Photos Around El Viejo, Nicaragua

(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

El Viejo is a small and quite old town very close to Chinandega. We sometimes passed through the town on our way to or from Chinandega, if our driver Luis had any business to conduct there on behalf of the marina.



This street passed between the basilica and the Central Parque and on through a small market area.









Many of the side streets were either not paved or only partly so.












A couple of local pedestrians.










Time to go home after school.










Laundry day in Nicaragua seems to be seven days a week. Whenever we were out and about or going to or from Chinandega, we would always see the lady of the house at the homes we passed, or one of her daughters, with her hands in the huge outdoor concrete sink and scrub board set up, hand washing the family’s clothing. This back yard was in El Viejo. We also saw the same scene repeated many times over in the rural areas.




The essential domestic equipment can be seen in this campesino home. The well can be seen in the centre of the photo, with its hand pump. Often, the outhouse was on the property, not too far from the well. Behind the well in the photo is a woman at an outdoor laundry sink – a common sight.


This photo of a field of sugar cane was taken on our drive back to the marina. It shows, as in the name of the rum, the flor de caña, the flower of the sugar cane, in bloom.






There is no such thing in Central America as an overloaded bus. If there’s no room inside, you just hang onto the outside.








We frequently encountered cattle drives on the dirt road to and from the marina. Horses and pigs also wandered about randomly.