From León, Nicaragua

So far I have found the Nicaragua People to be some of the friendliest, cosmopolitan, outgoing, and kind people I’ve met in Central America. Although their country is statistically only second to Haiti in this hemisphere in terms of poverty, they have some great art and culture.

If you ever travel to Nicaragua, remember to ask when the water and lights will be out. Due to corruption and a deteriorated infrastructure, the electrical system will not power the entire needs of the country, therefore the electrical water pumps don’t always run. So here in León, Nicaragua, we don’t have running water from approx. 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. It’s not that big of a deal because people just fill up their little wash tubs and buckets.

Things I will remember from León:

The variously colored colonial buildings, the Benjamin Linder Café where people with disabilities work, , tiled sidewalks that are wide enough, the shoe shine boy who told me Nicaraguan legends and fables, reading poet Rubén Darío and then visiting the place where he lived, beans and rice and chicken lunch for approx. $1.60 at the comedor, palm trees, nameless streets, friendly people who helped with directions, the photos of the Sandinista revolution, the University HR guy who came to my table to eat lunch with me and talk to me about my views on Nicaragua, my haircut from ex-Sandinista soldier who told me about his brother who was killed during their fight for independence, groups of school children visiting “The 21,” wicker furniture, political murals, people who love talking to North Americans even though they disagree with U.S. Government policies, Internet access for 60 cents an hour, horse drawn carts, milk in milk cans, geckos on the walls, the sound of birds, church bells, ice cold bottle of soda, hammocks…

Granada:

More colonial architecture, the elderly couple who rented rooms, buying fresh mangoes and star fruit in the boisterous market, squealing pigs being carried by boys, horse drawn carriages, pizza with spinach, being asked for handouts, kids throwing stones in an attempt to procure mangoes, the little bookstore and her nice smile, eating beans and rice while talking to Italian grad. student at the Bearded Monkey, reading Rubén Darío by the lake, the guy who warned me it wasn’t safe for extanjeros to walk in the park solo, the Third Eye, sushi, art, the churches…

Managua:

The National Library, beautiful smiling women, helpful / friendly taxi drivers, the bookmobile with “libros para todos,” vegetarian soup and rice, motorcyclists wearing helmets, rows and rows of tents of banana workers demanding better wages from Nicaraguan and U.S. companies, people dancing in the National Palace, school buses without paint, the old Cathedral with its bullet pocked tower, the young Spanish speaking British medical student who has been working in rural northern Nicaragua, the beggars, the guy twirling in the street, so many piles of garbage, street vendors, the new Cathedral with Jesus under glass, Bismarck and drinking Toño and Victoria and talking politics….

I’m now off to Northern Honduras (heading past Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula), a 12 hour bus trip from Managua. I leave tomorrow (Saturday). I will have plenty of time to read and think about what I’m going to do next with my life.