Five Days on the Río San Juan de Nicaragua

Draining Lake Nicaragua and flowing into the Caribbean is a large river, the Río San Juan de Nicaragua. A great deal of history has passed along this river over the centuries. Before modern highways and air travel this was the main transportation route into the rich lands of central Nicaragua, bypassing the thick belt of rain forest and jungle on the Caribbean coast.

Río San Juan
Thick jungle lines the banks of the Río San Juan below Bartola

The Río San Juan has seen the passage of Spanish Conquistadors, pirates and foreign armies bent on conquering what is now Nicaragua. Along this route thousands of forty-niners came on their way to the California gold fields, using the river to cross the isthmus to the Pacific Ocean. The border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica is also defined by the south bank along much of the river’s length. While the river’s importance on the international stage has waned, it is still a critical route for local residents that call the region home. Dozens of vessels, from river taxis to barges carry people and cargo to the towns and farms that depend on the river.

The river is also popular with the more adventurous tourists. The history and natural beauty found here makes the area endlessly fascinating. Several large biologic preserves along the river preserve large tracts of natural jungle. Fishermen from across the world come to the Río San Juan as well. Here you can catch Tarpon, a renowned sport fish that can reach 2 meters in length and weigh 100kg.

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TMT Support and Opposition by the Numbers

Hawaiian TMT opponents are quick to claim the mantle of representing the Hawaiian people, making the implied claim that all Hawaiians oppose construction of the TMT. It is theme I have seen repeated over and over, repeated by the leaders of the movement.

TMT Rendering
An overhead view of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope, credit TMT Observatory Corporation
I have had reason to question that theme, it just does not make sense, it does not agree with what I encounter in the community. The problem has been that real numbers have been unavailable to settle the issue. It has mystified me that no one had done a proper poll of the local population until now. There have been numerous online polls, petitions and other useless counts of support or opposition. We now have such a poll, and the numbers do not look good for telescope opponents.

62% of Hawaii residents support construction of the TMT, while 29% oppose construction. If one considers only the island of Hawaii the numbers are 59% in support and 39% in opposition. Notably a strong 88% of residents think that culture and science can share Mauna Kea. The statistics of the sample size and sampling method determine a ±4% error possible in the results.

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Jan in SanFran

On our recent trip to Nicaragua I had a chance to meet a few people. One of the more interesting was Jan Adams, who uses the handle JanInSanFran for her online identities. She was elected to the board of El Porvenir during the meetings, a good choice to help with the work.

Jan maintains a great personal blog, Can it happen here?, a blend of personal observations and liberal comment. Her latest post on Nicaraguan children, a nice collection of photos that includes some of the same subjects I photographed while visiting Tierra Amarilla. She is right, we met a lot of happy, smiling kids in Nicaragua, a good sign for the country.

Fortress of the Immaculate Conception

The Río San Juan was once critical to the entire region, the river was the main route of access to the entire country. Wide and navigable the river allowed hundreds of miles of thick tropical jungle to be easily transited. People and cargoes could be shipped from the Caribbean to the enormous Lake Nicaragua and the rich farmlands of central Nicaragua. Together the river and lake offered an easy crossing of the isthmus, allowing passengers and cargo to pass between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. At the northern end of Lake Nicaragua is Grenada, this old colonial city was the crown jewel of the region, where the treasures of the New World were amassed before shipment to Spain.

El Castillo
The old Spanish fort looming above the town of El Castillo, Nicaragua
Defense of this critical river link proved to be necessary in the tumultuous history of the region. On several occasions pirate forces passed this way to loot and burn Grenada. In response to these incursions the Spanish selected a site on a high bluff and overlooking a significant set of rapids on the river as the ideal site for a defensive fortification. A large stone fort was built here, completed in 1675, becoming the lynch-pin for defending this critical access route to the interior of Nicaragua.

Somehow the name Fortress of the Immaculate Conception just does not bring to mind any form of military installation. Despite the name, this fortress is an impressive fortification, easily equivalent to the best contemporary fortifications elsewhere, quite a surprise as the location is and was quite remote. Most photographs fail to convey this, much of the fortress walls are concealed by a surrounding ditch making it difficult to appreciate the fortress without a visit in person. Setting the walls low like this was an important feature of fortifications built during the age of cannon, making the walls a difficult target for attacking gunners. The defenses are well laid out, clearly the work of an experienced military architect. The bastions are properly angled to deflect incoming artillery rounds, gun-ports are positioned to sweep the walls of attacking infantry. Taking this position from prepared defenders would be a difficult proposition indeed.

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