New Year's Eve

Feliz y prospero ano nuevo a todos y todas. We're a bit late with our New Year well-wishing as we've been busy having so much fun travelling the country with Jonny (Rachel's cousin) in December, enjoying the festive period and then exploring some more with Jan and Nick (Rachel's aunty and uncle).

We spent New Year's Eve in two different parts of the country. It began early in the hills at Lagartillo. We were up at 5am to join a large group from the community in a walk in memory of six of their family and friends who were killed in a Contra attack there on 31st December 1984. We more or less walked the route that the women and children of the community took that day to flee to the town of Achuapa, around 6 miles away. The walk to the cemetery was enjoyable through beautiful scenery, but also poignant as we chatted about their memories of that day. Nick (who lived in the community in the late 80s) set off fireworks along the route to mark the event.

Words were spoken and a song was sung at the cemetery in honour of the communities heroes and martyrs.

We crammed into the back of a pick-up truck to get a lift up the steep, bumpy track back to the village and on to the second part of the day. The central area of Lagartillo had been transformed with red and black Sandinista bunting and balloons. A stage had been set up for music, poetry and long (and to our ears), fairly dull, political speeches by local Sandinista councillors. There were hundreds of people there and the community provided a delicious beef and vegetable stew, tortillas and a maize-based drink for everyone.

The event was drawing to a close at around 5pm when we set off for Leon with Nick, Rachel and a very talkative Spanish man intent on teaching us ancient Spanish songs for a good part of the journey. Back in Leon, many streets were roped off by residents who had rigged up big sound systems and pinatas and had their plastic tables and chairs set-up on the streets ready to party. We arrived at a friend's house around 11pm where we ate roast chicken and rice before shooting off to the old fort above Leon for a great vantage point to see fireworks being set-off from houses all across the city and to drink a toast to 2010.