Karen asked me if I wanted to see the cemetery for the town on the end of our bike tour. Sure, I said, why not? The cemeteries are much more ornate here, with homemade flower arrangements, hand-painted signs and bright colors that personalize the tombstones. Very affluent families have tombs in the shape of a house. Others are crosses made of pipe or wood with simple, hand-painted name signs and the date of their loved one's passing. We stop at her uncle's grave and she shows me the stone. He was a Sandinista and died fighting in the war in El Sauce. The city, she says, is still recovering from the war. There used to be a lot of commerce here. As a tourist you can embed yourself in the remotest of communities but you are so often an observer. Karen and the tour guides share their community with us.
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