Awas

11/03/05

Our hotel owner in Pearl Lagoon tells us that it is a nice walk to Awas, a Mesquito* village nearly. So off we trudge, It is 7:30 am but we are in full sun and already hot. In Awas, we sit down and are soon joined by a group of men and boys. They tell us a bit of the history of this village. It is only 30 years old. Built after Hurricane Juan destroyed a Mesquito village nearby. Again, it is a Scandinavian NGO, this time the Danes, that provided the junding. During the Contra war in the 70's, the men were recruited to fight with the Somosistas agains the Sandinistas. They had no choice. Some were as young as 15. Orlando tells me they they were given drugs to keep them from being hungry. Sometimes they did not eat for 5 days.

The village is on a green lawn facing the lagoon. The water is shallow, warm but refreshing in the heat. Children go in and out. Women wash and soak in it. They offer us breakfast. Coconut bread, fish and coffee. The children look healthy but the animals look very hungry. The cat helps us eat the coconut bread.

Orlando rows us back to Pearl Lagoon in his uncle's "dory". It is a wooden dugout canoe and has seen better days. He stuffs a plastic bag in a hole but must keep bailing thruout our trip. Water fills at my feet. The water is so shallow that at times, he draws out a long banboo pole to push us along.

*The Mesquito are Indians of the Caribbean coast. Over the years, they have intermingled with Africans and whites but have maintained certain Indian facial features.