San Juan del Sur and the Accidental Pilgrimage

Somewhere very far west and very far south from where most of you are there is a giant statue of Jesus, robed in white and missing his middle finger, pointing out over the little boat speckled bay of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

 

To reach El Cristo, it’s a steep cobbled climb in a neighbourhood of bright vacation rentals and strangely empty upper class houses. It was only after we had wheezed our way to the top, having taken wrong turns, false miradors and dodging dying dirtbikes (the girls turned down a ride in a smoke-spewing two-seater dune buggy) and paid our entrance fee (Oops… didn’t really think that one through too well) that we realized that the giant statue has a hollow base. Half church, the other half home a family of caretakers… Of course, this is Nicaragua, why wouldn’t there be a family living inside the giant statue of Jesus? The children were obviously used to a perpetual flow of tourists and Nicaraguans, following us around making it clear where we could and could not tread; either because it was holy ground, or because it was their house and patio. A barefoot toddler kept telling us “Allí NO” (“not over there”) accompanied by the customary, solemn finger wag.

From the top you can see for a long way up the coastline of Nicaragua and down past the last few Nicaraguan bays towards Costa Rica. It was worth the half hour climb, and I guess all that beauty inspired us to try our hand – and poses – at modelling.  You’ll see how it turned out below ;)

My own personal inspiration, well I guess it just flows from the surroundings, something about the ambiance of the bay, maybe the green grass or the boats below, this pose just called out to me...