How and where to experience Nicaragua's Indigenous culture

The maypole dances performed in the sultry Caribbean port of Bluefields, Nicaragua, are several shades raunchier than the gentle gambols staged on English village greens each spring. Sweaty, rum-soaked and pulsing withraw energy, the Bluefields maypole shakes to riotous drum-beats that hail from distant Africa. Yet this is just one part ofa Caribbean coast that is as culturally diverse as it is fragile.Two autonomous regions, north and south, mark the fringes of eastern Nicaragua. Inland lies a flat, densely forested lowland with endlessly meandering jungle rivers, tropical savannah and swamps. Meanwhile, the coastline is fringed by hundreds of kilometres of unspoilt beaches and languorous lagoons, with islands, cays and kaleidoscopic coral reefs scattered offshore.

Spain tried desperately to tame this region in the 16th century – first by conquest, then by conversion – and failed on every count. Instead, the Caribbean coast was shaped by a much wider array of influences, sparked by cultural contact with English and Dutch privateers, the Moravian church, the colony of Jamaica and the British Crown.

Take, for instance, the Miskito Kingdom, also known as the Mosquito Coast or the Mosquitia. In the 17th century this became an autonomous British protectorate encompassing eastern Nicaragua and Honduras. Supplied with arms by the British, the Miskito soon subjugated the region’s other peoples and closely assisted with raids on Spanish settlements. The clash of colonial powers in the wider Caribbean drew this tiny part of Nicaragua into the heart of global politics for more than 200 years.

Today, the Miskito are just one people among manyhere. The sparsely populated autonomous regions of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast are represented by five distinct cultures, including three Indigenous (Miskito, Mayagna, Rama) and two African-descendent (Creole, Garífuna) groups, all scattered across far-flung fishing and farming communities.

The Miskito remain the largest and most powerful Indigenous group in Nicaragua, although theirs is now a stateless nation sprawling both sides of the border with Honduras. The isolated Mayagna are scattered between hard-to-reach rivers and rugged hills, their language and culture intact, while the Rama, the smallest group, are celebrated seafarers and builders of dories (dugoutcanoes), but sail close to cultural extinction these days.

Then there is the legacy of slavery across the Caribbean. English-speaking, African-descended Creoles in the southern autonomous region trace their heritage to the West Indies. The Garífuna, who have related communities in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, are descended from shipwrecked enslaved African-Caribbeans.

Despite the country’s progressive human rights legislation, both the Indigenous and African-descendent peoples of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast are highly vulnerable. It is a situation exacerbated by poverty, land conflicts and the drugs that routinely pass through here en route to other parts of the world.

Whatever the future for the fabled Costa Caribe of Nicaragua, it will likely remain true to its soul: a far off, end-of-the-world place with a sense of bold possibility. This is a land of few roads and daunting journeys; of paradise and intrigue. But its people are affable, good-humouredsurvivors, and they remain its greatest asset.

Six places to explore Indigenous culture along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast

1. Bluefields 

Named after the wily Dutch pirate Abraham Blauvelt, the scruffy but strangely endearing port of Bluefields has weathered boom and bust like a tenacious old sailor. Established by swashbucklers in 1602, Bluefields is today the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, a small but feisty city with proud Indigenous and Creole roots. Ever a refuge for long-distance adventurers, this is a memorable place to haul up, hunker down and watch the storms roll in.

2. Rama Cay

According to local oral tradition, the Miskito Kingdom gifted the Indigenous Rama the verdant islet of Rama Cay in the 18th century in return for participating in their raids on Costa Rica. Located within the bay of Bluefields, a large majority of Rama people now make their home on the cay, forming a hospitable fishing community and important cultural centre.The linguist Eleonora ‘Miss Nora’ Rigby, who played a leading role in rescuing the Rama language from extinction, was a child of Rama Cay

3. Pearl Lagoon

A dozen or so communities overlook the expansive waters of Pearl Lagoon, north of Bluefields, the largest coastal lagoon in Nicaragua. Enclosed by a maze of mangrove thickets, a largely Creole town (also called Pearl Lagoon) is the region’s sunny administrative hub. On the lagoon’s northern shore lies Orinoco, a welcoming Garífuna village where you can experience traditional drumming. Here the dancers set the tempo for the three accompanying drums, which symbolise past, present and future.

4. San Juan de Nicaragua

The Río San Juan, on the border with Costa Rica, is a mini-Amazonas flush with primary rainforest. Where it empties into the vast, desolate surf of the Caribbean Sea, the hamlet of San Juan de Nicaragua makes for a sleepy river port and staging post for forays into the Indio-Maíz Biological Reserve. Deep inside, on the banks of the remote Río Indio, Rama families are reclaiming their ancestral lands and raising a new generation in the rainforest.

5. Bilwi

The Miskito city of Bilwi (formerly Puerto Cabezas) is an unpretentious seaport, commercial lobster-fishing hub and the far-flung capital of the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. Perched at the end of a treacherous unpaved highway from Managua (520km away), it is a fiercely self-reliant place and a gateway to uncanny lands steeped in magic and folklore. The spiritual heart of the Miskito nation is the village of Waspam; this sits on the Río Wangki (also known as the Río Coco), an 841km-long river artery linking dozens of Miskito communities throughout Nicaragua and Honduras.

6. The Mining Triangle

The fortunes of Bonanza, Rosita and Siuna, a trio of frontier mining towns in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, are invariably tied to global gold prices. Times maybe booming, but few foreign travellers, except for missionaries and prospectors, ever explore the so-called mining triangle. Beyond its infamous reputation for lawlessness and insecurity, the region is generally a stepping stone to the untamed wildlands of the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, as well as visits to the traditional Mayagna communities near Bonanza and the their capital, Musawás, which lies on the Río Waspuk

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