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Published: November 9th 2009
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We arrived in Managua, Nicaragua on Tuesday night, Oct. 13th, and only stayed until the next morning. The little part of Managua we saw was interesting and disconcerting at the same time. Everyone we met was extremely friendly, and yet they warned us that crime was rampant nearby. Given the warmth of almost everyone we met, it was hard to believe the bad intentions of the people we didn't meet. Our hotel was just a block west of the Tica bus station. The hotel staff 'allowed' us to walk back that far in search of food. Any further east, or any distance in any other direction was off limits. The next day, before hitting the bus for Granada, I walked through the forbidden zones to the ATM with Howard and his 'cousin' as bodyguards.
Howard was a local 20-something who grew up on the streets. He learned an impressive amount of English and earned some money helping travelers at the local bus station. He was well known at my hotel and the bus station, so he seemed a safe bet. Walking through the peaceful streets in broad daylight, I found it hard to fathom any danger. We passed a couple
of oldtimers sitting out in their wheel chairs having an early beer. Howard explained that we were walking through a subsidized housing neighborhood for veterans of Nicaragua's civil war. I asked if they were responsible for causing trouble. "No," Howard assured me. They didn't have any fight left in them, and most of them were seriously injured anyways.
We arrived in Granada by bus on Wednesday afternoon, October 14th. Now how to describe Granada to those who have never been? Well, its a lot like Antigua. Granada is a beautiful old colonial town with a large Parque Central in the middle, located along the eastern shores of Lake Nicaragua. Rich in history, it was the capital of Nicaragua in 1855 when it was invaded by an American, William Walker, who attempted to take over the country. At the time, Walker was extremely popular in the US (there were strong parallels with the conquest of California) and openly recruited in the newspapers. Eventually other Central American forces repelled him and the US government passed laws making it illegal for private citizens to take over other countries.
Our plans for the city were a little more modest. We found a
guest house to stay on Calle La Calzada, a large cobblestone street just west of the Parque Central. There were many fine restaurants right along the street, where tourists and locals alike sat outside drinking beer or coffee, or playing guitar. Clearly there is a lot of money in Granada, although it's not everyone's hands. A lot of peddlers worked the streets selling cigarettes, Chiclets gum, and cheap souvenirs. Others simply begged for money from the diners sitting in the street.
That night we ate at an Irish pub on the street, and played in a charity trivia quiz for La Esperanza, a volunteer organization that provided education for the local children. We were joined by Julia and Berny, a fun couple visiting from Costa Rica. The whole night, a group of boys paraded up the street playing drums and wearing the traditional costumes of
Gigantona (Giant Lady) and
Enano Cabezon (Big Head), hoping for a bit of change from the onlookers. They were entertaining at first, then a bit a annoying, then even more so as they had Giant Lady and Big Head perform obscene acts.
The next day we visited the beautiful and comprehensive museum in
the Convento y Iglesia de San Francisco. The museum featured art and photos of the city throughout its history, including present day. It also had many large stone sculptures carved by the indigenous Chorotega peoples between 800 and 1200 AD. We also visited the local artists at the Casa de los Tres Mundos Foundation, where Eva picked up her second painting. That evening I caught a little of the Phillies/Dodgers game. Unlike the rest of football (i.e. soccer) mad Central America, Nicaragua is crazy for baseball, and the restaurants were showing the game on giant screens in the street.
We took things pretty easy on Friday, October 16th. On the morning we went to the park along Granada's sandy waterfront. We rested and checked e-mail in the afternoon, uploading pictures and catching up with our blog. That night we enjoyed the best thin crust wood-fired Italian pizza we had ever had at the Mona Lisa restaurant, owned and operated by a real Italian gal. Later that evening, we returned to the Casa de los Tres Mundos Foundation for an evening guitar concert featuring local talent. For us the highlight of night was the stirring Flamenco crooning of Moises Gadea.
Casa de los Tres Mundos
A cultural center functioning as a studio, gallery, and performance center for artists. Saturday activities made Friday seem strenuous. We watched a little TV, then returned to Mona Lisa for some fantastic homemade pasta. We went to the local hotel pub that night and enjoyed some more live music from Moises Gadea. By Sunday, we were practically comatose. In fairness, we soon discovered that one of us was fighting a flu.
On the last morning in Granada that Monday, we broke down and bought a CD of our favorite guitar player . To our eternal regret, we resisted the temptation to get more pizza or pasta from Mona Lisa. There's just nothing like it in Seattle! That afternoon we caught the ferry to the mysterious island of Ometepe for the next stage in our adventure.
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PamelaAnn
non-member comment
Safety concerns
I am hoping to check out Nicaragua with a combined visit to Honduras (one previous visit) once the political confusion clears up in that beautiful country. Would be be wise to have second thoughts about Nicaragua, particularly as I would probably be going around on my own? We thoroughly enjoyed Copan and Roatan, and felt safe among the locals who (up to then - 2 years ago) appeared unaffected by tourism.