Travel Ideas

On the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and way beyond the Lake of Nicaragua, is found the old pirate town of Bluefields. Bluefields is perched on the edge of a lagoon and is about as unconnected with the outside world as can be imagined. The population is mostly Creole and the English they speak is heavily mixed with Jamaican patois, requiring that you drink several bottles of rum before you understand what anyone says.

For all of that, there’s a strong nostalgia for the days of the British and a general love of anything from the outside world, where most of the inhabitants will never reach. The atmosphere can turn ugly pretty quickly here too so it’s best to watch who’s carrying a machete late at night but what did you expect from a pirate town?

Everything is available on the thriving black market and there’s a good deal of street life with people playing cards, drinking rum in the street and generally chewing the fat in front of old colonial style houses and Caribbean shacks.

It pisses down with rain most of the year here so smoking cigars is almost a must to burn off the humidity and keep off the mosquitoes. It’s also subject to hurricanes and the town was largely demolished in by Hurricane Joan in the 80’s.

Check out the music of Bluefields too.

Tom has been traveling non-stop since the age of 18 and co-founded Road Junky in 2004. Follow him @tomglaister

He’s the author of Hand to Mouth to India, an account of hitchhiking from England to India with no money and which will soon be rereleased by Road Junky Books.

Tales of a Road Junky featuring tales of breaking people out of jail in Delhi, selling fake Rolexes in Japan and other adventures in Israel and Brazil will be out later this year.

He also writes fiction for anyone who never really grew up and his latest novel is Bozo and the Storyteller – download the audio book for free or even buy a copy…

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