Bluefields, Nicaragua
We might be crossing Nicaragua off our wedding-attending list by a bit of a technicality. As some of you know, both Tom and I are ordained ministers thanks to the cavalier standards at the Universal Life "Church". I casually mentioned this to Suzanne, the owner of La Biosfera, and joked that I should marry her and her Nica boyfriend, Lester. "My family would kill me if I got married again," she smirked.
"Well, maybe a commitment ceremony then," I suggested. "We could find a pretty spot and you could make promises to each other." She nodded in contemplation.
Generally speaking, a couple with a tumultuous relationship like Suzanne and Lester should probably not get married (they've broken up and reunited several times over the past four years). But some well-intentioned promises I could get behind, so I let her mull it over.
Sunday, our last day in Jinotega, Suzanne and Lester took us on a motorcycle tour of the surrounding countryside. The day was overcast but dry, the clouds living up to Jinotega's nickname, "City of Mists". Clinging to Tom (by now and expert motorcyclist), Suzanne and Lester led us into the hills to a hamlet called San Raphel del Norte. It's main claim to fame is that it saw many battles in Nicaragua's civil war and has since resisted the standing government's attempts to infiltrate the local government. There's too much history here to explain it all, and Americans are barred from discussing Nicarguan politics anyway, so I will defer you to a Wikipedia entry on the subject. Since my generation was in diapers when the war was on, I'll give you a one, run-on sentence summary - Daniel Ortega is a Sandanista (socialist), he took over in the 80's after the famous Iran/Contra Scandal, he was out of power for two decades and now is president again. To give you some impression of what San Raphel thinks of him, the main Catholic Cathedral in town depicts him as the Devil in a fresco.
We jetted over to another church in town so that we could request a wish of a late priest famous in the area for performing miracles. He's even up for canonization, the brown-robed nun at the reception area told us proudly. There is an official book where you can write your prayer and they send it straight to the Vatican when it's filled. (This way, they can keep track of his miracles as his bid for sainthood is considered, it was explained.) Tom and I wrote to the Padre Odorico asking for a long and happy marriage. We figure if we make this prayer to enough deities on our travels, all our spiritual bases will be covered by the time our wedding comes around.
Igelsia de San Raphel del Norte, image courtesy of matagalpatours.com
After our prayers were heard, we headed North further still and ducked into a deep, green valley. It was here by a rushing stream Suzanne announced the ceremony would commence. Only half sure we'd even be witnessing this, Tom and I were a little taken aback but more than ready to witness their vows. After I welcomed everyone (all four of us) to the ceremony, we began. They stood by the water and spoke their promises in Spanish while Tom captured it on film and I looked on. I read a poem by e.e. cummings called "somewhere i have never traveled" and allowed Suzanne to translate it into Spanish for Lester as we went along. They exchanged necklaces purchased in the market earlier that day. Finally, I bound their hands as they vowed to "try" to keep their promises. This was taken as a suggestion from my parent's own wedding vows, which promised "to try" rather than a definative "to do". With a kiss and a hug it was over, the couple blotting their eyes, misty with happiness. I will post pictures as soon as we are able!
That evening, we celebrated the nuptuals unofficially, with good company and Tom's excellent chicken fajitas. We blissfully sat around the fire enjoying dinner together with Elias, his fiance Elda, Lester, Suzanne and a random American guy Chuck (kind of a tool to be quite honest). Switching from Spanish to English, we exchanged funny stories and laughed until everyone was full of fajitas and ready for bed. It was a great last night.
Now we are bound for the Corn Islands via several buses and boats. We rode up a panga today from Rama to Bluefields. The panga was loaded heavy with people and cargo, and pushed through blitzing rain and lightning to the ramshackle port of Bluefields. It was quite the adventure. We should have and interesting ferry ride to the Corn Islands tomorrow, as the forcast calls for more rain! We will be searching the pharmacies for Dramamine today!
River Panga (ours was shorter), image courtesy of travelpod
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