Travel Photography > Isthmus > Pacific Coast, Nicaragua

When a newspaper called me a few weeks ago, they admitted that since they had no office in Miami, it was hard for them to send a journalist to the Bahamas.  Although the newspaper pursued the story, their courage is hardly the norm.  It is easier for a large U.S. newspaper to report on Afghanistan and Iraq than Guana Cay – amazingly, news of places like this isn’t produced by the regular papers: the news disseminates from the specialty journalists.  Yes, it’s the luxury travel writers who are often the sole link between civilization and that far end of the dock, where something very, very, very bad may or may not be taking place.  But how would we know?  Our travel journalist is drunk and asking for more of those banana chips.

On the other side of Nicaragua, away from any travel writers pen, the Caribbean side, there are 18 beautiful coral islands called the Pearl Cays.  The islands, which are like Bahamian crown land, are held in perpetuity expressly for the indigenous people of the Northwestern Miskito coast, who have forever used the islands as a source for foraging and fishing.  But a few years ago, a Greek-American called Peter Tsokos started trying to sell seven of the islands on his island real estate website.

When the Indians would try to land on the islands, armed thugs were waiting for them with guns pointed at their heads.  Like Guana Cay in the Bahamas, the Pearl Cays were one of Nicaragua's healthiest coral reef and turtle breeding grounds.  The indigenous islands' new owners started quickly deforesting the islands, uprooting turtle nests, and pissing off lots of Indians.  As the Nicaraguan central government came to the Indian's assistance, the apex of the scandal came to a boil.  Suddenly, people important to the court case were being picked off - killed in their homes.

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