Dinner theater is coming to Ola Verde, a fresh idea at a location that offers fresh organic meals. The concept, explained by Jennifer Gallegos, is simply “to have a delicious organic meal while enjoying a musical”. The musical comedy “The Apple Tree” is based on the story of Adam and Eve. Luis Baez, who plays the snake, explains “the way I see it is, it’s the story of the first couple and you see their problems are the same problems every couple has… it’s a story everyone can relate to and it’s really funny”.

With shows planned from March 25th to April 9th you now have a new option for your evenings. A great cast has been put together by director Gallegos, who also plays Eve, and includes Luis Baez as the Snake and Lincoln Castellon as Adam. Gallegos has experience in acting, choreography and directing in more than 40 stage productions and is sure to bring a Broadway style show to Ola Verde. Currently all shows are in English only, but plans are in the works to add a Spanish night.

Tickets to the shows are on sale now at Ola Verde. Showtimes:
Fridays: March 25th, April 1st and April 8th from 7pm to 9:30
Saturdays: March 26th, April 2nd and April 9th from 5 to 7:30 pm and 8 pm to 10:30pm

Ola Verde creates natural foods that are deliciously healthy, derived from local agriculture, emphasizing the organic options when possible and they avoid the use of chemically derived flavors, preservatives and any non-natural food additive.

Ola Verde is located from Pollo Tip Top on Km 4 of Carretera Masaya, 2 blocks West, in front of Pasteleria Sampson. Tel: 2270-3048

By Jonathan Jackson, photography Christopher Sataua

Cigar Subculture
You would expect one of the world’s most unique cigar companies to have one of the most unique art departments, and in the case of Nicaragua’s Drew Estate Cigars you would be right, but that is where the assumptions should stop. Drew Estate’s motto is ‘The Rebirth of the Cigar’ and in its quest for this rebirth, they have created a reputation as a company unafraid to defy expectations and willing to eschew some of cigar culture’s age-old traditions, in favor of creating their own.

Having previously sold cigars at a small store in the World Trade Center, New York native, Jonathan Drew, the man behind the Drew Estate name, moved to Estelí in 1998 to really get his hands dirty in the cigar game. With partner Marvin Samel holding things down in the States, and just a handful of employees, he began producing unique blends of cigars from a small house in Estelí. His vision was industry shake up; create something different and innovative in the world of tobacco.

“It’s about being open minded and ready to experiment,” says Jonathan. And his philosophy applies to the branding of Drew Estate products, as much as to the products themselves. Jonathan grew up in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn, a place renowned as one of New York City’s top art districts, a place filled with cutting-edge young artists looking to make statements. Jonathan shared that hunger and was looking to make a statement of his own, he wanted to find a way for his young company to make an impact in an old school industry filled with long-standing tradition.

(Marvin Samel, Jonathan Drew and Scott ‘Acid’ Chester, photo courtesy of Scott Chester)

In early 1999, Jonathan returned to Brooklyn with several new tobacco blends he had been perfecting in Nicaragua. He knew the company had something different but felt they needed something equally distinct to help launch a new brand. Drew Estate didn’t have to look far to find that something, or rather, someone. They teamed up with DUMBO artist, Scott ‘Acid’ Chester, known for mixing elements of street art, graffiti and industrial design in his work, to release the ACID line of aromatic infused cigars. Chester, well recognized for his work with motorcycles, as well as his extreme personality and penchant for living on the edge, was in the eyes of Jonathan and his partners, the perfect living symbol to represent what the line was about.

He became the face of Acid cigars, even designing the brand’s packaging bearing his likeness, while a ’72 Chevy Impala Chester designed and painted became the official Acid street machine and was featured at numerous events and in magazines and print ads. The innovative product and uncharacteristic approach to presentation worked, Acid and Drew Estate had created a sizable buzz in the industry, but the vision to combine street art and cigars was only beginning, a chance encounter back in Nicaragua would take things to the next level.

(Graffiti in Estelí of the “ACID” ‘72 Chevy Impala by Jessi and Dog, photo courtesy of Jonathan Drew)

The Birth of Subculture Studios
“I met Jon in 1999,” recalls Jessi Flores. “I was walking out of a gas station [in Estelí, NI] with two six-packs and he approached me like ‘Hey, where you from? You don’t look like you’re from around here.’”

“That’s bullshit. He walked up to me,” says Jonathan later, when told of Jessi’s recollection of their meeting. “Look at him!” he motions to the mountain of a man, covered in tattoos, now sitting next to him. “I thought the guy was trying to rob me! I was about to go for my .38,” Jonathan continues, Jessi just cracks a smile and chuckles.

However it happened, the two men hit it off, with Jonathan inviting Jessi to come by his cigar factory.

“He was working out of a two bedroom house and a garage with like six girls and one guy, it was hilarious,” says Jessi, remembering that first visit.

(‘Dog’ in Estelí)

Jessi soon came to work for Jonathan as his personal translator. A few months later Jonathan came into the factory excited and asked Jessi if he knew who had done some graffiti down the street. Jessi told him he had done it, along with a guy Chuck from Managua. “Next thing I know he bought spray cans, bought us pizza and he was like, ‘Yo do something for the factory,’ so we painted the factory,” Jessi says.

Pleased with the results, Jonathan asked Jessi to start working on some art pieces for the Drew Estate booth at the upcoming Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) trade show. The RTDA show is the most important event of the year for the tobacco industry. It’s the place where companies showcase new products and retailers place orders. For a young up-and-comer like Drew Estate, making a good impression at the show was a very big deal. Jon rented Jessi a bodega and told him he had funds for all the supplies and to hire a few more artists.

(Screen printing, Subculture Studios, Drew Estate, Estelí)

Estelí is well known for its rich history of street art, murals have been a popular form of expression since before the revolution in the 70’s. By the late 90’s in Estelí, Managua and many other cities around Nicaragua, the art of graffiti had begun to firmly take hold. Jesse went out and recruited some like-minded graffiti artists he knew, guys who were used to doing street art for the love of painting and nothing else.

“I recruited Dog, Chuck, Thief and a local guy who just wanted to work, so that’s when we started Subculture,” says Jessi, adding, “I really didn’t know what I was doing, I was just a graffiti/tattoo artist, but Jon pushed me to do something different.”

For their first tradeshow, things stayed pretty straightforward, the Subculture crew designed and painted some big banners using rulers and tape. “Simple stuff,” says Jessi. For the tradeshow the following year, Jonathan wanted them to step it up and do the displays for the show. “We were like, displays? What? None of us had ever done anything like that,” remembers Jessi.

But the crew experimented with the wooden displays a carpenter had built and locked themselves in the bodega for two months, eventually figuring out a way to put vinyl on the displays and paint the artwork over that. The time, effort and money spent paid off and Drew Estate made an impression at the convention.

(An artist from Subculture Studios personalizing a pair of sneakers with the ‘Java’ cigar logo)

“After that trade show everyone was really impressed by the artwork because it was something different. It wasn’t like everybody else buying their displays at displaymania or display.com,” recalls Jessi.

As the business grew, the tradeshows became integral to Drew Estate’s success and branding. Each year Subculture and Jonathan went further. In 2004 they busted out over 40 pieces of art just for the show. Other cigar companies even started asking them to do paintings for them. Jonathan saw the potential and began to incorporate the Subculture style into the day-to-day marketing of a select few of Drew Estate’s now increasing lineup of brands, but to do that Subculture had to grow.

“I told Jon, I need airbrush machines, I need compressors, I need a bigger location, I need employees,” says Jessi. “And he was like ‘What are you waiting for?’ I asked him, “So I got funds?” He said, ‘Yeah you got funds.’”

It was a conversation that would be repeated several times, as Subculture Studios continually outgrew itself. In 2008, Drew Estate and Subculture finally settled into their current home, the 96,000 square foot La Gran Fabrica overlooking a tobacco field in Estelí. It is one of the biggest cigar factories in the world and thanks to Subculture, and over $100,000 worth of original artwork painted on the walls, the best looking.

(Some Nicaraguan stamp-inspired art inside Drew Estate’s ‘La Gran Fabrica,’ Estelí)

Today the talents of Jessi, with Dog, Mez, Chucki and the over 30 other employees of Subculture, are incorporated into every aspect of the Drew Estate cigar business. From silk screening boxes, shirts and hats, to creating artwork for retailers in the States, to designing and producing art and swag for the tradeshows and coming up with some of the characters and logos for new brands of cigars, the team stays busy with projects. But true graffiti artists at heart, the main crew always makes time to hit the streets and paint the town.

According to Jonathan Drew, what makes the Drew Estate style is a loyalty to the product and a loyalty to innovation. But it is also being unafraid to take risks. With Subculture Studios Jonathan has given Jessi his trust and the freedom to experiment with new ideas and different mediums as a way to differentiate Drew Estate from other cigar manufacturers.

“Now people are accepting Drew Estate as a company and following along with Subculture,” says Jessi. “I think we are the only ones that give ourselves competition, there is really nobody like us in the industry.”

(Liga Privada cigar box)

By Martin Mulligan, photography Christopher Sataua

The early 60’s became a milestone in the history of Nicaraguan Cigars. Cuban émigrés from the Pinar del Rio region came to Nicaragua with their prized tobacco seeds and technical knowledge. Over the next few years, the rudimentary cultivation of indigenous “chilagre” tobacco that had been practiced in the Jalapa Valley evolved, giving birth to what is today one of the most important tobacco growing areas in the world.

The history of cigars is full of ritualistic elements. Traced back to when Mayan priests blew smoke on the faces of warriors during ceremonies prior to battle, or be it in more modern times when Alliance members took to smoking while resolving their discrepancies during World War II.

Those were very intense meetings held between Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill. It was Churchill who always ended up breaking the ice by pulling a cigar out of his suit. “I drink a lot, sleep very little, and smoke cigar after cigar. That’s the reason why I’m at 200% most of the time,” said Churchill while referring himself to Marshall Montgomery.

Apparently Roosevelt learned his lesson and acquired the ritual of offering all visiting presidents to the White House a glass of cognac and a good cigar, aside from the customary cup of coffee.

And so it happened that for some decades the cigars offered in the White House were Cuban “Habanos”. It wasn’t until Lyndon B. Johnson became president, after Castro’s revolution and the consequent embargo on Cuba, that Joya de Nicaragua came to be noticed as one of the best selling cigars on the market.

(The Joya de Nicaragua factory in Estelí)

Legacies from Pinar del Rio

According to Nicaraguan Tobacco Association member Alejandro Martínez Cuenca, Cuba has been in charge of revealing the history of the Cigar to the world, and thus claiming it for itself.

The island’s natural resources, together with a good marketing strategy and the economic embargo, turned the Cuban Cigar into an attractive product within US borders; regarded by many as something resembling a “forbidden fruit.”

Eternalized with the help of iconic images of revolutionaries such as Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and Fidel Castro, the Cigar became Cuba’s insignia. Although the Cigar industry dated back to the XIX century, developed by English and US industrialists after the island’s independence from Spain, it wasn’t until after the revolution that the Cuban Cigar gained its true notoriety and fame.

Nonetheless, the economic embargo prompted several exiled manufacturers to begin looking elsewhere for areas to grow. This is how many Cuban families arrived in Nicaragua, and were responsible for bringing with them the island’s tobacco seeds. The newcomers were welcomed by a special program from the Institute for National Development (INFONAC), which began working in the 60’s supporting the farming of tobacco.

Initially cultivated in the Jalapa Valley, the first crops were considered a failure, but as time progressed and the seeds slowly adapted to the soil and started delivering successful results. Test cultures were made in several other regions of the country with moderate success, but without a doubt, the best results remained in the northern lands, between the valleys of Esteli and Jalapa. The climate and soil conditions in this region were ideal for high quality tobacco, most of which was exported to the United States.

It was under these circumstances that a pair of young Cuban entrepreneurs, Juan Francisco Bernejo and Simon Camacho, concluded that if the region was conducive for the cultivation of tobacco, then it could be the same for manufacturing cigars. In 1968 they founded the first cigar factory in the country, which they called Nicaragua Cigars Company and created the first commercially available Nicaraguan brand on the market under the name Joya de Nicaragua.

By its own account, “Joya de Nicaragua” became the Official Cigar of the White House during the Nixon and Ford administrations. But not everything was as sweet as it seemed. During his visit to president Nixon at the White House in 1978, Anastasio Somoza noticed the huge success of “Joya de Nicaragua” and upon returning to Nicaragua he met with Camacho and gave him 48 hours to pay his debt to the Nicaraguan government.

Somoza hastily took 75% of the “Joya de Nicaragua” shares in exchange for eliminating Camacho’s debt. But soon after, Camacho decided to get rid of his remaining shares and establish himself in Honduras.

Afterwards, during the first Sandinista government, “Joya de Nicaragua” became nationalized property, and again went back to being privatized in the beginning of the 1990’s when Alejandro Martínez Cuenca bought the company, and thus began it’s fourth cycle.

Smoker Stereotype?

Hollywood has dedicated itself to creating this stereotype in which the cigar smoker is some sort of high-class, gangster, artist, or powerful influential character. But market research shows no such indication that this is true.

“They can come from very different social backgrounds. For example, there are more taxi drivers in New York that smoke cigars than there are bankers. And there are a lot more police officers that smoke than millionaires” says Alejandro Martínez Cuenca.

A Cigar’s Anatomy

“The art of enjoying a cigar not only consists of putting it to your mouth, it has to do with knowing how to distinguish certain tastes and combining tobaccos in order to achieve the desired results” – Alejandro Martínez Cuenca

The premium cigar is entirely hand-made. A premium is composed of three fundamental parts: the “capa” or outer layer, made up of different tonalities or colors, some darker that others, although not necessarily stronger. Within the outer layer is the “capote”, which is tougher and more rigid. It is the shield that protects the inside of the cigar. Finally there is the “tripa” or “guts” which we refer to the actual contents of the cigar, composed of three different leaves of the tobacco plant: the “ligero,” the “viso” and the “seco.” The “ligero” is the leaf that receives the most exposure to sunlight, giving it more nicotine content for a stronger taste. Then there is the “viso,” a leaf that is cut from the plant after 65 days, giving the cigar it’s unique aroma. And finally, the “seco” or dry leaf, which allows the cigar to burn.

These leaves are combined in different proportions in order to give a cigar it’s own unique identity. “A good cigar must have all three qualities, it must burn nicely, have a good aroma, and a solid taste,” says Martínez Cuenca.

The Cigar Industry in Nicaragua

There are currently 17 companies registered in the Nicaraguan Association of Tobacco, of these 12 manufacture Cigars. Among them we find Joya de Nicaragua, Drew Estate, Grupo Plasencia, Nacsa, STG, Cubanica, Oliva and more.
Other smaller companies manufacture the cigar boxes and the cellophane, both of which are very important contributors to the production process.

There are currently 10,500 acres of tobacco fields in Nicaragua, and according to the Central Nicaraguan Bank (BCN) exports from cigar production reach well over $20 million per year. It’s worth mentioning that the full magnitude of tobacco exports would reach $57 million if we would take into account tobacco sold to Foreign Trade Zones (Zona Franca).

“By minimizing the importation of tobacco we also minimize its importance, without realizing that this industry is a source of income for over 27 thousand families”, says Martínez.

There are nine Nicaraguan brands among the 25 best cigars in the world, according to a specialized ranking that Cigar Aficionado publishes every year. Padrón sits at the top of their list.

Both Cigar Insider and Cigar Aficionado magazines presented Padrón Cigars with their award for Best Tobacco of 2009 for its 45 Year Family Reserve Cigar, which obtained 95 points in their tobacco rankings. Cigar Aficionado described Padrón’s latest creation as an “absolutely brilliant” cigar.

The Nicaraguan cigar industry has had its ups and downs. But since the last recorded crisis in the late 1990’s the situation has gotten stronger, registering a 12% annual increment in exports. It is now known to be an industry with trajectory and quality. We Nicaraguans aren’t big cigar smokers, but consumers and tasters all throughout the world admire our tobacco.
***

Download HECHO 07

Bonanza Electronica is gonna be crazy. The stage area looks insane, with huge screens and projectors everywhere. German-based DJ’s Maral Salmassi and Zero Cash headline with Revuelta Sonora backing them up, but the real highlight is going to be Momotombo, Managua’s best band, doing it big on a stage worthy of their incredible sound and visuals. Any way you look at it, Bonanza promises to be one of the most memorable events of the year.

Find out more details on the Bonanza blog and check out the event on facebook.

Maral Salmassi – Fire Gem (Fukkk Offf Remix)
Momotombo – Boaco

Bonanza Electronica:

No Bonanza Electronica:

When Luis Chamorro was 13, a cousin broke him off with his first surfboard. Getting to the beach though, was up to him.

“I used to walk to Maderas (surf beach), because back then there really was no other means of transportation, tourism hadn’t blown up yet,” Luis recalls. “That’s how I got started, I learned by myself there at the beach and eventually I began competing.”

Luis won his first surf competition in 1999 and it motivated him to keep going strong to win more events – because after all, for a kid addicted to surfing, winning meant more free boards and surf accessories.

Winning also helped him make contacts in the industry and just over a year ago he became one of the few locals in San Juan to open and operate his own surf shop and distribution company.

These days, besides competing solo and as a part of Nicaragua’s National team, and running his shop, Luis ‘Baloy’ Chamorro is doing everything he can to promote surf to another generation – and gender – of San Juaneños.

What has been the competition you won or competed in that you hold closest to your heart?

In Panama there was a contest and I placed third Central American. I made it to the finals and what I loved the most is that I was treated like a professional surfer, you know…at that level. It was an experience I had never lived before.

Everyone calls you Baloy and that’s also the name of your surf shop. What does it mean?

There was a surfer with the last name Maloy, but I used to pronounce it with a ‘B’ instead. He thought it was funny and started calling me ‘Baloy’ and it stuck, it became my nickname.

Tell us a little about your store, you are one of the few locals to own your own surf shop.

The shop has been running for about a year and two months. And besides my own surf business, I also distribute grids, fins, t-shirts, boards and more. I partnered with FCS (Fin Control Systems, one of the premier surf accessory companies) and I’m the one who distributes to most of the other surf shops in San Juan.

What do you see coming for you in the next 10 years?

For my store, I plan to keep growing if God lets me. For me, as I get older I want to evolve and try to help the younger generation that’s behind me.

What do you think of the younger generation of surf in San Juan, for example Rex Calderón, and what about girl surfers like Dunia?

Rex is already at a strong competitive level internationally. He’s already represented Nicaragua in a foreign country, is a great surfer and has a definite future in the sport.

Dunia is someone I’ve been training because I would really like to see Nicaraguan women learn to surf. Generally we don’t have girls on the water.

Why do you think that is? Is there a certain amount of sexism towards women surfers?

Yes I think you are right. It’s definitely more complicated for a women. I had seen Dunia around and she had a lot of talent. I met her in Costa Rica when I participated in a contest. When I came back I looked her up, and thought that she could get motivated to make the circuit and represent Nicaragua with the rest of us. It would be great for other local girls to see her, and somehow be inspired to participate, because nowadays, except for a local in Santana, we only have foreign girls participating in the circuit.

I do like to motivate not only the girls, but everyone. If they need help I try to provide it with wax, a leash, something. I help them because I was helped a lot, so I have to pay it forward. Not necessarily with the ones that helped me, but with the ones that are on their way.

How do you see this new generation? Are they taking the sport in a positive, disciplined way?

Yes, I believe so. I did a small event called “El Semillero”, and it was only for kids, and they came from all over the place, from Popoyo, from all over to compete. I set it up, told them I would help them with transportation and get them inspired. The ones that really want to surf, it’s always there…existing. I know of two kids that are about 12 or 13, the age I was just starting to stand on the board, but they are already ripping it. So that means that when they hit my age, if God lets them, they could be in the world. Those are the new generations.

“Look at me! Look at me,” Israel yells in English to his teacher, as the 11-year-old stands up on a surfboard at Playa Maderas. His teacher, Emily Colder, a staff member of San Juan del Sur’s Barrio la Planta School, congratulates him as he rides the wave onto shore. About 50 of the school’s almost 200 students are spending a special Sunday at the beach learning to surf as part of a fieldtrip for perfect attendance.

The Barrio la Planta Project is named after the La Planta neighborhood, an overlooked community in the beach town of San Juan del Sur, where close to 3000 people reside. The families live like many in an economically underdeveloped country. Poverty, violence, malnutrition and illiteracy are some of the issues they must deal with day to day. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 79.9% of the population in Nicaragua lives with less than $2 per day. Barrio la Planta falls into that category. Many families live in small one-room shacks that hold six or more people. Dirt floors and no water for most of the day are the norm. Many of the men work as fishermen but only get to make about one fishing trip a month, leaving them searching for jobs most of the year. With the boom of tourism in San Juan del Sur, many opportunities for work have been hidden away from the people of La Planta. The Barrio la Planta Project is helping to change that. But to truly understand the rise of this project you must understand the story of its founder, Dyani Makous, 26.

Dyani has an adventurous soul that fills her with the desire to do new things. An education activist from the start, she joined the Philadelphia Student Union in her hometown of Philadelphia. For six years she stood up for higher education opportunities for low-income students. After graduating from the University of Emerson she joined Citizen Schools, a program for enhancing the academic development of middle school students, where she was their team leader for several years.

In 2008, Dyani packed her bags and headed to Nicaragua. She had landed a job that any adventurous lit major would want. She was going to be writing for a travel guide for a few months while traveling through Nicaragua. When she arrived in San Juan del Sur, the warm smiles, beautiful Pacific waters and the humble, passionate culture won her over. Living on the travel guide’s salary became a waste of her time, as she found herself broke, spending more than she made just visiting the places she was supposed to be writing about. By December she was living in La Planta, were she roomed with a local family. At Martha Lisa and Juan Carlo’s home Dyani says she felt like part of the family, sharing meals, birthdays and afternoon chats about life. She was part of a community where sharing was a valued commodity amongst neighbors, even if they had little to share. She wanted to give back to the family that took her in when she had nothing. “I felt a strong desire to share something with them,” she remembers. “While I didn’t have any money to give, there was one thing I did have that could benefit them: English.”

What began as a simple idea to teach her new family and neighbors English, soon grew into something much bigger, and almost one year ago, The Barrio la Planta Project became a non-profit organization that not only provides free English education but also art classes, healthy recreational activities and and all of San Juan.

Through donations Dyani was also able to expand her staff in order to teach new classes and reach more kids. The school has grown from 5 to almost 200 students. Six remarkable teachers are now enhancing the education of the barrio kids, as well as giving free evening English classes to local adults. Using unconventional methods, such as learning through traveling, and giving positive reinforcements, like field trips for perfect attendance, they help the kids overcome some of the challenges that poverty has left them with, while fostering a culture of teamwork, confidence and community.

The sub-director of the program, Yaoska Jimenez, 28, was born and raised in Nicaragua and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in company administration and marketing with a minor in art and photography from the University of Central America in Managua. She strongly believes art is a way of discovering your passions, which is the essence of what the project is about: helping the students discover what they are the best at by exposing them to different stimuli. “You know, it is not the same to give them what they need, better to show them how to obtain it themselves,” she says.

Together Dyani and Yaoska have been working hard, spreading the word about the project, including organizing fundraisers in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, as well as applying for grants to reward their best students. They have also created summer workshops taught by volunteers knowledgeable on specific subjects. For instance, last year they had a theatrical workshop and this year ideas such as a creative writing class in Spanish have been mentioned.

The response and enthusiasm from the community, both local and international, has been inspiring. The city and the mayor of San Juan donated an old recreation building so the kids can have a proper school, as well as a center for activities. Amayo, an international company that produces wind energy in Nicaragua, has also taken an interest in the project and donated money to the restoration of the classrooms. While on a smaller, but no less important scale, artists Ruben Gadhimi and Emily Reed have helped bring the school life with their colorful murals on the classroom walls, the teams from Nicaragua Surf Report (NSR) and San Juan Surf have volunteered time to give the kids free surf lessons and local restaurants like Bamboo Beach Club have helped sponsor many events.

The progress the students have made is evident in their behavior. Thanks to the Barrio La Planta Project, some of the troubles that accompany poverty do not seem like such an obstacle anymore and many in the community have been given a new sense of pride as they see what great things they are capable of. It has been rewarding for the teachers as well. Emily Colder, academics director for the school, who had previously taught in the States expressed her unconditional gratitude to the endeavor, “In the States, I would teach hundreds of students and only touch the lives of two or three, here I feel I reach every single one of my students every single day.”

The motto of the school is “Help a child grow” and that is exactly what this project is about. Creating a supportive, healthy environment where children who don’t have much can grow within themselves and persevere. The project is growing to help more children, but they still need a lot of assistance to ensure that all services remain free. Help, in the form of donations or volunteering, is badly needed and all tax-deductable donations go directly to the school. Help the children of Barrio Planta beat the cycle of poverty. Help a child grow.

To donate money. supplies, or to volunteer, please visit: www.barrio-planta-project.blogspot.com

His childhood bridged both Nicaraguan and U.S. culture, so novelist Silvio Sirias has a rather distinct perspective on both countries. He puts it this way: “Because of the unusual circumstances of my upbringing—born in Los Angeles to Nicaraguan parents but having spent my adolescent years in Nicaragua—I feel at home straddling the hyphen, the dash between my Nicaraguan and American identities. Yet, in all honesty, when I’m in need of a break from my cultural and linguistic schizophrenia, I seek refuge on my ‘American’ side as I find English [is] the language in which my brain likes to relax.”

He prefers to write in English as well, enabling him to grant non–Spanish speakers a stunning insider’s view of la vida Nica. Sirias’s two Nicaragua-set novels, Bernardo and the Virgin (2007) and Meet Me Under the Ceiba (2009), are unlike any book I’ve read about the country, in both form and content. In addition to his sharp bicultural lens, Sirias employs multi-voice narratives to present fictionalized accounts of real-life events—specifically, miracles and murders in small-town Nicaragua.

Sirias offers a simple yet remarkably accurate portrayal of daily Nicaraguan life. His text is riddled with distinctive Nicaraguanismos and sensory details. The sickly-sweet taste of Rojita, for example, or the sour smell of rum-breath as his characters go about their business.

“My top priority when writing a novel is develop a strong plot,” he says. “The storyline has to hold a reader’s interest from the opening sentence through the concluding one. But I’m also convinced that a good tale must have interesting characters; and interesting characters require an interesting setting. So, as you can see, the setting is a key ingredient in my fictional mosaic … Nicaragua is a place of wonders. Yet for me to take the reader there successfully, story, character, setting, and cultural authenticity must each be dealt with meticulously, as well as lovingly.”

Silvio Sirias lives in Panama City, where he is a professor of literature. His next book takes place in El Salvador.

Joshua Berman is also the author of the Moon Nicaragua Handbook

Esto va suave…
By Jonathan Jackson, Photography Anthony Acosta

Granada, Nicaragua – March 2010
The white microbus full of pro skaters pauses as it prepares to pull out of the convenience store parking lot. On the side of the road a group of teenage boys still dressed in their catholic school uniforms – each with a small personal touch like an orange beenie, a Misfits backpack, or a pair of Vans – stand waiting to cross the street. One of the kids happens to glance over his shoulder and sees the bus. His eyes scrunch up and he stares for a few seconds. The bus starts to take off. The boy has a moment of clarity, “Chico Brenes! It’s Chico Brenes!” he exclaims as he slaps his friends’ shoulders. The rest of the crew starts to yell and wave at the bus as it drives off. When they realize that it’s only crossing the street to refill at a gas station, the group rushes over.

Inside the van, the skateboarders watch the kids sprint across the intersection. “Damn, Cheeks, you’re the man,” says Rob G to Chico as the youngsters clamor outside for a photo-op. Chico just smiles as he climbs out.

Nica
Since 2007, at least twice a year, Chico Brenes has been bringing pro skaters down to Nicaragua, or as he and his friends warmly refer to it, ‘Nica.’ This most recent trip includes a group of established skaters including Rob Gonzalez, Kenny Anderson, Steve Nesser and the youngest of the bunch, Jose Rojo.

Most days of the tour the crew rolls out in the microbus, traveling to different spots and cities to skate. And while landing tricks for videos and snapping sick photos are the official reasons the trips to Nicaragua pop off, for Chico they are equally about moments like this one with the group of young skaters. Having the opportunity to make an impact on the youth and help the skate culture in Nicaragua grow is something the 34-year-old professional skateboarder from El Almendro has been dreaming about for a long time.

As a kid in the 80’s growing up in El Almendro, a small town in the Rio San Juan department of the country, Chico’s most indelible memories weren’t of skate manuals and grinds, they were of the violence and chaos he saw as civil war erupted around him.

With bloodshed and paranoia sweeping through the country, his mother was wounded after being shot in the face by an acquaintance. She survived, and willing to do anything to get her son away from a similar fate or a life, and possible death, as a young soldier, she arranged for him to head north and eventually sneak across the Mexican border with the help of a “coyote” and meet her in the United States.

Around the corner from his new life and new house in Daly City, California, a suburb of San Francisco, Chico found a skate park. He borrowed boards from other kids and learned to skate for fun; eventually saving enough cash to buy a used board from a kid in the neighborhood. Chico Brenes finally had his own skateboard and it was on.

In the right place, at the right time and with the right combination of determination and natural skill, Chico made a name for himself skating in San Francisco at the Embarcadero Center Plaza, known among skateboarders simply as “EMB” – which was regarded as one of the most famous skate spots in the world for a number of years – eventually leading to his career as a professional skater.

Fast Forward
18 years as a pro, a collection of signature kicks, countless skate videos, custom decks and trips around the world later, Chico has paid his dues and parlayed an impeccably smooth and consistent style into a place as one of the most respected professional skateboarders in the sport and a role model and icon to a younger generation of skaters. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Nicaragua, where Chico has stepped into a role as a sort of Skate Ambassador between the two countries that have made him, because despite the negative circumstances surrounding his departure from Nicaragua, Chico never lost the love of his home country, of his roots and of who he is. It’s no surprise that as the only Nicaraguan pro skater, one of his greatest dreams is to share skateboarding with the country of his birth and share the Nicaragua he loves with his friends and fellow professional skaters from the States.

“Nica’s not for everybody,” he says knowingly, referring to a mental selection process he goes through when deciding which pros get the invite. “We stay at my aunt’s house in the real Nicaragua, not in a hotel or something. Mosquitoes, bunk beds, (electric) fans, the heat, the food…some guys can’t hack it.”

And while the occasionally rough conditions in Nicaragua might be off-putting for some too accustomed to the comforts of more developed countries, the skaters assembled for this trip seem like a perfect match for Nicaragua’s rugged beauty.

“We all get along so good, because we’re down for whatever,” says Kenny Anderson, a native of Las Vegas and longtime friend who Chico has been trying to get to come down and skate Nicaragua since the very first Nica skate mission. As a pro who travels around the world several months out of the year, for Kenny a trip like this is a refreshing change of pace: “Being able to stay with Chico’s family is just the best. You really get to experience the country in a unique way.”

Rob Gonzalez, originally from Long Beach, CA and on his third Nica tour of duty, compares his Nica experience to that of other countries he has skated, “(Nicaragua) is way more colorful, rugged, interesting, just the way the whole country looks. You go out and skate in a place like this, it feels like an adventure.”

The adventure goes both ways too, because at every spot the crew stops to skate, a crowd, sometimes big sometimes small, comes out to take it all in. At one park in Managua where the group stops, the commotion of skateboards brings a security guard over. But instead of coming over to chase them away, he takes a seat close by to check out the scene. No doubt, with the possible exception of the Eskimo ice cream cart coming by, the manual 360’s on the tabletop are the best action he’ll see all day.

Central Skate
“Ever since I started coming down to visit Nicaragua, in like ’92, and saw some kids skating, it had been my dream to open a skate shop down here,” Chico says.

In May of 2009 he fulfilled his first dream, when he opened the first legit skate store in Nicaragua, Central Skate Shop. The shop carries decks, accessories, and all the latest gear at the best price Chico can get it for. But the idea is to not just be a store but a center for the skate community in Nicaragua, a place to get tips, watch videos and talk skating. For Chico it’s all about having supports in place to help the skate culture grow.

“The next thing we need is a skatepark. I’ve been talking with the city and some other groups to see if we can get some land and try to get some help from my sponsors. There’s a few ideas in the works. But we really need to open up a skatepark for the kids so they can just go and they don’t always have to skate in the streets and don’t have to worry about getting hit by a car, don’t have to worry about getting robbed.”

Even without a park, the Nica skate culture has been making great strides. The skate demo the crew put on in March drew the biggest crowd Chico remembers seeing for a skate event in Nicaragua. Chico was mobbed with little shorties and up-and-coming Nica skaters snapping pics, asking for autographs or just wanting to say ‘what’s up’. He even had one kid around 12 years-old come up and hit him with a hand-off:

“This little kid handed me a note he had written and then took off cause he was shy and didn’t want to watch me read it. It said like ‘Chico, can you take me back to the United States so that I can become a pro skater like you?’ I was blown away. That touched me, man,” he recalls.

A few days later, as the crew is filming around San Judas in Managua with a crowd already gathered, the same kid shows up with an ancient looking board, a grind rail and an infectious smile. While a few of the other pros try to land some tricks on film, Chico takes a mob of kids over by a set of stairs to skate. Some youngsters not too familiar with working the ol’ shred stick try out Chico and Kenny’s boards, but end up either doing a whole lot of nothing or wiping out when they get to the stairs.

‘The Kid’ steps up and gets a hold of Chico’s board and attempts to ollie the staircase, but even he can’t land it. After a couple failed attempts, he shouts to a friend who comes through the crowd and hands him his ancient looking deck with the Chocolate sticker and tiny, grinded-down wheels. With a piece of familiarity under his feet, ‘the Kid’ takes off and ollies the first staircase, skates down to the second and ollies that one too. Smooth and nonchalant, just like his idol. The other kids and the pro’s go wild. As he ascends the stairs, his peers greet him with high fives and slaps on the back. And before he takes off, Chico hits him back with a hand-off: giving him his board. The Kid clutches his new deck like it is made out of gold and goes to sit on the steps and show it to his friends.

“The scene is growing. I see the potential,” Chico says with a smile. “It’s like back in the day, back to the roots. [In Nicaragua] they are skating for the love of it and that’s what matters.”