El Nicaraguense

The other day I was at the most famous bookstore in Leon (Don Quixote) and picked up a book entitled, El Nicaragüense (in Spanish of course), which is a series of fascinating essays by Nica native Pablo Antonio Cuadra, analyzing various aspects of the Nicaraguan identity. Here is a rough translation of an excerpt from the first essay in the book.

"The dual signal of the 2 profetic volcanoes [refering to Ometepe, an island containing 2 large volcanoes near the center of Nicaragua] was made for Nicaragua. There they were established since the 8th century to the present time. And it is interesting to observe that the new indo-hispana history of Nicaragua also starts exactly in front of these 2 volcanoes through a dialogue, a conversation between Cacique Nicaragua and the conquistador Gil Gonzalez Davila in 1531. There begins the fusion of a new duality. Two blood lines, two cultures, together a symbol of the 2 volcanoes, and on the earth there was born a human being with a dramatic duality of identity. Could it be that the Nicaraguan is a person divided by doubt? Indecision? For in the "du" of "duda" [Spanish word for doubt] lives the same idea of duality.

Nicaragua is located in the center of what was the new world. The flora and fauna of both the Northern and Southern hemispheres grow here. The cultural influences of Mexico and Columbia are present here. Nicaragua was divided into two parts by the conquistadors--east and west. Nicaragua was dually governed from Leon and Granada (two different cities) for much of its history until Managua became the new capital. We are a country of but two seasons, winter (rain) and summer (dust).

The Nicaraguan is born in the shape of a Greek "Y", that obligates us to constantly unite, fuse, and dialogue with one another."