pass OSHA inspection.

The park was again different that any I’ve seen before.  It was smaller than the others and more dominated by kids’ play equipment/activities:  a basketball court (but with both hoops missing), swings, climbing equipment and a library.  At the center was a statue I presume to be of Mary Magdalene.  (The statue was unmarked and appeared to have feminine features, but it also seemed to have a crown of thorns, so I’m not really sure what to make of it.)  Surrounding the park was what appeared to be a typical mix of shops, although Totogalpa appears “sleepier” that the other places I’ve visited.  However, it may just have a smaller population—cities not on the Pan-Am don’t have nice population signs like Totogalpa.

A view of some play equipment with the basketball court in the background.  The damaged backboard is directly below the street light if you look closely.

I normally don’t like the word “cute,” but I think it’s an apt description of the library.

The stature in the middle of the park—Mary Magdalene…or not.

 

In wandering down side streets, I found the secondary school (where Sabana Grande kids must go after 6 th grade), the cemetery and very impressive, though completely unmarked, religious shrine of some kind.  There was also an interesting a mural or two, something that seems very common as a means of artistic expression here.

A view of the secondary school.  It consists of several building around this central courtyard.  They obviously have some kind of satellite service (or at least did…or at least were intended to have such).

A very elaborate grave for a couple of young folks.  There are even pictures included.

The unknown shrine not far from the cemetery.  It seemed worth a picture even though it had no markings and I don’t know what it’s for.  Somebody was moved by something.

A mural on a downtown building.  The left touts Totogalpa's location on the Ruta Sandino (a tourist-promotional route that traces places important in the life of Augusto Sandino;  somewhat like our Great River Road or Mormon Pioneer Trail designations in the US) and the right side promotes the tomato crop.  Over the door is the slogan “in the nest of the birds.”

The local campaign headquarters for the Sandinista party (FSLN).  Here in the north, I’ve only seen one building used by another party and only a handful of campaign signs.  Note the image of Che Guevara on the left.

The last item is from the guidebook, but I didn’t pursue it since I also wanted to get to Ocotal to do some errands—maybe next time.  Just north of Totogalpa is a mountain (Cerro de las Rocas) along the Rio Coco (the one that goes through Somoto Canyon).  In this mountain is the “Cueva del Duende,” or “Cave of the Leprechaun/goblin/elf.”  The north of Nicaragua is apparently full of legends relating to duendes, a race of small demonic, alien beings who are in league with the devil and wreak all kinds of havoc on good folk, but they are especially keen to snatch babies who haven’t yet been baptized.  If it’s a stand-up-and-walk cave, I might try this before leaving—if it’s a slither-on-your-stomach-like-a-snake cave, probably not!

Final note:  I already disproved my thesis in the “Bus” posting that “there’s always room for one more” as I left for Ocotal.  Only about 10 of the 25 or so waiting were able to get on the bus (and several were on the rear bumper and hanging out the front door.  However, I think that bus was very late (and hence fuller than usual) as the next bus came within 3 minutes and was relatively uncrowded.  I bet, though, if this had been on a route with only 1 or 2 buses a day, we would have somehow all fit in (or on).