El Ostional

El Ostional is a coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in the municipality of San Juan del Sur and Rivas department in south-west Nicaragua.

Its inhabitants, living by the Pacific Ocean with seasonal flowing rivers and tributaries, are engaged in artisanal fisheries and agriculture, thus solving their basic food needs, work and other tasks.

A disadvantage is deeply felt, that as a community that is adjacent to neighboring Costa Rica, families migrate there in search of work to improve their living conditions.

[3] and consequently nearby the location for Survivor: Worlds Apart Upon arrival of the colonizers, Rivas territory was occupied by the Nicarao (or speakers of Nahoa, the Nahuatl language) from San Juan Soconusco, Mexico.

Greater Nicoya, a sub-area archaeological culture, includes all or part of Matagalpa, Chontales, Boaco, Esteli, Chinandega, León, Managua, Carazo, Granada, Masaya, Rivas and Guanacaste in Costa Rica, bordered to the north by the Gulf of Fonseca, east shores of the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, and the extreme south eastern volcanic range of Guanacaste where "(the) elements of subsistence (were) also based on agriculture, but with a high percentage of exploitation of marine resources and coastal basic settlements".

[4] In the indigenous cemetery, discovered by chance in the year 1995, when some armadillo hunters found pieces of ancient pottery in a burrow, were found later buried human remains, sitting on stone metate or within crocks with objects such as necklaces of white, black and green beads and some with jade figurines were common in the "southern sector (of Greater Nicoya and gave) the use of jade as a status symbol, metallurgy, ceramics slip salmon ... " and within the stonework noteworthy as markers of elite production metates and heads of non-utilitarian hub.

[9] According to the classification of Holdridge life zones, natural vegetation of San Juan del Sur is tropical dry forest (in the coastal area of low elevation).

In the land there are approximately about 180 species of wild vertebrates, mostly birds, followed by small mammals and reptiles; identified are: possum, aardvark, bush pig, pisote, bat, howler monkey, spider monkey, white-headed capuchin, tayra, ocelot, agouti paca, puma, jaguar, white tail deer, black iguana, green iguana, snakes, boa constrictor, weasel, armadillo, three-toed sloth, owl, woodpecker, oriole, parrot, magpie, rook, pelican and swallowtail butterfly.

[12] Some of the predominant sea fauna include octopus, shark, caiman, varied species of crabs, slugs, oysters, olive ridley turtle, and a variety of seabirds such as gulls.

After Hurricane Mitch some environmental problems sharpened, generating vulnerability scenarios mainly due to deteriorating watershed by the lack of vegetation and the occupation of land or very low slopes very pronounced for housing.

An example of this is the disappearance of the shell lobsters and reducing the arrival of turtles, product exploitation and for non-compliance of the moratorium, which now continues to threaten colorful fish and rays that are exported without control.

Also, improper practices at artisanal fisheries affect the damage to these marine species, for example, using trammel net many pieces get stuck on rocks and corals, causing useless fish kills.

[18] On the beach there are varieties of species of crustaceans and shellfish such as crabs, starfish, jellyfish, snails, turtles and seabirds, but these have decreased by human action, among which the dumping of solid waste and to overuse of trade and consumption.