Comments on: Nicaraguan town wealthy from cocaine bricks that wash ashore

By: Raina

Raina — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

thinking of moving…

By: MarlboroTestMonkey7

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

At long last, a Yes reference:

We hit the blue fields
In the blue sedan we didn’t get much further
Just as the sun was rising in the mist
We were all alone we didn’t need much more

So fast this expedition
So vast this heavy load
With a touch of luck and a sense of need
Seeing the guns and their faces
We look around the open shore
Waiting for something

By: Mark Frauenfelder

Mark Frauenfelder — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

#5: That’s awesome! Thank you.

By: johnnysociety

johnnysociety — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

A great video on the white lobster:

http://current.com/items/76387062_fishing_for_blow

By: squeeziecat

squeeziecat — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

huh. there was nothing like this when I went to Nica in ’88…. just the pre-Catholic Daniel Ortega in power, contras with guns on the hilltops, goats in the streets, and knock-off goods like “Best” toothpaste in the markets in Managua.

FYI Snifty – it’s my understanding that Bluefields is also one of the few coastal villages where the Garifuna language is still spoken (an African / Carib creole), the reggae-ish pop would probably be parranda.

for a great example check out the work of the late Andy Palacio, who died far too young last month of a massive stroke and heart attack. the album Watina is a gem – the “Buena Vista Social Club” of Latin America.

By: clifford

clifford — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sounds like the premise of a provincial British comedy.

By: Takuan

Takuan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

almost
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295552/

By: tuktuk

tuktuk — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

yep. bluefields is a pretty interesting place. feels like a pirate town when you’re there, especially if you arrive, like most people do, by boat. the musical tastes are simple: classic country and reggae, and you can tune in to a local station and hear waylon jennings and merle haggard staggered with gregory isaacs and burning spear.
corn islands is indeed an island paradise. cocaine is three dollars a gram and uncut, though i was too sick to partake when i visited. i did meet lots of wide-eyed canadians and americans who came for the fishing but stayed for the blow. on little corn, there are no nightclubs, and on weekend nights almost everybody on the island heads to the local evangelical church for the action. it is pretty crazy to watch a bunch of coked-up foreigners dancing and gesticulating wildly to caribbean hymnals. recommended, by all means.

By: MarkHeck

MarkHeck — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

rush rush give me lobster

By: OM

OM — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

…Ok, so where exactly is this town? And can we book a round-trip junket there on Priceline? :)

By: spectre

spectre — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ride the White Lobster!

By: bricology

bricology — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Is anyone else confused/disturbed by the fact that the US COAST GUARD is doing something a thousand miles from the nearest US coastline?

By: Mindpowered

Mindpowered — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have feeling that this is beginning of the end.

If I were a parasite I’d be down there in flash to make my fortune.

By: Takuan

Takuan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

remember The Mosquito Coast, with Harrison Ford?

By: mastercontroller

mastercontroller — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

What does Harrison Ford have to do with massive amounts of coke?

By: Takuan

Takuan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

uh…. he’s only 22 years old?

it’s the Mosquito Coast inn’t it? Something strange and in-sucking there….

By: Takuan

Takuan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

never happens around here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/28/drugsandalcohol

By: flipa

flipa — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

To all of you who are now considering moving there, I recommend the Corn Islands, a couple of hours’ boat ride from Bluefields.

Bluefields is a sad little town in the middle of swampy nowhere. Corn Islands (Little Corn and Big Corn) are paradise, and there are plenty of white lobsters to be caught there, too – or so I was once told by an excited American guy who had just spent four months on Big Corn Island and couldn’t remember any of it.

Another person who had lived there told me that the main causes of death on the islands are cocaine overdose and being hit by a falling coconut.

By: snifty

snifty — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I did a double take when I saw this one, because I’ve done a bit of reading about Bluefields. It’s kind of an interesting place. Not too many people know that on the east coast of Nicaragua, which is separated from Managua by a hard-to-pass stretch of swampland, English is more commonly spoken than Spanish. There are also a few dwindling local languages, one of which, Rama, was a subject of study by MIT uberlinguist Ken Hale.

@Takuan: The Mosquito coast (which actually refers to the local Miskito people), does indeed include Bluefields.

Bluefields also has a minor history of some rather catchy reggaeish pop… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zu6D_vuojs

By: Takuan

Takuan — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

any more of those CIA jets full of coke crash around there?

By: the_dannobot

the_dannobot — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bales of cocaine, falling from low-flying planes!

the reverend horton heat

By: paul beard

paul beard — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

We called similar items (bulky herbal debris) square grouper, back in the day. Never found any, though.