Quilalí is a town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Nueva Segovia Department Nueva Segovia () is a department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of 3,491 km2 and has a population of 275,291 (2021 estimate). The capital is Ocotal. History of Las Segovias ''Las Segovias'' is a region encompassed by the five departments o ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

Community Background

Situated in a high mountainous region of

lies Quilalí, the remote, large municipal head in the department of Nueva Segovia. It is 264 km north of Managua and 80 km east of the departmental capitol of

Ocotal Ocotal () is the capital of the Nueva Segovia Department in Nicaragua, Central America and the municipal seat of Ocotal Municipality. History The region currently occupied by the city of Ocotal was occupied by different ethnic groups that had pro ...

. The town has a population of more than 13,000 inhabitants but in the entire municipality itself, there are nearly 30,600 people. The pueblo is made of 17 barrios laid out in a cobblestone grid around a central park and 54 rural communities. The people in Quilalí make their living primarily in basic grains farming (corn and beans) as well as coffee cultivation. In contrast to all its soil riches, the people of Quilalí are poor.

Unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

and

underemployment Underemployment is the underuse of a worker because a job does not use the worker's skills, is part-time, or leaves the worker idle. Examples include holding a part-time job despite desiring full-time work, and overqualification, in which the em ...

are high and continue to grow as the global economic slowdown sinks in deeper. Many people work in the homes of others earning a dollar a day, all that the other families can afford to pay them. Even those with coveted government jobs go months without receiving pay as the government has no money to pay them. Goods are also more costly here than in other parts of the country. The town is isolated from its economically prosperous neighbors by rough terrain including mountains and rivers that swell to overtake the highway during rainy season, making transportation of goods to the town costly. Families also tend to be large. According to the Ministry of Health, nearly twenty percent of the population is made up of women of birthing age. This, among other factors such as job scarcity and lack of culturally appropriate family planning methods, leads many families to have upwards of 5 children with only one parent working. The scarcity also causes many children to quit school early to help their families by finding whatever small jobs they can. Not all families in Quilalí suffer. The people who belong to the national ruling government party, the

Sandinistas The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto Cé ...

, have more opportunities for employment. This is important because the local ruling government party in Quilalí is the

Constitutionalist Liberal Party (Nicaragua) The Constitutionalist Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) is a political party in Nicaragua. At the Nicaraguan general election of 5 November 2006, the party won 25 of 92 seats in the National Assembly. However, the pa ...

. This means the local government provides jobs to one political party, while the national government provides jobs for the other. It also makes Quilalí one of the only towns where Sandinistas do not control local politics. This fact is due to the memory by most inhabitants of Quilali of the savagery of Sandino and his troops during their existence in the 1930s.

Festivals

Quilalí celebrates all the Nicaraguan holidays as well as some uniquely Quilalí events. As with all Nicaraguan cities, they celebrate their

Patron Saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...

in March 19. For the week before the 19th and the weekend afterwards, the town celebrates with pilgrimages to communities within Quilalí as well as the traditional hípica, or horse parade, which is traditionally held the Sunday after the 19th. Bull rings, Ferris wheels, and makeshift bars are all common sights at the Quilalí fairgrounds around the 19th. Another Quilalí celebration takes place in the largest rural community within the municipality, San Bartolo. San Bartolo hosts the annual Corn Festival, where all things corn are celebrated, including tamales, puddings and of course, corn alcohol. All these foods are found for sale by local cooks and are judged by two or more judges (this fellow Peace Corps volunteer included). The alcohol tends to be judged by all willing male participants. The festival also features floats prepared by the local high school, a soccer tournament, and a dance benefiting the graduating class.

Climate

Sports

Baseball is also widely popular, especially during the Quilalí Municipal Championships.

Twin towns – sister cities

Quilalí is twinned with: *

Salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

, Spain * South Haven, United States

Gallery

File:Corn field in San Bartolo.jpg, A corn field in a rural community of Quilalí. File:Coffee Plant near the Quilalí - San Juan del Río Coco border.jpg, A farmer on his small coffee farm in the highlands of Quilalí File:Main Street into town, Quilalí, Nicaragua..jpg, Main Street into town during Fiestas Patronales. File:Judging the Nacatamales at the Corn Festival..jpg, Judging the Nacatamales at the San Bartolo Corn Festival 2010. File:2011 Municipal Baseball Champions.jpg, 2011 Municipal Baseball Champions, Los Primos. File:A bar at the Fiestas Patronales..jpg, A makeshift bar at the plaza during Fiestas Patronales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quilali Municipalities of the Nueva Segovia Department