Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ERNESTO CARDENAL & REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE
As a poet, his subject matter ranges from theoretical physics to Marilyn Monroe; as a sculptor,
from the creatures of the jungle to the life of Christ. A Trappist monk originally committed to
nonviolence, Ernesto Cardenal (see
www.ernestocardenal.org,
in Spanish) came to fully support
the Sandinista-led revolution, by any means necessary. He was Nicaragua's original liberation
theologian, the revolutionary government's Minister of Culture, but has since fallen out with his
former bosses.
When Cardenal arrived in Solentiname in 1966, he found a community all but forgotten by the
modern world, impoverished and poorly educated, but where a special wisdom had been born.
Cardenal helped erect the islands' first simple adobe church, where he gave Mass. Here, the
people of Solentiname interpreted the scripture through their own eyes and lives, a living word of
Christ, which Cardenal recorded and published as
El Evangelio de Solentiname
(Gospel of
Solentiname). It would later be rendered in song by legendary artist Carlos Mejía Godoy as
La
Misa Campesina
(Peasants' Mass).
One day, a grateful islander named Eduardo Arana presented Cardenal with an elaborately dec-
orated jícara shell, which impressed the priest into giving the young man paints and a canvas.
Those first few paintings launched Nicaragua's Primitivist art movement, internationally recog-
nized for the vibrant colors and expert lines that capture this tropical paradise. One artist, Ufredo
Argüello, began applying the same saturation of color to balsa-wood carvings, which also caught
on.
Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, families worked together painting and sculpting,
sending their work to market in Managua. There, trouble was brewing, and even this peaceful
haven could not isolate itself. In October 1977, inspired by Cardenal, the islands rebelled; retribu-
tion by the Guardia Nacional was swift and complete. Solentiname was abandoned and Cardenal
was denounced as an outlaw.
When the Sandinistas took power in 1979, however, they appointed Cardenal Minister of Cul-
ture, a position he used for almost a decade to successfully preserve and enrich Nicaraguan arts
and folklore. These days he's even fallen out of favor with the Sandinistas, after he criticized
front man Daniel Ortega's 'Stalinist' control of the party, but at 88, he still works and travels.
And when he grows tired of his wandering, this is where he returns. Islanders point out the tidy
wooden house with pride, saying simply 'that's where Ernesto Cardenal comes to write.'
Isla Mancarrón
This island feels small because residents, guests and commerce converge on a rather
slender slice of land that includes the harbor and the village. But hike the muddy trails,
which traverse these jungled hills, and you'll quickly notice that the island is deceptively
large, sprawling into the azure lake and forming a succession of sheltered coves. The ex-
