Into the Unknown

Yesterday and today we said goodbye to the kids and staff at Casa Xalteva. I'm not very good at goodbyes, so the language barrier makes it even worse. The fact that they have a computer with internet makes it easier, because we can still communicate by email or on Facebook. I'm hoping we can come back and visit them sometime down the line. It was a really fun place to be around. Even after just three weeks it's hard to have to say goodbye. I can only imagine what it'll be like to leave Puerto Cabezas after 16 months.

So that's where we're headed next. Puerto Cabezas. Port. Bilwi. Whichever name you want to use, I'm still not totally convinced it exists. Before coming to Nicaragua, we had limited information on it since it's not a tourist destination and because it's so separated from the departamentos on the west side of the country. If information was limited before coming here, it's not much better now. In fact, Port has become even more mysterious as we've gotten closer geographically to the place itself.

Once again, because it's not a tourist destination and because it's so separated from the rest of the popular cities of Nicaragua, not many locals make the trip out there, and few people from out there make the trip to the west side of the country. Let me tell you what I've learned about Bilwi so far.

- Lots of drugs pass through Bilwi. It's close to the Honduran border, and it's kind of a hub for drug trafficking. Even better, when drug boats are caught, the drugs get tossed off the boat, and if the boat happens to be off the shore of Bilwi, the drugs wash up on shore. People collect the drugs, dry them out and then sell them anyways. Sounds like a great way to make some extra cash for the Port community! Yeah!

- It's very dangerous in Puerto Cabezas. I actually shouldn't go there because I'll probably get stabbed. Apparently this is a hobby people have in Port. They'll definitely mug me, and if they feel like it, they'll stab me.

- The people of Bilwi speak Spanish, Miskito and Creole English. In fact, they speak mainly Creole, so my Spanish won't be of any use there.

Sounds like quite the destination, I know. When people first started making these comments about Puerto Cabezas, I admit I was a little concerned. By the time my neighbor here told me I would get stabbed (he actually put his hand into a fist and mimicked stabbing himself in the stomach while telling me this), I just let people say whatever they felt was most appropriate and then dislodged it from my brain. See, what all these people had in common is that, while telling their story, they at some point uttered the same sentence - "No lo conozco, pero...", which means, "I've never been there, but..." And I've learned that those people really have no idea what they're talking about. Not to be arrogant, but they really don't. There seems to be a recurring theme among some people that they like to bash cities that aren't there own. So it's not just Puerto Cabezas that's bad. Managua is bad, San Juan del Sur is bad, Leon is bad.

The good news is that I have run into two people that have been to Puerto Cabezas. One was there briefly for a military assignment a number of years ago. Another had been there just travelling a while ago. Both were Nicaraguans and both of them said that Puerto Cabezas is a beautiful place, and that I'll enjoy being there. That's the kind of information I can give validity to. If someone had gone there and gotten stabbed or knew someone that had gone there and gotten stabbed, I might be able to give more credence to their story.

I feel good knowing that the people have been there feel like it's a nice place. It's still a little bit of an unknown. I'm really not sure what language is going to be spoken there. Puerto Cabezas does seem to operate under it's own government in a way (they are part of the Region Autonoma Atlantic Norte - The North Atlantic Autonomous Region), so it will be interesting to see what kinds of news reaches the east coast. I also know that geographically it is very separate from the rest of the country, so being isolated that way might be interesting as well. I'm excited to finally get there. We'll have a couple days in Managua to get to know the city a little bit, and then we're off to Port on Wednesday. Sounds like we might be flying there. We had been expecting to be on a 15 hour bus ride, but we might be white-knuckling on an hour and a half flight instead. I don't really know which one I prefer. I'm just ready to get settled into our new community.