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The taxi driver is anxious. He greets you, but you wonder where he keeps his gun. As he juggles with three cell phones all simultaneously ringing, you notice that his hands are swollen and powerful. His knuckles are permanently disarticulated and do not align. He drives a Toyota 4 X 4. A decal on his rear window says The Punisher. On the road, going at 100 miles per hour, the taxi driver shouts against the wind: “See that huge brown stain on the volcano? That was the mark of a mudslide a few months back.” On the other side of the road, there is a clear field – no trees, no shrubs, no homes, no life. The mudflow was man-made.

Ometepe supplies coffee beans and plantains to Nicaragua and Central America from its rich volcanic soil. Demand for food products is always high, so bigger farmlands and plantations climbed further up the slopes, making it almost impossible for the volcano to support such sizeable platforms. Eventually the land collapsed due to a heavy rainfall; the mudflow killed over 50 people in their sleep. Apart from the ravages of Spanish colonialism, Nicaragua has never seen such destruction of the land as this response to capitalism by the natural forces of Ometepe. You arrive in Charco Verde. It is a nature reserve for howler monkeys, armadillos and a spectrum of tropical birds and butterflies. It is also regarded as one of the most sacred spots of the whole of Central America. The Nahuas thought they could destroy or at least tame the energy of the volcanoes. They would practice rituals, such as human sacrifice, for the volcano gods. As you walk through the forest, you realise that you walk on the exact same path where victims were once dragged towards Concepción Volcano. The path that you walk was once a death row.

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Andres U Bautista

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