Masaya,
Nicaragua
Thursday, January 1, 2009
We arrived in Masaya, another colonial town, filled with history of battles and struggle.There is a fort outside of town called Coyotepe. The US Marines took the hill in a battle against Nica Troops. At the time, the Nicaragua Government was talking to England, France, and others about building a canal from the Atlantic to Pacific here. We didnīt like the idea of two canals, so we sent in the troops. We pulled them out after two years, and a peace accord , which gave the US the sole rights to develop a canal here. (one which we had no intention of building ) The fort was later used as a prison by the Samoza regime. It also was a battle ground during the revolution when the Sandinistas took it from the Samozas once again.
We spent New Years Eve here. They are short on aerial explosives but long on firecrackers. The town really erupted at midnight. Glad that the holidays were behind us, we moved on to Granada. Hotel rooms are harder to find and prices are higher during the holidays.
Comments
marines
Those pesky Marines. I've heard they did a lot for United Fruit Company's bottom line in the hey-day of U.S. imperialism! Beautiful pictures!
Don