Three days, and three ports later it is Christmas and we are coming into the Panama Canal. These boats were at the port in Nicaragua, the middle stop on the Pacific Coast of 'Mesoamerica,' as I have learned to call the small countries of Central America. But I am up early to see everything to do with the Canal, and am surrounded by the kids from Morehouse who have had a wild and wonderful Christmas Eve apparently. So, I may be a bit distracted.
Guatemala was beautiful, fiercely proud, with extraordinary, colorful crafts...I went up into the highlands to a crafty village and and then on to Antigua, a lovely, old town with lots of language schools. I loved it. The reds of the cochineal bug are fresher and more vibrant here, I think.
Then we sailed overnight to Nicaragua, got on buses and went to Old Leon, protected by Unesco's ICOMOS program, then on to the new city(since 1610) of Leon. I got tired of seeing bullet-pocked cathedrals, but they have had it a bit difficult what with our own interventions. The poverty was dramatic, and everyone was dressed in American clothes.
Then it was onto Costa Rica, which was pretty Americanized, but the landscape is gorgeous - very steep, like Highway One from Big Sur to Carmel Highlands but with 5 times the number of bridges, and another thousand feet on either side of the road.
Reading the landscapes of the three countries suggests that Guatemala is rich in culture but not too much money, Nicaragua in pride and poverty, Costa Rica is rich in pride and immigrants with money.
I meant to be serious here, but I am in the middle of a pretty wild computer lab, so I'd better sign off.
Feliz Navidad!
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