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Photography of Nicaragua

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In January of 2004, I visited the Managua region of Nicaragua with the Agros Foundation, an non-profit organization that exists to restore hope and opportunity to the world's poor. Agros works to help rural poor families in developing countries break free from poverty by helping them acquire land, build village infrastructure, develop as individuals, create strong community organizations, and develop economic capacity.

Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. It's bordered to the north by Honduras, to the south by Costa Rica, to the east by the Caribbean Sea and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. The country has three distinct geographic regions: the Pacific lowlands, the north-central mountains and the Caribbean lowlands, also called the Mosquito Coast or Mosquitía. The fertile Pacific lowlands are interrupted by about 40 volcanoes, and dominated by Lago de Nicaragua, which is the largest lake in Central America. The Mosquito Coast is a sparsely populated rainforest area and the outlet for many of the large rivers originating in the central mountains. To date, 17% of the country has been given national-park status.

Nicaragua is best known not for its landscape or cultural treasures, but for Contra war, in which the people rose up in hope only to be derailed by US-orchestrated interference. Since then, widespread privatization and deregulation have left much of the country unemployed or in a state of shock. The good news is that throughout this period human rights have largely been respected and the country's battles are now confined to the political arena.