Nicaragua III: Ultimate Destiny

After a hasty departure from the market at Masaya, we arrived to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. A flock of taxi drivers met us at the bus stop, all asking us to ride in their taxi. We found one and paid a seemingly high fare of $15 to ride to the hotel (the taxis in Nicaragua do not have meters). We later discovered it should not have cost more than $5 for the ride...oops. We did not allow our mistake to ruin the city for us and had a hotel taxi driver/tour guide take us around the city before dusk. We'll call him Eduardo because he never actually told us his name.

Eduardo first took us to the mirador or lookout above Managua. The park there also included a large monument to Augusto Sandino (the revolutionary who inspired the Sandinista movement) and one of the myriad and inexplicable 30-ft high wire Christmas trees around the city. On the slope below was the Hormiguero (Anthill), a jail in which political prisoners were tortured under the corrupt Somoza family political dynasty/dictatorship in the 60s and 70s. Behind the city "skyline" is Lake Managua and more volcanoes.

Next stop was the Plaza de la Revolución, constructed by the Sandinistas to celebrate their victory in overtaking the government in 1979.

Surrounding the plaza was a large park, the Casa del Pueblo (above), the Palacio Nacional, and the Antigua Catedral (below). You'll notice the word solidaridad on two signs. This word appears around Managua on billboards as Sandinista party quasi-socialist propaganda. Definitely makes you rethink the use and meaning of that word (@ Creighton service trips).

Outside the Palacio Nacional was a series of posters reminiscing about Managua before the 1972 earthquake which completely leveled the city. In fact, some of the only buildings remaining standing after this quake were the lone skyscraper seen in the "skyline" picture, the Palacio Nacional, and the Antigua Catedral, which was seriously damaged and closed to the public.

After a quick stop at the touristy port/boardwalk on the lake, we headed into the suburbs. I was shocked to find the Mall Santo Domingo, a gigantic ritzy shopping center to rival the fanciest suburban malls in the States. It was so surprising after having seen the squalidness of the market in Masaya earlier that day. It really hit home then how Latin America has the largest income disparity of any place in the world. We got a taco platter for dinner there from the delicious Guatemalan taco chain Tacontento (a name with a double Spanish play on words that would take too long to explain here) and swung by a supermarket to pick up PB & J supplies for the bus ride the following day. While my traveling companions were inside, I remained in the cab and had a great discussion with Eduardo about poverty, education, the respective armies of Nicaragua and the U.S., and the Ortega administration's foreign policy. Best part: all in Spanish. Pretty sure that would qualify as a "fluent" conversation for me. Too bad I can't practice speaking every day with Eduardo.

We returned to the hotel, enjoying Coke and Flor de Caña (Nicaraguan rum often voted best in the world) while watching parts of the Oscars awkwardly dubbed in Spanish by unsteady translators. We arrived back in San José the following night after surviving the 10 1/2 hours bus ride back. During the ride, I snapped a picture of Volcán Concepción which juts out of Lake Nicaragua and forms part of the island of Ometepe (largest freshwater lake island in the world).

Overall, Nicaragua was fantastic! I'd say it was the best vacation of my life. It was a shame I could only spend 3 days there. I'd really like to go back one day.

Pura vida,

Eric