“Turkle Meat Dun Reach” (turtle meat has come)

Semana Santa is holy week in Nicaragua and all over the Pacific Coast there are all types of celebrations and traditions in honor of holy week. I had already experienced “La Judea” during training in Masatepe. This year, a few friends and I decided we were going to explore the Atlantic Coast!

The Atlantic Coast is completely different from the Pacific side. You honestly feel as if you are in another country. The majority of the population speaks Creole but you can also find Spanish speakers as well as a handful of indigenous languages such as Mikito and Garifuna. This is because the Atlantic Coast was conquered by the English while the Pacific Coast (where I live) was conquered by the Spanish.

The food on the East coast is very different and absolutely delicious! They utilize a lot of coconut in their dishes. One of my favorites was Run Down, a traditional soup that is full of seafood (sometimes made with turtle meat) and vegetables that have been cooked in coconut milk for the broth. Among other things such as coconut bread and even their beans fried in coconut oil. Needless to say, I ate very well during my time there. Below: Run Down being prepared over a wood stove

We stayed in Pearl Lagoon and a small farming community outside of Pearl Lagoon. Both places were sites of other volunteers and they were great about setting things up for us with places to stay and activities to do. The first few days spent in the farming community were awesome. We had no cell phone service, no electricity and had to bathe in a nearby creek. During the few days we spent there we rode horses, relaxed, cooked Run Down (I learned how to make coconut milk from scratch), made chocolate and played in a local golf tournament! The golf course was set up by the volunteer working in the community and it had 9 holes that was spread between a few acres of farmland. It was a short course but we had to overcome many obstacles, such as cows, and bizarre terrain, like you hitting a big rock with your ball which bounces back towards you instead of getting closer to the hole. All the while we are playing with local Creoles who are barefoot and shirtless on the terrain with dreads hanging down to their butts and saying things like, “I dun shit it up, man” when they hit a ball badly.  It was an absolute blast! Below: Best looking golf team the Atlantic Coast has seen!

During this trip we also took an overnight trip to the Pearl Keys. Which is a stretch of little islands outside of Pearl Lagoon with stretching white beaches and crystal clear blue water. The islands look exactly what one would picture to be a deserted island paradise. Some smaller than a city block with just a few palm trees on the island. We found a small island that we had all to ourselves and spent the night in fisherman’s shacks which had beds that were no more than a wooden boards held 3 feet above the ground. With the full moon and great company it was an absolute dream.