lucrative beachcombing
February 10, 2008 10:08 PM   Subscribe

Catch of the day: Cocaine. Bluefields, Nicaragua. People here don't have to work. Every week, sometimes every day, 35kg sacks of cocaine drift in from the sea. The economy of this entire town of 50,000 tranquil souls is addicted to cocaine.

Island for sale in Bluefields.
posted by nickyskye (30 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Apparently this is a double, alas. -- cortex



 
Uh, yeah.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:10 PM on February 10, 2008


And that one for sale, its not exactly in Bluefields.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:12 PM on February 10, 2008


*sigh
posted by nickyskye at 10:12 PM on February 10, 2008


Think your choices don't affect others far away from you? Think again.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:24 PM on February 10, 2008


The ad for the island lists itself as Island For Sale in Bluefields, Nicaragua :: ISLAND for SALE - Caribbean Nicaragua - $360,000 - House included. In the ad itself it says located 1hr 20 min South of Bluefields. I guess Bluefield is the only town it's near.
posted by nickyskye at 10:29 PM on February 10, 2008


Thanks nickyskye. I missed this the first time around and found it an interesting read.
posted by wfrgms at 10:29 PM on February 10, 2008


Thanks for saying that wfrgms.
posted by nickyskye at 10:34 PM on February 10, 2008


hammock- infested... just liked the sound of that
posted by hortense at 10:41 PM on February 10, 2008


This is very similar in some ways to the island nation of Nauru. Enriched with valuable phosphate deposits, the people that lived on the island had basically no need to work. Naturally, they blew threw their natural resources and now have basically nothing resembling a functioning economy. The island produces virtually nothing while drinking and obesity run rampant. 90% of their population is unemployed and they survive off foreign aid.

It is remarkable how little human beings will accomplish without impetus. Some may dream of a utopia where needs are satisfied without effort and people are free to create and do as they please. Bluefields and Nauru seem to indicate that, when given significant amounts of unrestrained time, most people just want to sit on their ass and get drunk.
posted by christonabike at 10:48 PM on February 10, 2008


I missed this the first time around and found it an interesting read.
Ditto.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:53 PM on February 10, 2008


God forbid we legalize drugs in this country. Drug gangs in South and Central America would go caput. Civil wars would peter out for lack of funds. The thugs would have to, like, get jobs and stuff.
posted by Afroblanco at 10:55 PM on February 10, 2008


Last Post?
posted by spiderskull at 11:06 PM on February 10, 2008


most people just want to sit on their ass and get drunk

picture's a bit more complex than that. It really helps to have goals, available capital -- fiscal and social -- to utilize, a roadmap to follow, etc.

I can understand why people in BFE isolation don't become Bootstrap Supercapitalists.

it is interesting how little one actually needs to get by in this world. 90% of the crap I get is for intellectual development and work, but if I had 40 plants in the basement and a TV perhaps that's all I would need.
posted by panamax at 11:07 PM on February 10, 2008 [2 favorites]


If I ever get diagnosed with something rapidly and certainly terminal, to heck with hospitals: I'm going there and having me a deathwatch party.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:07 PM on February 10, 2008


Thanks, nickyskye. I missed it the first time around too.
posted by amyms at 11:22 PM on February 10, 2008


Think your choices don't affect others far away from you? Think again.

You mean our choice to flush billions of dollars down the toilet fighting ann unwinnable war on drugs?
posted by empath at 11:33 PM on February 10, 2008


Have they considered tourism?
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:36 PM on February 10, 2008


Saw it the first time, see merit in it being posted again. More detail, moar links. I want someone to do a "Rise of the Slime" retrospective, but not enough time right now. Someone also ought to catch us up with Anonymous' war on Scientology. Again, I have some idea, but huge time, lack of...
posted by Cathedral at 11:42 PM on February 10, 2008


Wow, I remember hearing about this town from a Geography prof of mine who was down on the coast doing participatory mapping. Craziness.
posted by yuletide at 12:02 AM on February 11, 2008


If the coke is washing up on that island too, and you knew how to move kilos of coke, that $360,000 sounds like a good investment.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 12:05 AM on February 11, 2008


I taught a guy from Bluefields. I was surprised to hear that this little section of Nicaragua is native English speaking. Originally an English colony. Guys from here were also a significant part of the Contras.
posted by Meatbomb at 12:43 AM on February 11, 2008


I wish I could snort this FPP.

Would that be rude?
posted by Skygazer at 1:37 AM on February 11, 2008


Not to derail, but christonabike mentions Nauru having no viable economy. Even sadder is a few years ago Australia's conservative party cut a deal with them to jail immigrants seeking refugee status in Oz, to allow the government to escape their international obligations to under the UN refugee agreement.
See - if the refugees get picked up by the coast guard or navy and are taken to Nauru they never make it to Australia, so we can deny them their legal avenue.
Fortunately, for those who see this as duplicitous, the new Australian government recently closed this set up down. But not before I saw at least one local guard complaining the offshore jail was his meal ticket and it made up 10% of the island economy.
Since it has since gone quiet, I imagine the new government upped aid to Nauru somewhat.
posted by bystander at 2:59 AM on February 11, 2008


nickyskye - I wasn't trying to be a dick in pointing out the double, I've actually come to see the value in people pointing them out to have them cleaned up. I read this article about 24 hours before you posted it and something in my head said "this would be great on the blue" and then something else said "I think it might already be there."

So, I went, I searched, and lo and behold. Hence, I didn't post.

I realize that a lot of people didn't catch it the first time around, but that is why we have archives. I've posted stuff myself before that was a double, I got many people thanking me for re-posting cause they missed the first go round, but in retrospect - I'm glad my double got ganked in the end. It contributes to the long-term benefit of the site to all its users.
posted by allkindsoftime at 3:33 AM on February 11, 2008


when given significant amounts of unrestrained time, most people just want to sit on their ass and get drunk.

you say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by jonmc at 5:12 AM on February 11, 2008


> The economy of this entire town of 50,000 tranquil souls is addicted to cocaine.

"Tranquil"?
posted by ardgedee at 5:20 AM on February 11, 2008


: : : notes future vacation spot : : :
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:23 AM on February 11, 2008


This is very similar in some ways to the island nation of Nauru. Enriched with valuable phosphate deposits, the people that lived on the island had basically no need to work.

Cocaine is a renewable resource.

It is remarkable how little human beings will accomplish without impetus. Some may dream of a utopia where needs are satisfied without effort and people are free to create and do as they please. Bluefields and Nauru seem to indicate that, when given significant amounts of unrestrained time, most people just want to sit on their ass and get drunk.

What's wrong with that? A society where 90% of the people sit on their ass and get drunk is better then a society where 90% of the people work miserable jobs they hate, come home and watch TV for a few hours and go to sleep.

The fetishization of busywork is one of the more ridiculous features of capitalist societies.
posted by delmoi at 6:18 AM on February 11, 2008 [1 favorite]


I spent this past Christmas on Big Corn Island, which is a 15 minute fight from Bluefields. At just over 90km from San Andreas, Columbia, it is not too surprising that speed boats laden with coke stop just off the Corn Islands for fuel.

Fishermen go out every day to catch lobster, and it's very very easy for one with a radio and a GPS unit to meet up with a drug-running speedboat at a pre-determined location. It takes just a few mintues to exchange fuel and food for coke/money. No one is the wiser, and the fisherman comes home with a bit of cash.

There were several big money men on the island, driving fancy cars, with beach-front property guarded by men with machine guns. It seemed to be well known by the locals that these were drug men.

The locals mentioned that the US Coast Guard had a ship patrolling in the area, and that speedboats would dump their cargo with some regularity.

While I was there, the word was that a man found 100KG on the beach just half a mile from where I was staying. It seemed that he didn't do the best job of keeping it secret, and once he was flush with new money, the police arrested him.

I was told this is a fairly regular thing - and that the police supplement their meager wages by shaking down anyone who has hit the coke jackpot.

The area is beautiful - fantastic beaches, nice people, and really amazing rum. At just $10 per day for a room on the beach, food and alcohol (and about $75 each way to Managua from Florida on Spirit Air), Nicaragua is a fantastic tourist destination for the backpacker.

Oh - and people are really really low pressure about the coke. I was offered it twice during the whole 30 days I was there, and that was it. I politely declined, and on one occasion, the would-be drug dealer gave me a free coconut after I declined his primary product.
posted by genome4hire at 6:40 AM on February 11, 2008


It's famously known that people who don't use cocaine love coconuts.
posted by baphomet at 7:00 AM on February 11, 2008


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