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Hello everybody,
recently I spent a bit more than a week in Nicaragua. Since I came to Panama I really wanted to visit Costa Rica and/or Nicaragua. But due to many things that happened my budget wouldn't allow me to visit Costa Rica, since this country is not very cheap. So I decided to skip Costa Rica and just drive through that country and visit Nicaragua instead. On my way back to Panama I spent one night in San Jose, capital of Costa Rica.
Nicaragua Nicaragua is located between Costa Rica and Honduras, in the center of Central America.....in the center of the Americas actually. It's the land of lakes and volcanoes. From south to north you'll find many lakes and volcanoes. The capital city is Managua. It has about 6 million people and is the largest country in Central America. Nicaragua had a past with civil war and dictatorship. Since around 1985 they're living in "peace". Everywhere I go, the locals ask me if I'm from the coast (Caribbean coast): "¿Eres de la costa?". The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, places like Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas, are inhabited by many black people who are descendant from the Caribbean islands.
All of the Caribbean coast of Central America is primarily inhabited by black people (like Bocas del Toro and Colon in Panama, Puerto Limon in Costa Rica, La Ceiba in Honduras etc).
Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Americas, after Haiti. But the difference between Haiti and Nicaragua is huge. Countries like Honduras, Guyana, Bolivia, Paraguay and Guatemala follow as the poorest countries just after Nicaragua. Poverty is a big problem in Nicaragua and when visiting the country, of course you will be confronted with this. For example children sleeping on the street, children and elderly women asking for money, slums etc. The worst that I experienced was in the city of Granada. While I was having dinner together with a few people from the hostel, a boy came and ask me for food. I had a small plate with rice and I gave him. He stood there and ate it with his hands, while another boy came and they shared the rice. It's really sad and that's why again I say that we need to be grateful that at least we a roof and food everyday!
Almost everyday I ate "gallo pinto", which is typical
from Nicaragua. It's rice mixed with beans, practically the same as what we call "aros moro" in Curaçao. Nicaraguans eat this everyday, as breakfast, luncg and/or dinner. At least twice a day. Another typical dish I tried was the "baho", which is like a stew consisting of beef, yucca, banana, potato and some other vegetables I don't remember the names of.
The journey to Nicaragua At 16:30 I was in Paso Canoas (border Panama-Costa Rica) and I proceded to the immigration of Panama to get my passport stamp, and then to the Costa Rica immigration to get my other stamp. Everything went without any troubles. Around 17:30 Tica Bus arrived, they charged me US$38 until Managua, Nicaragua. Although I told them that I'd get off in Rivas (about 110 km before Managua).
At Peñas Blancas (Costa Rica-Nicaragua border) everything went fine, except for when I tried to enter Nicaragua. The Tica Bus employee takes all passports to the immigration office to stamp them. Then suddenly he came out, and called me and a woman from Costa Rica (a black woman from Puerto Limon...Caribbean coast of C.R) and said that the immigration officer wants to see us. We were
the only two coloured on board of the bus so it's too much of a coincidence really. And at that moment I told the woman as well, that they only selected the two of us because we're black. She agreed with me, while the employee of Tica Bus said that that's not true, that they're not racist bla bla bla. Once inside, they asked the woman if she had another ID with her, and she gave her Costa Rican ID-card. Then they asked her how much provinces Costa Rica has, and to mention all of them. She mentioned them all...after a while they let her go. So stupid seriously, I stood there shaking my head from left to right. Then the guy asked me for another ID too and I showed my Dutch drivers license. Then he asked me which date my passport was issued, where I'm going to in Nicaragua, why I'm going to Nicaragua, how many days I'll be staying in Nicaragua, what kind of work I do etc. etc. A bunch of crap. I didn't say anything, but I wasn't very happy obviously, wanting to ask him if he thought that I'm trying to stay illegally in
his country or something (that's the last thing I'd do)...and that they should be glad that I'm visiting the country and bringing a bit of money in, hahaha. But, not to make things even more difficult, I just didn't say anything. I was just waiting for him to say that they'll deny my entry to the country because then they would have to give me a very good reason no to! He was looking in my passport, while looking at me and he kept thinking about asking me more questions. Then he let me go. Stupid huh? Bunch of corrupt bastards, that's what they are. They charge you US$ 7 or 8 when entering the country, while the actual price is US$5.
Rivas In the bus I met Wim and Milena from Belgium. Wim is actually Colombian but adopted as a baby, and Milena has Italian parents and was born in Belgium. They were going to San Juan del Sur. We all got off the bus at Rivas, where we took like a carriage to the market. Here there were busses to San Juan del Sur and to Granada and Managua. Rivas is a little city, about 30.000
people. There isn't much going on there really. It's more like a crossroad for those travelling to/from the border...located just 36 km north of the border. From here people can take boats to Isla Ometepe, which is an island in the Nicaragua Lake with two tall volcanoes. While waiting in a bus, a little boy came to us and trying to sell water and softdrinks. When asking him if he's going to school, he said that his father is working in Guatemala and his mom in Costa Rica and he's living with his grandmother. They didn't have enough money yet to buy school stuff such as a bag etc. and that's why he's not attending class. He's waiting for him mom, who is supposed to be arriving soon with some money. Quite sad really.
San Juan del Sur San Juan del Sur is one of the most visited tourist destination in Nicaragua. It's located on the southwestern coast. It's a small, fisherman village with about 20.000 people. It was quiet and relaxed, more than I expected. I thought I'd see many tourists walking around but that wasn't the case. The city is located at the shore, there is
a nice beach and a bay full of fisherman boats. This bay also welcomes cruiseships sometimes. San Juan del Sur has the potential to keep growing into a much bigger touristic city. Many surfers visit this city. Beaches like Playa Maderas, which is a 20 minute drive out of the center, has very good waves for those who love this sport. Together with a Dutch guy and two Swedish girls from the hostel we spent an afternoon at Playa Maderas. At night we went out with a big group from the hostel. Along the beach there are several bars and cafe's with live music where you can hang out. San Juan del Sur has the potential to keep growing into a much busier tourist center and I think that's what will happen in the coming 10 to 15 years....or maybe even is less time because people are starting to discover Nicaragua in the past few years and tourism grew with 15 to 20%!e(MISSING)ach year in the last couple of years.
Granada After San Juan del Sur I continued to Granada. This city has about 130.000 inhabitants and is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Americas! It was
founded in 1524 by the Spanish and has always been important to Nicaragua, in terms of both economy and politics. It's a colonial city, most buildings have been renovated and the colonial architecture has been preserved. This is what makes Granada a very beautiful city. I was quite impressed by the beauty of the city. The Central Park area is gorgeous, the street La Calzada is a beautiful and nice place to hang out, especially at night. La Calzada as a long street, full of colourful houses and a lot of bar and restaurants...all of them with their chairs and tables outside. Here is where I gave the small plate of rice to the poor boy. Granada is located at the shore of Lake Nicaragua, and just outside the city there are a dozen of small islands, known as the Granada Islets (Isletas de Granada). I took a boat trip along those islands which was really nice. Hopefully they won't sell all these islands. Some of them already have big houses built and some of them have signs saying "for sale" for US$ 100.000 and another one for 285.000 . I strolled along the chaotic market of Granada which is
interesting. You could find anything here. I bought a pair of flip flops as my old ones were broken. At the hostel I met Paul from Luxembourg and Sofia and Ida from Sweden. We had a good time together when we went out one night in the city. Also in Granada I wanted to stay a little bit longer...but I had to keep on going!
León Located in the northwest of Nicaragua, this city has always been a rival of Granada. It has almost 200.000 inhabitants and is also home to many nice colonial buildings. It's a nice city, but not as nice as Granada. They have a lot to improve to reach the level of Granada. But it was worth it to spend a few days here. Leon is a student city and is home to a big university. Students from all over the country move to Leon to study and it keeps the city quite "young" as you see many students on the street. Leon is much hotter than the rest of Nicaragua. I was thinking about spending just one night here, but I made it two and visited Cerro Negro volcano. It's the youngest volcano of
Central America and erupted for the last time in 1999. Cerro Negro means "Black Hill". That's due to the color of the hill, which is black, and it contrasts with the rest of the landscape. I booked a one day tour to the volcano. It's only about 730 meters high and very easy to climb. Once up there you can take a walk in the crater area. The volcano has 4 or 5 different craters. The crater area where we walked, erupted the last time in 1959 if I'm not wrong. There was smoke coming from under the earth which was exciting!!! I've never seen such a thing before! We descended the volcano by sandboarding, which was cool but not as exciting as I expected. There were way too much little stones on the way down which constantly slowed down and stopped the board from sliding down.
I also visited the little village of
Las Peñitas together with two American surfers who were staying at the hostel. It's a village located on the coast, just outside Leon. We got there a little bit late though, almost at sunset. The road was bad and we had got a flat tire on
the way. This is another village which could grow into a touristic center, but it's still way behind San Juan del Sur.
Managua The capital of Nicaragua has just over 1 million inhabitants and is probably the greenest Central American capital. When viewing the city from a higher elevation you'll notice how many green spots you see everywhere, all around the city. Managua doesn't have a real city centre (anymore). The city centre used to be around the old cathedral and all the area along the Simon Bolivar Avenue, but a powerful earthquake in December 1972 destroyed left most of the city in ruins. Almost the half of the Managua residents were left homeless, a few thousands died and many more injured. The reason why this quake was so devastating was because the epicentre was located exactly underneath the city at a depth of just a few kilometres.
In Managua I met with Uriel, which is the uncle of my Panamanian friend Eybis. Eybis’ mom is from Nicaragua. Uriel is an architect and has his own company. He picked me up at the hostel and showed me around the city. He brought me to the Central Park, where
the old cathedral is. This cathedral was damaged during the earthquake and they built a new one somewhere else. At the same place also stand the National Palace and the Ruben Darío Park and theatre. Ruben Darío was a great, internationally successful Nicaraguan poet during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Uriel also brought me to the Pope John Paul II square and at the shore of the Lake Managua, where you can find dozens of small restaurants and bars. At late afternoon this place fills with people who come to meet each other for a drink and some food. We also went to the Loma Tiscapa, which is a hill in the middle of the city from where you can overlook most of Managua. You can also see the Lake Tiscapa which is a volcanic lake in the middle of the city. On the Tiscapa Hill there was a monument dedicated to Augusto Cesar Sandino, who was a revolutionary leader against American presence in the country in the first half of the 20th century. He was killed by the Somoza’s (dictator) in the 1930’s. But those who loved him and admired him, continued with his legacy and finally overthrew
the Somoza’s from power in 1979.
Uriel took me to eat “baho” at a local restaurant and also showed me the local baseball stadium. It was a very old stadium, screaming to be renovated. Baseball is quite popular in Nicaragua and the local championship was in full swing. Then he took me to their house, where I met his wife, the three daughters and also the grand children. A very nice, big family!
Back to Panama... I left Managua on an early morning, got the bus at 9:00am and was already on the Costa Rican side of the border around 12:00 midday. Here I had lunch and boarded a bus to San José around 13:00. The bus arrived in the Costa Rican capital at 18:30 and I spent the night in a hostel there. I had to sleep with a thick blanket as it gets cool at night in San José. The city has about 1,5 million people and is located on an elevation of about 1500 meters. Couldn’t see or do much in the city but hopefully I’ll go back one day to really see much of it. In the morning at 5:00am I boarded a bus
to Paso Canoas and it was a very long, tiring and boring trip! When leaving San Jose we went very slow because there was a thick fog which won’t allow you to see much. Once at the Panamanian side of the border, around 15:00, I boarded a bus to the city of David. I arrived tired, with headache and with little cold. I went early to bed and woke up much better the next day!
I’m happy that I went to Nicaragua and I had a good time. It’s a country that still has to be discovered by tourists and it has a lot to offer! Next time I’d like to visit the mountainous parts of northern Nicaragua, the Caribbean coast and also Isla Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua.
Now I have about 3 weeks left in Panama, then I fly back to Germany. I’ll probably stay a few days in Germany before going back to the Netherlands. I still don’t know what’s going to happen then, but I’ll see. I’ll be fine! I’m probably not moving to Curacao this year anymore. There is a rule that says you have to be registered for at least 3 years as
a resident of Netherlands if you want the Curacao government to pay your ticket and everything or you to go back and get the job. I didn’t know about the rule until a few days ago that I read it in the conditions. So it was a surprise for me, because I’m not registered as a resident since November 2007 (when I left to Australia). I wrote back to Curacao and ask if they could make an exception in my case because I really want to go back. So I don’t know yet what’s going to happen, I just want another answer to hear what's definitely going to happen. Meanwhile I already started to look for jobs and applied for summer jobs in southern Europe because I currently don’t feel much to live and work again in Holland honestly. If I don’t have another choice, then I’ll do it. I’ll have to move back to Curacao on my own and apply when I’m there, then they’ll accept me because there are other rules when you’re already living on the island.
That’s all for now. Has been long enough I think. Take care all and be safe!
Elton
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Sherry Pepke
non-member comment
Thanks for the informative writing and pictures
You did your research and I enjoyed your writing and comments and I agree with you. I lived in Managua for 10 years in the 90's. The best to you as you seek out your place in the world, Elton