Via Via is something of a León institution, attracting Nicas and foreigners alike with its buzzing multi-cultural atmosphere, dirt-cheap bottles of rum and rousing Friday night music sets. Amalgama, featured in this video, are an institution in themselves, playing everything from rock ballads to crowd-pleasing revolutionary classics. In this clip they are accompanied by itinerant musician Richard Crandell and his Zimbabwean imbira.
These images were snapped in León’s central market – one of the more cleanly and ordered I’ve encountered in Nicaragua. One of the most visually arresting (if slightly grotesque) sections dealt with seafood and poached meats. Dead fish and crustaceans were piled high amid buzzing flies, and between bowls of dead green iguanas I spotted sacks of turtles’ eggs for sales. Although turtles are critically endangered, their eggs are widely consumed by macho men hoping to boost their virility.
As a poor chele, or white boy, rhythm was never going to come naturally to me. Nonetheless, my militant salsa instructor, Angel, patiently tried to teach me to dance. And when he could be patient no longer, he simply ordered me to the nearest disco…
Friday, June 4, 2010
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