landing in a strange place
and the first moments on the ground
where its all news

adrenalin junkies rejoice!

managua

nicagua

next to hati, the poorest in the hemisphere
my companion freaked at the chaos, the density
the hustle
me?
well i arose in the new jersy metro plex..so....what was the problem?

our fabulous couch surf hook up, arlen, (pic) came to get us
and i sat in the back seat banging away shooting out the window (pic) as the rain blasted down on the
"chaos" outside
donkeys and carts in the captial city! (pic)
seriously good graffiti (pic)

a crash couurse on nica political history
basically same shit different country:
us imperialism (can`t believe they don`t hate us!)
homicidal dictators of various stripe
more us imperialism and c.i.a. interference
earthquake break (1972)
more of the same
sandino the hero (pic), a paisan
later co-opted by the sandinistas
who have now become the problem instead of the solution

went to the hilltop palace (pic) where the powerful
hung out
saw the torture chambers (pic)
and the huge monument to sandino (pic)

willie walker!
dude from the u.s.
went down in 1830 (?) with a small army
declared himself the king of nica
unbelievable but true
look it up!

we go to the big market next day
which is also the bus depot
here it comes...
the usual dilemma for me
what to photo/how to photo
and not be gulty of insult, agression and cliche? (pics)

plus i`m reading greil marcus` lipstick traces
about the tie in between punk, as represented by sex pistols, and the lettrists/situationists and dada
all presented as "secret hsitory of the 20th century"
so...there is "holiday in the sun" a pistols song
that goes:
"a cheap holiday in other people`s misery"
...."i don`t want a holiday in the sun"...."i want to go to the new Belsen"

so there it is
what am i doing here?
should have a vacation in my own ghetto
and now that i`m here
is there anyway way to photograph and write
that isn`t horrible, imperialist, and lame?
hmmmmm........