A Day In Managua

Well I've been in Nicaragua for five days, and it feels like I've been here forever. You know a place is great when it feels like that.

The trip started couldn’t of started out any better.

As soon as I made it through immigration, I asked the first person I saw where the shuttle to La Mercedes (my hotel) was. I wouldn’t of normally needed the shuttle, but I had a huge suitcase full of plumbing gear. When I found the driver, there were a couple of girls with him that were going to the same hotel. I started talking to them...because they had huge smiles on their faces...and by the time we were checked into the hotel, it seemed like we were best friends.

After putting everything into my room, I headed straight to the bar. They girls beat me there. We all ordered some drinks...and continued to drink Tona’s & Rum until two hours after the bar was closed. We got into some pretty serious conversations. We talked about everything from religion to politics, and everything else under the sun. They were from Canada, so it was interesting to learn about their government.

The were in Nicaragua for 6 weeks of travel, and their first stop was the Corn Islands. “The Corns” are a group of islands on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua, that are supposed to be beautiful. The thing was, they had an one day in Managua before their flight left on Tuesday. When they asked me if I wanted to hang out with them in Managua for the day...I didn’t hesitate for second before saying...”OK” That’s what travel is all about...all plans subject to change.

After changing my shuttle, and telling our contractor I was going to be delayed, I found myself sitting the hotel lobby with two people that I had only know for a few hours. I was getting ready to check out a city that I really had no desire to see, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Our guide was a girl who worked for the resort where they were staying, except she lived in Managua. Her job was to send supplies to the hotel. Apparently their isn’t much for supplies on the islands. Her name was Rachel, and she picked us up in the late morning.

Managua is an incredibly poor city. It was virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1971 an still hasn’t fully recovered. I've seen Managua before, and it's kind of a hard place to look out of the car windows at. It’s very sad to see the way people are forced to live when they have next to nothing.

That being said...what we saw was amazing.

We first went the Nicaraguan government buildings.

The first place we went was a concrete wall that was built out of guns that were used in the Sandinista War. When the war was over in the 1980‘s...the new leader took all the guns from the war, and made them into a concrete wall. She did this so that they couldn’t ever be used ever again. They also covered an entire tank in concrete. It was all meant to symbolize that the bad times were over, and there was to be no more fighting.

After that we went to check out the government palace, some other government buildings, and the port where their are boats that take people out in to Lake Managua. It was cool to see, but you couldn’t get me on that boat.

After that we went to the top of a hill that is in the center of the city. From the top of this hill there was a 360 degree view of the entire city, and the surrounding country side. You could see forever...

We then went drove through the city to a museum of sorts. It was a very historical spot in Managua. It was a spot where there were footprints that were frozen in time from a mudslide that happened after a volcano erupted a long time ago. It was crazy, these footprints were of people that were literally running for their life.

After Managua we headed out of town to the Masaya Volcano. You can drive right to the top of it. It was one of the coolest sights that I have ever seen. From the parking lot there was a trail that went to an even hight point, and from there you could see for 100 miles in every direction. It was awesome. It was amazing to be able to look right inside the volcano cavern. The steam coming out of it, and the horrible smell. The worst part was the breathing. After 10 minutes, I felt like I had smoked a pack of cigarettes in one sitting. Not that I smoke, but I imagine that's what it feels like.

After we checked out the volcano, we headed the the town of Masaya. Masaya has one of the nicest open air markets in Nicaragua. They sell everything there.

I was with a couple of shopping happy ladies, so we spent more than enough time checking out everything that they sold. I bought a cool coffee mug , and they bought some cool stuff too. While we were there we stopped and had some lunch at a really nice restaurant, where we downed some Tona’s. The food is so good in this country.

After spending more than enough time in Masaya, we headed to another town called Catalina. This is the most beautiful town (that isn’t on the coast) that I have been to so far in Nicaragua. It’s located on top of a hill. From the top of the hill you can see Granada, Lake Nicaragua, and the Nicaraguan countryside for miles and miles. It was breathtaking...really awesome. By this time is was getting dark, so it was time for us to head back to the hotel.

The night before we spent way too much money on beers. They were very expensive, so we decided to stop at one of the markets to get some supplies for the night. We filled a cardboard box up with a huge bottle of rum, some sodas to mix the rum with, a 6 pack of beer, some snacks, and a few other treats. Our bill was $17 dollars.

We took a “shortcut” back to the hotel, which was just another opportunity to see more of the Nicaraguan countryside.

When we got back to the hotel, we took our cardboard box to the pool, and for the rest of the night we managed to polish off everything that was in it. It really was a great way to finish off the day.

I almost got talked into going to the Corn Islands with them, but I didn’t know what to do with that heavy suitcase, so I had to say my goodbye’s. I made some pretty good friends on my first day, and I was hoping that it was the first of many on this trip.

It’s now Thursday, and I have spent the last three days on the ocean. There has been a lot of work to do regarding the house. I have spent the last two mornings there with Will (our contractor) going over a bunch of stuff.

I surfed all afternoon yesterday, and today I am sunburnt, and sore. I decided to come into town, and am currently sitting at the Pelican Eyes Resort, drinking Tona’s, and writing this blog.

I don’t know how much time I am going to have to sit and write while I'm here, but I’m hoping I can set aside a few hours here and there to do this.

I posted all the pics from this day here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/keeley.daniel/100208ManaguaPics#

Hope all is well in the states, and I will continue to post to this blog.

GO USA in the OLYMPICS!!!