Landing in Nicaragua: flying in from Miami, the area before landing Nicaragua was real dark. Managua the city itself was surprisingly illuminated, much like the Bay Area. There were many state of the art looking stadiums with games being played - it is a very modern looking city from the sky. Weird colored trees were evenly spaced on their main road kind of making it look like something out of Willy Wonka. The airport itself was real dark, surprisingly unlit.
Exiting the plane, The airport smelt like freshly turned dirt much like Africa. Inside the airport it reminded me of the Middle East. Kind of like a rural Mexico town I suppose- nothing like resorts or tourist areas in Cancun. Traffic was interesting, I saw a worker in the back of a cargo van with the doors open and a very weird ghostly looking horse running full speed pulling a run down cart on the main drag. Bikes everywhere just like Africa. Shanti type walls line the main strip. I can't help but wonder what the nice neighborhoods look like and hope I'm not in it. I can definitely see how crime happens here.
The drive from the airport was very Africa like. It was just like Bangui but maybe a few years ahead. The impression I got from the airplane either lied or I'm in a bad neighborhood. The excitement I had to check this city out is quieting. The hustle of taxi drivers at the airport was real when negotiating prices, they kept promising safety- which was the word to say, and I paid the $20. I withdrew 300 of whatever the local currency is as the max option on the ATM was 800 and I didn't want to have much cash on me. The receipt said I had a hundred thousand local currency so math tells me it's around 33 to one the driver said 29.something to 1... that means I paid $3 for a water as they charged me 90 local currency- SFO prices.
The people look similar but the infrastructure is just way different than home.
Just to double check the taxi driver does not do anything shady I set my route on gps kit and marked the airport. I don't have wifi so satellite and gps comes in very handy while traveling. I checked in with the embassy and signed up for their email distribution prior to landing as well for safety.
20 minutes into my ride we've headed due west and now curved south. I have not seen a nice hotel yet and only one or two nice cars (newer hyundais). This place is very rough looking. I saw a Pharaohs casino near the airport and asked if it was popular, of course it was. I'm glad I have no interest in those anymore (not that it looked that great).
A semi truck was flipped in a main intersection with some kind of feed or dirt dumped in the road. What a mess that will be to clean up. I'm starting to see yards with very intimidating fences around them and sharp pointy blades at the top. Just saw my first Pizza Hut and now starting to see developed buildings. 40 minutes into the taxi ride. I can see what they meant when they said $20.
I've arrived at the hostel, it is 7 miles from the airport and the taxi driver took me straight here. It is by all Nicaraguan standards a really nice place. I have just one roommate and she is not in. The guard opened the gate for me and asked if my name was Kenneth. The hostel hostess was Fabiola and she didn't even take any money she said she's closed the systems and there's beers in the fridge grab one and just put money in the jar like an honor system. She said it's safe and I'll be fine to walk around for dinner.
I met my roommate very nice French Canadian from Quebec. She was into country- she didn't like cities. She worked at a skydiving place and dated a deaf skydiver she met there for a year. She had been in the area (ometepe mostly) for three months and was heading home tomorrow. It was nice to talk to her for about thirty minutes and then I had to go find dinner. I also checked my bank statements and it said I withdrew 10.25 with fee included. I definitely kept that withdrawal on the low end.
Dinner was terrible. The "scene" if you will had no foreigners and my Spanish was pushed to the test. I first ordered a burger but didn't know the words for plain. Yuck. Their meat was terrible - I know this but I always forget- meat outside America is just weird. They put all kinds of ketchup and mayo on it, odd garnishes, I took a bite of the little patty they called meat and threw it away. $3 down the drain. Then I went up the street to the nicest looking restaurant and asked the waiter que es tu favorito a comer. My best attempt at breaking down what his favorite thing to eat is. He said pollo tacos. I got them and they were the weirdest tacos I've ever seen. Rock hard with chicken that looked like it was just killed and I don't know how well cooked it was. at that point I realized I'm probably going to get sick here. I could play it safe, but I want to try what the locals eat... even if I'm sick for a few days.
I ate my tacos and thought about heading to a disco. The attitudes of everyone so far were too coarse. I don't feel it... I'm heading home and going to sleep... I will get out of here as fast as possible. I haven't seen too many mosquitos yet, but killed two in the bathroom and one was just on the hunt that crossed my lit screen on the phone as I'm typing this.
Good night from Managua
Exiting the plane, The airport smelt like freshly turned dirt much like Africa. Inside the airport it reminded me of the Middle East. Kind of like a rural Mexico town I suppose- nothing like resorts or tourist areas in Cancun. Traffic was interesting, I saw a worker in the back of a cargo van with the doors open and a very weird ghostly looking horse running full speed pulling a run down cart on the main drag. Bikes everywhere just like Africa. Shanti type walls line the main strip. I can't help but wonder what the nice neighborhoods look like and hope I'm not in it. I can definitely see how crime happens here.
The drive from the airport was very Africa like. It was just like Bangui but maybe a few years ahead. The impression I got from the airplane either lied or I'm in a bad neighborhood. The excitement I had to check this city out is quieting. The hustle of taxi drivers at the airport was real when negotiating prices, they kept promising safety- which was the word to say, and I paid the $20. I withdrew 300 of whatever the local currency is as the max option on the ATM was 800 and I didn't want to have much cash on me. The receipt said I had a hundred thousand local currency so math tells me it's around 33 to one the driver said 29.something to 1... that means I paid $3 for a water as they charged me 90 local currency- SFO prices.
The people look similar but the infrastructure is just way different than home.
Just to double check the taxi driver does not do anything shady I set my route on gps kit and marked the airport. I don't have wifi so satellite and gps comes in very handy while traveling. I checked in with the embassy and signed up for their email distribution prior to landing as well for safety.
20 minutes into my ride we've headed due west and now curved south. I have not seen a nice hotel yet and only one or two nice cars (newer hyundais). This place is very rough looking. I saw a Pharaohs casino near the airport and asked if it was popular, of course it was. I'm glad I have no interest in those anymore (not that it looked that great).
A semi truck was flipped in a main intersection with some kind of feed or dirt dumped in the road. What a mess that will be to clean up. I'm starting to see yards with very intimidating fences around them and sharp pointy blades at the top. Just saw my first Pizza Hut and now starting to see developed buildings. 40 minutes into the taxi ride. I can see what they meant when they said $20.
I've arrived at the hostel, it is 7 miles from the airport and the taxi driver took me straight here. It is by all Nicaraguan standards a really nice place. I have just one roommate and she is not in. The guard opened the gate for me and asked if my name was Kenneth. The hostel hostess was Fabiola and she didn't even take any money she said she's closed the systems and there's beers in the fridge grab one and just put money in the jar like an honor system. She said it's safe and I'll be fine to walk around for dinner.
I met my roommate very nice French Canadian from Quebec. She was into country- she didn't like cities. She worked at a skydiving place and dated a deaf skydiver she met there for a year. She had been in the area (ometepe mostly) for three months and was heading home tomorrow. It was nice to talk to her for about thirty minutes and then I had to go find dinner. I also checked my bank statements and it said I withdrew 10.25 with fee included. I definitely kept that withdrawal on the low end.
Dinner was terrible. The "scene" if you will had no foreigners and my Spanish was pushed to the test. I first ordered a burger but didn't know the words for plain. Yuck. Their meat was terrible - I know this but I always forget- meat outside America is just weird. They put all kinds of ketchup and mayo on it, odd garnishes, I took a bite of the little patty they called meat and threw it away. $3 down the drain. Then I went up the street to the nicest looking restaurant and asked the waiter que es tu favorito a comer. My best attempt at breaking down what his favorite thing to eat is. He said pollo tacos. I got them and they were the weirdest tacos I've ever seen. Rock hard with chicken that looked like it was just killed and I don't know how well cooked it was. at that point I realized I'm probably going to get sick here. I could play it safe, but I want to try what the locals eat... even if I'm sick for a few days.
I ate my tacos and thought about heading to a disco. The attitudes of everyone so far were too coarse. I don't feel it... I'm heading home and going to sleep... I will get out of here as fast as possible. I haven't seen too many mosquitos yet, but killed two in the bathroom and one was just on the hunt that crossed my lit screen on the phone as I'm typing this.
Good night from Managua
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