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Published: March 14th 2009
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Goodbye Guatemala.. After spending 6 weeks in Guatemala, I got my first glimpse of Guatemala City as I spent my final night there waiting to catch my flight to Nicaragua. I said goodbye to Jen that morning and caught the local ‘Monja Blanca’ bus to Guatemala City. When I got there, I was helped by the guard at the bus stop to find me a cab because he didn’t want me to get one myself (He mananged to get me a very good discount). I waved my new friend goodbye and got into my cab for the short ride to my hostel.
My cab driver - another wonderful soul, gave me a free Spanish Lesson on the way to the hostel and didn’t even complain when I didn’t have enough to give him for the ride. He helped my with my bags, made sure I got in safely and headed off on his way.
All in all a good intro to Guatemala - considering I was worried to death about the dangers of Guatemala City.
My hostel (Xamenek Student Inn) was in the heart of Zone 10 (the expensive suburb). After checking in, I went out for a
Ruins of a Catherdal
Built in 1929 - destroyed in 1973 walk around the neighbourhood to see what it was all about - One block down the road - I stumbled across a Mall, just like you would find in any Western country, filled with musicians entertaining kids, expensive shops & of course the requisite BMW & Mercedes cards parked out front. Two more blocks and I stumbled into another mall again with evern more expensive shops and filled with Guatemalans doing their shopping….Whilst I didn’t doubt for one minute that this wasn’t a true image of the real Guatemala - I can’t deny that I didn’t enjoy the escape of being able to walk around without constantly watching my back…
Hello Nicaragua I didn’t know what to expect when I landed in Nicaragua. I didn’t spend enough time reading about it my Lonely Planet guide - Had I read it properly, then I would have known that I was due to pay $5 USD foor entering the country. It didn’t help that I packed my USD in my backpack and as such didn’t have the correct money as I went through customs…..Not a good start.
The airport was modern enough - It even had free wi-fi throughout the
whole airport (we don’t even have that in Oz). I went through and found an ATM - which annoyingly only dispenses $500 cordoba bills - not very useful when almost no-one has enough money to change it.
I went out, found myself a taxi from one of the guys near the departure entrance (these guys have taxi’s from across the road - and are cheaper than getting one from the arrivals entrance). Omar gave me an overview of the city, telling me not to bother staying anymore than one night and head straight for Granada (Good tip!). He dropped me off in front of my hostel - but only first trying to overcharge me for the trip, thinking that I didn’t know the exchange rate between cordobas & USD….I don’t think so! (Most people quote in USD but you can pay in either USD or cordobas - so always make sure that the cordoba price they quote is the same USD equivalent.)
I stayed in another residential suburb (again in a hostel right next to a mall). Another good pick as it was a mere walk to catch the local bus to Granada from there the next day.
Lomo de Tiscapa
The silhouette of Sandino - Killed by Somoza, his rival to the presidency in 1934. I didn’t want to leave Managua without at least having a brief look at what the city was all about. Cabs are easy enough to catch and very cheap (usually costing USD 0.50 to 1.00) - so off I went to my first destination
Lomo de Tiscapa. In the last few years they have added an entrance fee of (USD 1.00) to get to the top - I could have walked up but was happy enough to ride all the way up in the taxi. The views from the hill were of the Tiscapa crater below and views of Lago de Managua in the distance. There was no-one up on top of that hill and whilst I’m sure it was a rather safe area to walk around in, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable walking around on my own, so I asked the cab driver to wait for me whilst I took some photos and made my way back down the hill in the taxi.
He dropped me off in the
Area monumental. The historical heart of the city prior to the earthquake in 1972 that leveled most of the city. Again - I didn’t feel entirely comfortable walking around.
I stood in the middle of a very large square taking photos of the remaining buildings and ruined churches, whilst groups of old men & young kids stood around the square watching me. Conscious that it was getting later in the day and that there were very few taxis in the area, I caught the first taxi I could find to take me back to the hostel - My tour of Managua was done.
Later that night, I went out for dinner with a rather intruiging Italian man who was in Nicaragua on an agricultural project for the Nicaraguan government. He had been in Nicaragua for over a month and was staying in the hostel because he wanted to understand the ‘younger’ generation (A student of anthropology - he had a lot to say about the new generation of young Americans that I found rather interesting). We walked down the street towards a ‘papuseria’ he frequented. I was glad for his company as I would never have walked out at night on the streets that we walked on by myself nor would have known about this papuseria even I did walk there.
Papusas are an El Salvadorean speciality,
Views of Lago Managua
On top of Lomo de Tiscapa made from freshly made soft tacos filled with an assortment of fillings, cooked over a bbq hot plate and served with a cabbage salad and hot sauce - sensational if made & cooked fresh. I had this with a Nicaraguan favourite drink of ‘refresco de cacao’ - I think it is made with the cacao beans, maize and something else (so it doesn’t taste anything like a chocolate drink) but it was nice all the same. All this for USD 2.00 - A bargain and an experience that couldn’t be beaten.
Impressions of Managua Reading in the Lonely Planet guide - The city of Managua had badly damaged by the earthquake of 1972 and during its recovery period a multitude of city malls were developed. This is my image of Managua - A small city but vastly spread out across the a town covered with leafy trees - with small city malls used as landmarks where once there may have been a monument or a historical building. It doesn’t have the vibrancy of Guatemala city - but then again I didn’t expect it to.
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