This toucan was spotted by Hank and Linda Claycamp in Matagalpa, once a stronghold of the Sandinistas revolutionaries.
Hank Claycamp drew this sketch of Ometepe, a volcanic island located in Lake Nicaragua.
One of the sites visited by the Claycamps was the Pearl Lagoon. It inspired the Claycamps to start singing the theme song from “Gilligan’s Island.”
Editor’s note: This is another of Centralia resident Hank Claycamp’s periodic articles about his trips around the world.
“Wake up! Wake up!”
“Where are we?”
“We’re in Nicaragua, you boob,” the divine Lady L said.
Oh yeah, that’s right, we came here to buy seegars and rum and to explore this Latin American country.
Nicaragua is in between Costa Rica on the south and Honduras to the north, bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean and comprised of multiple volcanoes and lakes, oppressive humidity and very friendly people. Contrary to Costa Rica, it’s incredibly inexpensive.
We landed in the capital, Managua, and took a bus to Granada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua.
The Spanish empire made Granada the capital of middle America in 1524 for exporting gold back to Spain with many pirates sailing up the rio San Juan, across the lake and robbing it until the 16th century.
The greatest failed robber was an American, William Walker, financed by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1856, who burned the city and declared himself president. The plan was to gain influence to build the first trans-ocean canal 45 years before the Panama Canal.
Well, Walker was executed, Vanderbilt lost influence, and the whole thing was scrapped.
After Granada, we took a ferry to Ometepe (a volcanic island in the massive Lake Nicaragua).
The lake contains the only freshwater shark in the world (the bull shark, so mean it will eat your mother-in-law with or without salsa).
Ometepe was a jungle with parrots, toucans and howler monkeys — romantic and delightful with fireflies.
We took an overnight ship across the lake to Santa Cruz then a panga boat down the river to Castillo (the fortress built to stop the pirate Henry Morgan from pillaging Granada).
No roads, just a sidewalk, and netting snook and tarpon in the river. Another warm and friendly place.
We went back upriver to the lake and took an old school bus to Rama, then a panga boat to Bluefields, on the Caribe side.
From Bluefields we caught another panga to the Pearl Lagoon. As soon as we got there, Linda and I started singing the theme song of “Gilligan’s Island.” You just want to do that. The women all wear pink and blue curlers and they all speak creole and eat conch and lobster. Singing and laughing was rampant; it was the best!
Onward, we went back to Rama, then overland (chicken bus) to Matagalpa and Estali, the cradle of the revolution against Somosa in the ’80s.
We finally made it to Leon (the city of cathedrals) and headed back to the U.S.
In all the 45 countries we have visited, no one has ever hated Americans, so get that passport and see this big old world.
