Here's a shocker for all of the God-fearing white Christians up yonder. The oldest Catholic image in the Americas was brought here by the Spaniards in 1528. It's a beautifully crafted 2.5 metre or so carving of the crucifixion. But it looks quite different hanging in the Cathedral of Leon in northern Nicaragua. It's called "El Cristo Negro" - the Black Christ.  Legend has it that the plans for the cathedral in this not so large town, in a not so l...

The man with the machete approached from the opposite direction. I looked left, right. We were on a narrow forested path with nowhere to run. Little Corn Island, long known as a port of call for Colombian drug smugglers, sits 85 km off the coast of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea. The guide books say Little Corn is a tropical paradise, a diving jewel. But those same guide books say that tourists should guard against armed robbery, cabin break-ins and the occasiona...

 "Eighty Cordobas is your change, sir." "Danke," I replied in German. "Bitte," The kid's eyes went wide as he looked up at me. "Sprechen sie Deutsches?" "No, solimente Ingles," I answered in Spanish. "Hablas Espanol?" he asked. "No, ich nur Englisch," I replied in German. The kid, open-mouthed, ran off to his German father, the owner of Hotel Don Alfredo, in old town Granada, and spoke in a language that sounded neither German, Spanish nor English. I felt go...

 Over the past seven days, Ellen and I have spent more time on buses than most Canadians do in their entire lives. Ellen wanted to fly from the city of David, Panama to Managua, Nicaragua. The cost was $273.00. "But we won't see the people, experience the flair," I said. She relented and is now resting irritably in our room in the beautiful old Spanish colonial town of Granada. I hope she feels better when she wakes up.  The kooky thing about flying down ...

 On December 20th 1989, The United States invaded Panama using planes, tanks and over 25,000 troops. Their objective was to bring former CIA operative, then Panamanian President Manuel Noriega to justice for his involvement in drug trafficking with the Colombians. And they of course wanted to restore democracy in the beleaguered nation. Noriega sought asylum in the Vatican embassy in Panama City. The Americans installed loudspeakers outside the embassy and playe...