Country Article / Postcards
Nicaragua Uncensored
Date: 11/11/2006
I wish I could say we strategized it this way, for that might seem clever. But, the truth is, it was a lucky coincidence of scheduling.
Our Roving Euro Editor, Steenie Harvey, took another detour recently, this one to Nicaragua, which she visited for the first time a few weeks ago.
You remember when Steenie stepped foot on Panamanian soil. It wasn't pretty. She found next-to-nothing to recommend about the country we cite annually as The World's Top Retirement Haven. Reading her contrarian Continental take on Panama City (her coverage ran with the headline, "Hookers, Slums, and Ankle-breaking Sidewalks"), we had a thought:
Let's send Steenie to explore Nicaragua, too. What will our Euro-rover think of this even less developed tropical haven on the wrong side of the Atlantic?
The soonest Steenie was able to fit Nicaragua onto her itinerary was three weeks ago, coincidentally the eve of the much-ballyhooed presidential election in this country. You know that story (the Sandinista Daniel Ortega is now president-elect)...and it's beside the point today.
We didn't send Steenie to Nicaragua to cover the political scene. That's not our beat. We dispatched our most outspoken correspondent with the instruction that she do for Nicaragua just as she had done for Panama--that she tell is like she saw it. "Pull no punches," we instructed our veteran travel writer.
Steenie has delivered. Today, therefore, one week after the election that named Señor Danny the next president of this little nation, we launch a week of "Nicaragua Uncensored," featuring Steenie's from-the-field reports.
The world is talking about Nicaragua right now...but for the wrong reasons. What first attracted us to this country more than a dozen years ago was not the people in government, but the people in the calles, colonial cities, and markets. People of every age and background, eager to share their stories with us. Since then, we've spent lots of time and money in Nicaragua...all the while some people telling us we're crazy. Do we have any regrets today, a dozen years later? But one: That we can't discover this beautiful country for the first time again now...as Steenie has done.
Was Steenie thrilled...or appalled? Did the "hellish tropical heat" get the better of her? Did she count the days until she could return to her civilized European lifestyle?
Tune in tomorrow. You may think you know Nicaragua. But you don't know Nicaragua like Steenie's going to show you Nicaragua...
Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, International Living
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