Xtra News, New Zealand
Resting his work-worn hands on a marble headstone, Nicaraguan caretaker Charly Thomas points to the epitaph of an American sailor who died in the Caribbean port of Greytown in the 1850s.
Set in deep swamp forest 310 miles (496 km) southeast of Managua, the grave of Ordinary Seaman John Burgess is one of scores of tombs of long-forgotten European and American adventurers from the twilight years of the British Mosquito Coast protectorate which have recently been rediscovered.
More than two decades after Greytown was destroyed by fire during the Central American nation's civil conflict of the 1980s, the Nicaraguan government is seeking to reclaim the ghost town's four wrought iron-bordered cemeteries from the jungle and have them declared a national heritage site. The effort is partly aimed at helping attract tourists to the remote area.
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