An Excursion to a Virgin Community (Merida, Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua)

It is Saturday night in Merida (a small town in the southern part of Island Ometepe on Lake Nicaragua). On any ordinary Saturday night the town at night would remain as tranquil as it is all week long. But tonight is different because it is the end of the school year and all the children (or at least the ones that go to school) have been handed their report cards. This is cause for a celebration, a big dance to be held on the school premises in honor of the 6th grade graduates who will now go on to secondary school.

It is about 9pm and together with some friends we leave our hammocks and make our way along the muddy dirt road through the jungle to the school. Although is pitch black (and we do not have a light) we let the music guide us. We finally arrive and what awaits me is a party I will never forget. The entire town (or so it seems) is gathered on the football field outside of the school, half of them dancing the other half talking and drinking. One of the elementary school class rooms has been converted into a bar for the night (only selling Toña beer and Coca Cola). We order a beer, which one of the school employees retrieves out of a fridge behind the poster of the alphabet. After another beer or two we hit the dance floor. Although there are primarily teenagers gathered, all age groups are well represented: young children playing football in the background, other kids practicing dance moves, teachers and other men from town (after a generous serving of beer) also start dancing and then there are the farmers and 50 year plus old (some with teeth, some without) who also seize the opportunity to party.

What made this night unforgettable was not the music or the dancing but the setting (inside the school yard), the excuse for the entire town tot party (6th grade graduation), and the colorful mix of people participating (from 6yr old kids to the 70 year old grandpa and the occasional dog or pig leisurely crossing the dance floor).