In part five of his Via PanAm project – a personal mission to travel the Pan-American Highway from Chile to Alaska – photojournalist and Nikon user Kadir van Lohuizen details his journey through Central America as he takes in the sights of Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Getting from Colombia to Panama is no easy feat; it’s the only stretch in the continent where there is no Pan-American highway. Known as the (now infamous) ‘Darien Gap’, it’s the territory of the paramilitary and the guerilla. Obviously as a photojournalist you have to take risks, but they are based on the advice from people that are knowledgeable in that area and in this case it’s a definite no go for me. This means a long boat ride along the Caribbean coast into Kuna Yala, the land of the Kuna indigenous. They live in an archipelago consisting of 365 islands; it looks like paradise.
My equipment is having a hard time. It is incredibly humid and being on a small open boat at sea might affect my cameras. But they do well and keep functioning; the new cameras are really well sealed. The sad story is that the Kunas have to evacuate, starting from next year. The rising sea level makes it too dangerous to live here.
When I start working I encounter a problem: many people ask for money to be photographed. In (photo) journalism, the general rule is never to pay the people in your images. You take time to explain why you are there and what you are doing, usually then it’s okay. If you pay there is a risk that you distort reality, because people will do something, which they otherwise might not do.
I am looking for images which show how close the water is to the people, not hard to imagine that a small storm will create serious flooding.
Nikon D700, Lens 17-35mm f2.8 at 32mm, f8, 1/125, ISO250
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
The next part of my trip takes in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, which is a 15 hour bus ride from Panama. It’s small, but according to statistics, has the highest percentage of immigrants in the world – many of whom are from Nicaragua.
Nikon D700, 17-35mm f2.8 at 22mm, 1/600, f2.8, ISO250
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
I think it will be interesting to follow two Nicaraguan families who live in Costa Rica and when I am in Nicaragua I will find the family who still lives there. I believe this to be the most interesting approach because I can show where people came from and understand more of the reasons for people to migrate.
Having said that, to find a family who is willing to share their stories, allow me to shoot and is prepared to put me in touch with their family in Nicaragua, is obviously another thing…
Again it takes time and patience. But knowing what you want and able to explain gets you very far. In the end luck plays a big role: I was walking in the neighborhood where many Nicaraguans live when I heard a rap song coming from a house. I just asked who was singing and it was a Nicaraguan living close by. Douglas Contreras was my man. A bit of a “cool dude”, he has reformed himself from gang member to now quite famous rapper. In Nicaragua I meet his father:
Nikon D700, 35mm f1.4G, 1/60, f3.5, ISO640
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
It’s strange to be in this part of the continent where countries are suddenly so small. While an advantage is that travel times are a lot shorter, the disadvantage is that I have to plan carefully and timings are very tight which is often not good as a photographer where you want to give yourself as much time as possible!
It’s also a rough area of the world – El Salvador and Honduras rank number one and two in the world for most murders per capita. I am intrigued how Nicaragua can be the most peaceful and El Salvador the most violent country in the region, while they both have similar histories. Well, it sounds like a story to me….. The big difference is that Salvadorians migrated to the US during the war and after, to the extent that one third of its population lives in the US now. But El Salvador has gangs and Nicaragua doesn’t. Gangs that originate from LA and were exported to El Salvador in the early 90s, when the US started deporting Salvadorians after the peace accords were signed. Now the Maras and other gangs are all over and the prisons are overpopulated.
Nikon D700, 17-35mm f2.8 at 35mm, f2.8, 1/500, ISO320
Image © Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR
My next stop will be Guatemala and Mexico through where thousands of people are trying to reach the ‘American dream’ every year….
Kadir’s Via PanAm project is a 10-month, 15-country trip looking at migration in the Americas, and the role it has played in climate change, war and conflict, and economical issues. What do you think of Kadir’s fascinating journey? Do you have any first hand experiences of the countries he’s visited? Make sure you continue to check the blog for updates from his epic journey, featuring still images and videos from this fascinating project. The ‘Via PanAm’ app for the iPad is available in the app store here.
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