The Bands Have Arrived

An unexpected perk to buying real estate in Nicaragua is the omnipresent music. In Nicaragua music enhances everything and loud music REALLY enhances everything.

Purisma is the celebration of Mary in December. Each day the statue of the Virgin Mary to carried from the church to a different barrio accompanied by a marching band. Each evening Mary is carried back to church, accompanied by a marching band.

The week before Christmas a "rumored to be tipsy" marching band travels through the village at 5AM calling parishioners to a 6AM mass. After every funeral, friends and family make a slow procession through the village following a horse pulled wagon carrying the casket of their loved one, accompanied by.....you guessed it....a marching band.

A child's birthday party is not complete without a pinata and a marching band, which in this case is mostly a standing band.

The other day a followed the sounds of a marching band only to discover an entire marching band sitting in the front sala of a very small house. It was crazy loud on the street and I couldn't imagine the sound levels in the sweltering home.

I have been in San Juan del Sur on and off for just more than 2 years and I haven't lost the child-like excitement of hearing a marching band. I regularly hear the strains of a trumpet a few blocks away and follow the sound until I find the raison d'etre of the marching band.

The bands that arrived last night aren't really bands at all. They are 15 foot speakers which line the beach, pumping out pop music accompanied by a massive drum track that just might re-set a pacemaker. And in Nicaragua, if it ain't loud, it ain't good! I could hear the thumping until 4AM and I expect I will hear it every night until January 1st. I live 2 blocks back from the beach so it isn't very disturbing for me. Beach front denizens must be going insane or perhaps they are visiting their friends who bought real estate in the foothills overlooking San Juan del Sur.

For some cool pictures of some of the celebrations that take place in Nicaragua in December check out: http://www.vianica.com/go/specials/8-december-celebrations-nicaragua.html