The unassuming and unpretentious town of Masaya is Nicaragua’s cradle of folklore. This is the best place in the country to shop for locally produced handicrafts, participate in a festival, or witness a traditional dance. The performance shown here – replete with Spanish airs and colonial themes – was filmed on the main plaza, where troupes regularly congregate.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
The dance signifies the blessing of ancestral forces, the renewal of the earth and the return of fertility. It signifies spring after winter, where the banging of the earth is reminiscent of the sexual act, and the manner in which pre-Columbians planted maize using a stick, one seed at a time.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Clouds of bright orange butterflies pour through the sky like storms of ash, carpeting the earth and weighing down the trees in dense, flaming clusters. They surround and swallow me like swirling curtains of fire, and as they burst into flight, the sound of rippling wings purrs through the air surreally.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Whilst visiting the Kuna Yala archipelago in Panama, my travelling companions and I were treated to a traditional dance performance. The Kuna are one of Latin Americas most successful indigenous groups and retain many elements of their Pre-Columbian traditions. This clip was shot in the village of Nalunega, close to El Porvenir.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Approaching Panama City you can see the Amador causeway reaching across the Pacific, the Bridge of the Americas arcing over the canal, transiting ships and stacks of containers.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
We continue over our misty journey over the Kuna Yala archipelago, stopping en-route to pick-up more passengers.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Kuna Yala is an indigenous reserve located on the northeast shores of Panama. Some 400 islands comprise the scattered Kuna Yala archipelago, seen here on a very misty flight to Panama City. Some of them are so small they can barely accomodate a simple runway. Others have nothing but a few palm trees and a [...]
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Panama City, the crossroads of the world, is most famous for its transoceanic canal; one of the world’s most important shipping lanes. Central to its operation are three sets of locks which lift ships from sea level to the canal. The enormous vessel in this clip is a Panamax ship, presently the largest type the [...]
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Bluefields is Nicaraguas most bustling Caribbean port town. The cultural flavour here is very different to western Nicaragua. English is widely spoken by the predominantly Afro-Caribbean population, but Hispanic and Miskito communities also occupy the city and surrounding region in large numbers.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Christmas in Nicaragua is attended with much incendiary glee. I shot this video from my doorstep in Granada. It shows the locals celebrating with toros cohetes or firework bulls – a fun and wonderfully hazardous practice. The bulls are models, not real bulls, often waved in the air by dancers or inebriated party-goers.
Interamericana is an intrepid new travel blog about the people and places surrounding the Carretera Interamericana - a 6000 kilometre stretch of highway that links Mexico and the seven nations of Central America. Created by guidebook writer and journalist Richard Arghiris, Interamericana combines photography, video and the best in alternative travel writing.
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Granada’s international poetry festival kicked off yesterday, 14th February 2010, with a belting set from Katia Cardenal. Performing at the Plaza Independencia, Katia sang a mixture of rousing folk songs and revolutionary ballads, including a superb homage to the Miskito people of the Atlantic coast (2nd song featured, actually in the Miskito language). Turn up the volume, pour yourself a rum, kick back and enjoy…
The land is scorched and broken. Piles of dark volcanic rubble litter the scene, yet to be properly eroded by sun, wind and rain. Years from now, these rocks will be transformed into fine, fertile silt. But for today, dead, black lava fields cling to the slopes like some monstrous reptilian hide – coarse, inscrutable, alien…
New Year’s Eve in Nicaragua is celebrated with all the incendiary zeal befitting one of the world’s most volcanic and tempestuous nations. Fire-crackers are ignited en-masse. A frenzy of explosions ricochets across the city. A grotesque effigy symbolizing the passing year is paraded through the streets and burned. These are some of the scenes depicted in this short video.
Las Isletas (The Little Islands) are one of Granada’s principal attractions. An archipelago of some 354 jewel-like islets scattered over the surface of Lake Nicaragua, they lure scores of visitors daily. This video was shot on the northern side of the island chain, where we saw a mixture of upscale holiday homes and other more natural settings strewn with lilies and vegetation…
Catholic sentiments reach a fervent peak in Nicaragua during the Purísima, a festival entirely devoted to the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Lasting from late November to 8th December, the Purísima is a protracted celebration involving various family and church gatherings, as well as spirited street parties. Such is the scene depicted in this short film…
From late September to early December, the otherwise sleepy town of Masaya – Nicaragua’s bastion of folklore and indigenous traditions – comes alive with countless animated events, including the shambolic procession of El Torovenado, filmed here. This anarchic spectacle is the very embodiment of Nicaraguan character…
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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