by Derek A Parent
Edward Teach (Blackbeard), Francois L'Ollonais and Captain Edward Mansfield are among the most notoriously brutal pirates who plundered and scuttled many a Spanish ship along the Caribbean coast of Central America during the 17th &18th centuries. 
Numerous lagoons, river mouths and natural canals along the densely forested Mosquito Coast of Honduras and Nicaragua provided buccaneers and pirates a perfectly secure refuge to split their booty. Large Spanish war ships refused to pursue pirates here, and chance the insidious winds, shallow waters or an ambush. La Mosquitia is a region in Central America which includes the Departments of Gracias A Dios in Honduras (16630 sq. kms) and "Zelaya" in Nicaragua (36026 sq. kms) all totaled, some 500 kilometers of untouched Caribbean shoreline, 22 lagoons and 19 major rivers. An area larger than Costa Rica and more than twice the size of Belize.
There are no roads leading into La Mosquitia, no electricity (other than the occasional gasoline generator), no telephones and no banks. With the population density of La Mosquitia at 3 people per sq km (as of 1990), it is one of the least densely populated areas in the Americas. This region affords the true ecotourist an incredible abundance and diversity of flora and fauna, indigenous cultures and archaeological remains unsurpassed in Central America. Some historians speculate that the name "Mosquitia" was given to the region by British buccaneers and corsairs who first settled there in the early part of the 17th century. One theory is that Miskito peoples who inhabit the region assimilated English words into their vocabulary and the name "Miskito" is a variation of the English musket. By the end of the 19th century, the Spaniards gained control of The Mosquito Shore from the British and renamed it La Mosquitia.
Limon, Honduras
My watch was showing 3:30 a.m., only one hour before La Michanisia departed from its nest hidden in the mangrove swamp, to sail the 70 or so kilometers east along the pristine, untouristed Caribbean coast from Limon, Honduras to our first destination on t he Mosquito Coast: Laguna Ibans. I rolled over, trying to shake off the sleep induced stupor I was in, and anticipated the start of my fifth expedition into the remote and isolated region of La Mosquitia. During the previous two days' journey by bus from my home base, in the mountain village of Santa Rosa de Copan, to the north coast Garifuna village of Limon, I attracted a ragtag group of fearless travellers. Marc, an anthropology student, Steve and his companion Maria from Spain and Clemens, a translator r from Germany. Fortunately, all were seasoned travellers, conditioned to the unrelenting tropical heat and humidity and had developed cast iron digestive tracts fortified by weeks of previous travel in Central America.
They had one interest in common: to venture into the mysterious Mosquitia and visit the 1,299,506-acre rain forest, Rio Platano Biosphere by dugout canoe. Mine was to reach the village of Brus, in Laguna Brus, then visit Cayo Cañón -Cannon Cay. A tiny tropical island paradise harbored in the vast expanse of brackish lagoon, surrounded by virgin rain forest. Richard Thomas, a Texan with Caribbean Adventure Tours, was putting the finishing touches on the regions first eco-adventure camp. I rolled out of bed, slung on my pack, rounded up my four travel companions and sleepily hit the trail in pitch blackness towards our "bote ", on the other side of Limon. I had no difficulty in finding it as I had made this same trip three months earlier. The Michanisia is a 40 foot wooden cargo boat used to transport food, supplies, rum and correspondence to sparsely populated villages doting the isolated Mosquito Coast.
By 5:30 am we were chugging through a break in the sand bar, into the calm emerald green Caribbean sea heading towards the rising sun on a cloudless morning. The Michanesia is one of the cargo boats run by Limon resident, Teddy Goff, who admits that he's a little old now to be captaining.
Punta de Piedra
It was almost 9:00 a.m. when Ray our captain, cut the engine and dropped anchor. We bobbed about 100 meters offshore from the charming palm lined village of Punta de Piedra, a Garifuna community made up of a smattering of palapas (bamboo & grass huts) and brightly painted dugout canoes lined up neatly under the tropical verdure. We watched as some village boys raced down to a dugout and furiously paddled out to us, skillfully cutting through foaming breakers, eager to retrieve cargo and passengers.
Copyright 1996. LatinWorld Magazine Content is Produced By Netpoint Communications, producers of the LatinWorld Directory. All original articles and photographs published in LatinWorld Magazine are protected by international copyright law. Reproduction, in whole or in part without prior written permission, is strictly prohibited Miami, Florida, USA. 
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