Eco-Cultural-Travel

Miskitu Coast of Honduras: Village Life in Tide-Flooded Kruta

Written by Jack Eidt on November 2, 2013

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On a 2013 trip to the Kruta River near Cape Gracias a Dios on the Miskitu Coast of Caribbean Honduras and the Nicaraguan Border, life without roads and little electricity proceeds slowly, detached from the world at large. As sea levels rise, already economically-marginalized coastal villages in the mangrove swamps are slowly being inundated by the rising tides.

mangrove, La Mosquitia, Honduras, Miskito Indians — The afternoon high tide inundates the village of Kruta, set on the edge of Cape Gracias a Dios in La Moskitia, Honduras. As sea levels rise, coastal villages like Kruta will continue to deal with wading through water to get to their homes. Photo By Jack Eidt.

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Rio Kruta, Miskitu Village, Miskito Indians — Set along the Rio Kruta, on the Miskitu Coast of Honduras, a few kilometers upriver from the Caribbean, Kruta moves as slow as the flow of the river. Photo By Jack Eidt.

Rio Kruta, La Mosquitia, Honduras, fishing, Caribbean Sea, Miskito People — The morning’s catch of robalo from the Caribbean, on a dock on the Kruta River. Photo By Jack Eidt.

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Rio Kruta, La Moskitia, La Mosquitia, Honduras, Miskito People — The dock on the Rio Kruta moves fast in the morning, as they just swam the horse across the river, wood piled for cooking fires, gill nets used to catch fish in the river, despite the risks to the ecosystem and navigation. And finally, notice the outhouse on the edge of the dock, where boys were spotted playing cards the other night. Photo By Jack Eidt.

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Miskito People, La Moskitia, Honduras, Rio Kruta — Little Miskitu friends from the village of Kruta. Photo By Jack Eidt.

Kruta, Miskito Indians, Honduras — Houses are raised on stilts, above the daily flow of the waters, and the children run free and happy through the mud. Photo By Jack Eidt.

Miskitu society, Honduras, Miskito Indians — While women have challenges earning a living in Miskitu society, Willbania pictured here has a burgeoning pulperia, or store, that also serves as a hub of activity in the afternoon. Her house, like many others, is slowly being encroached upon by the rising seas. Photo By Jack Eidt.

Kruta, Miskitu People, Miskito Indians, Honduras, La Mosquitia — Though life seems simple and uncomplicated in villages like Kruta, the lack of economic options, the degradations of the lobster fisheries and generally available seafood, has caused much of the youth to either move away or enlist with the expanding drug trade. Hence, there is a strange proliferation of US dollars. Photo By Jack Eidt.

Updated 11 October 2021

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