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