Nicaragua - It´s just too hard to leave

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Look we´re visiting Costa Rica honest, we just haven´t got round to it yet. We been ... em ... waylaid, Nicaragua´s just too cool (actually for those of a British disposition we mean that in the American sense and are not talking weather wise - If you would like to chat about the weather please contact us privately where we would love to have an indepth chat ... perhaps over tea).

Yip, it´s just too friendly, too interesting and too nice to leave. We are beyond joy to realise that our previous apprehention and trepidation about the place was dispelled almost immediately upon leaving the hectic streets of Managua (Not saying we didn´t enjoy that too). What awaited us were cloud forrests steeped in local legend, smoking craters rising from cyrstal blue lakes and markets filled with some of the most equisite pottery and ornamental plants known to man.

Where can you visit a coffee plantation surrounded by Orchids, many of them so rare that they are only found on that one mountain. Where can you travel to the summit of an active and smouldering Volcano past all the safety and warning signs (sorry mum the guide said it would be fine). Where can you wander the streets of a 500 year old town sipping ice cold coffee that was grown but miles from where you stand.

In case the title of the blog wasn´t a big enough clue or you thought we were playing some elaborate if ill thought through trick - the answer is Nicaragua.

Seriously the best destitation we´ve visited in Central America (a touch harsh comparing it to our two days in San Jose, but you had your chance Ticos).

So what´s wrong, why is the world and his dog not breaking down the door to get here. Why aren´t they rioting on the border demanding to be let in (actually we got quiet close to that after the fourth hour). Where are the hoards demanding cheap tacky souvenirs, package breaks and god damn it something to eat other than foriegn muck. Something must be rotten in the state of Denmark (or ... em ... Nicaragua -apologies I got carried away again).

Well it just might be, for this is a country of revolution. The only country in the world in fact where a government that has come to power through force has reliquished that power only to regain it at the ballot box. A regieme that is currently conducting what appears to be an almost daily mission to discredit and disrupt the progress that so many in this country are desperate for. They cry out for legitimacy, stability and help. Nicaragua isn´t too proud to admit how poor it is and ask for help, at least it´s people aren´t. The government on the other hand seems more concerned with it´s own position than contemplating anything as remote as the people.

Just today it was revealed that rather than fixing the roads in and out of Managua damaged by the recent heavy rains they could only bicker and squabble like children over who got to be present at the ceremony to hand over the money for the repairs. So as the people make do and mend the politians sit there oblivious to the calling they all profess.

All the while their smiles remain, the Nicos are positive. They love their country, their food, their rum and thankfully their tourists. Just a shame nobody seems to be able to run this place.

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Comments

[Linz]

Such an awesome place
Haha I entered Nicaragua the same. It was the only country in Central America that I had no sights I wanna see listed for. Turns out that I skipped through Costa Rica and Panama real quick, then have been in Nicaragua for the last month and a half. I leave tomorrow from Leon but I could easily come back here and trek a whole lot more. People not knowing much about it and not planning to visit it is part of the bonus - the well worn gringo trails dont exist as much. Their government, pollution, and attitude towards animals is a killer though =(