Chronicle: Travel to Estelí in the "Caribbean Touristic Caravan"

Faustino Salcedo | Mar 19, 2012

In Nicaragua, to talk about cultural diversity is necessary to mention the Caribbean Coast. When we notice the mountainous beauty, is important to have knowledge of the north side of the country. And if the theme is concerned touristic destinations along with cultural combination; is indispensable for you to be informed about the "Caribbean Touristic Caravan in Estelí". Now I am going to tell a story related to a weekend in the Esteli urban entrails, sailing through the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast fair.

The highway from Managua to Estelí is in a really good shape, however, the view from the window is better. The only unfortunate detail is the garbage at one side of the road, before arriving to Sebaco city. This image kills the landscape and it turns into a picture that reflects the poor concern of the human being about environment.

Upon arrival to Estelí, the city gorgeousness surprise anybody. Is easy to appreciate that is a town with a lot of movement. This weekend, Estelí was the scenario to the Caribbean Touristic Caravan, organized by the Nicaraguan Tourism Board (INTUR) in which touristic entrepreneurs of RAAS and RAAN were offering their services, accompanied by artists of the Caribbean Coast.

The fair was located at the street adjacent to the Estelí central park. The stage was in a cross that connects three streets. In front of the structure were the expositors awnings. These ones reached up to a traffic light system and the road was closed with an INTUR blanket, creating a sort of doorway. In the area were present the firefighters and the National Police.

During the afternoon, the fair was a little bit empty, the people were coming as the music was heating up the place. The expositors were relegated. The visitors walk by near them really quick, like a person that opens a book, flip through and close it again. Among the demonstrators were from touroperators to hairdressers. There were two types of handicrafts: one made by tuno tree crust and the others made by oak and pine wood.

The awning that figured more was the one were the visitors can have Caribbean braids. It was so repleted of people that prevented to see the show. On the other hand, there were the chefs: they lasted 30 minutes in prepare any kind of food and in 15 minutes all the dishes were gone. They prepared again rice with jumbo shrimps. This specialty was practically devoured by predators.

As for the cultural acts, the first to show were the ballet members of BICU University (Bluefields Indian Caribbean University). The Caribbean rhythms are famous for the energetic movements that the artists make, causing the stage to tremble. The INTUR members and the Estelí city government inaugurated the fair.

After the main act, it was a little pause, similar to the calmness felt before a natural event that includes movements. The Folkloric Ballet appeared again, this time they spread more energy to the visitors and encouraged everybody to emulate Caribbean dances. The animators were stimulating everybody to dance and participate in contests.

The Caribbean party continued, now the Bluefields Caribbean Star dance group made all the place vibrate, by turns they shown their skills. When the time came to the leader of the group, many people thought that she wouldn't give a good show because of her weight and physic structure, but they were more than wrong, she moved like a great dancer. Then, the Garifuna group Bukuma interacted with the public, sang their songs and shown everybody how to move the feet in a caribbean way. They shouted bomb and the public had to answer “heehehe”. Also, the Miskito musical band "Yabrha Lanka Nani" (Lions of the North), were present at the event. They preformed around 4 songs.

The dark mantle of the night fell over the town, the end was coming. The fair closure was in charge of Philip Montalban. His arrival was late because of technical problems. The first song was improvised and combined with the lyrics of other songs. He mentioned Estelí and it's people. The second song was a Bob Marley cover with the song "Jamming". The third one... at the third song, the hunger empowered all the journalists mind and the fair stayed at it's most exciting point, without us.

At the next day it was "Garnacha's" turn. An ecological reserve located at the Esteli outskirts. We visited this place with INTUR during this press tour. The journey was entertained. Inside the reserve exists a cheese factory, a store, a handicraft workshop, an earthworms farm, one viewpoint and a lot of nature, but that is going to be boarded for another story. The heart of Esteli stayed complete of Caribbean flavors, in the wind still sounds the Garifuna, creole and miskito music. At the Caribbean Coast surely they are talking about the event developed in the North, and from Managua we show to the world the story about a journey full of culture.

Here you can see our photo gallery of the Caribbean Tourist Caravan in Estelí.

Translated by Olga Ortiz Kurashvili