Pat Werner's Nicaraguan Pathways

A national monument is El Chipote, the mountaintop fortress of Augusto Sandino. It is located 10 km north of Quilali, and is the next big mountain north and west of La Buhona, located just on the edge of Quilali, over which it hovers and…

The road west out of Ocotal leads to Macquelizo, a small mining town not visited by anyone that does not know it is there. Located in the hills around the town are several old silver mines, with their dumps from mineshafts plainly visible. Ephraim…

Explorando la mina de oro de El Limón, en 2012.  La mina produce más o menos 5 kg de oro por día. Está situada al lado de un volcán viejo y en su interior hace mucho calor, un promedio de 41 °C.

Con Danilo Lacayo en la mina San Albino, Nueva Segovia, ubicada a 8 km de El Jícaro. Fue una mina desde tiempos coloniales y Ephraim Squier describió la mina en 1860. Es donde trabajó Augusto Sandino y donde hay mucho historia. Los Marines utilizaron…

The Contra War ended in 1990, and soon afterward the Recontra movement began, which led to the formation of large guerrilla bands in the north country. The largest Band, called 380, demobilized at the village school of Cualatu in 1994. Other bands began to…

In the years following the 1990 election and end of the Contra War, various guerrilla bands sprang up in the north country. The OAS CIAV, which was charged with disarming these groups and promoting peace in the countryside, was led by Argentine sociology professor…

The majestic mountains above Ocotal are the highest mountains in Nicaragua, higher than the mountains of Matagalpaand Jinotega. They are a big chunk of granite, running about 70 km from east to west, and lay in a bed of metamorphosed schist, or mud. The…

Nueva Segovia, now known as Ciudad Antigua, is actually the second Nueva Segovia. The first, or at least its ruins, located five km south of Quilali, was founded in 1543 on an earlier mining town, Santa Maria de Buena Esperanza. The Indians burned that…

Quilali, located close by the Honduran border in the Isabelia mountains, has had a historical presence in the development of Nicaragua. Just south of the present town are the ruins of the Spanish mining town Nueva Segovia, founded by elderly conquistador Diego de Castañeda….

Ocotal early in the morning smells of pine wood smoke on which thousands of breakfasts are being cooked. Ocotal looks unlike most other Nicaraguan towns and most resembles a town in Chihuahua back several decades. The houses, mainly of adobe, are made like the…

This bridge is located about 10 km east of Ocotal. The Achuapa River flows directly off Mogoton, the highest mountain peak in Nicaragua, at 2107 meters. Its sands are gold bearing and worthwhile panning. The river changed its course slightly during Hurricane Mitch in…