When C. Columbus first made landfall on the American continent he was
welcomed by the Miskito indians who live on the Atlantic coast of Honduras
and Nicaragua. Had he come with good intentions he might have
experienced their generous " latwan laka ", which means love and friendship
in Miskito.
Since the Spaniards had blown their chance looking only for "gul"
and "daimans" and bringing "siknis" but no "daktars", it were "inglis"
English pirates some decennia later hiding at the "ki's" small islands, who
established friendly relations with the coastal Miskito communities, with
sometimes desastrous consequences to the "ispail" Spanish fleet.
The language is still spoken by the people, on "satadi" and "sandi" sermons
at protestant church services are held by the "separd" pastor in "miskitu".
They pray to " holi gad" and "kraist" ,god and Christ, using a translation
of the German Luther "baibil" bible.
There are newspapers,radio and merengue-cd's in Miskito, too!
Miskitia was granted regional autonomy after the Contra - war by the
central "gabamint" in Managua. After all the bad news
of indigenous languages and cultures disappearing in North and South "Miriki"
America - here's the the good news:  Miskito language and culture are
prospering! Many words concerning religion, seafaring, the calendar ecc.
have been taken from the English language during the long time
of contact with the pirates. These are now completely felt as
their own, though it takes still more than one word to express what an
iceberg is: "Ais (ice) walpaya tarkatara kabu nanira aipaski bara ya ba".


yours with latwan laka,

T.K. Eppen