I spent three weeks studying Spanish in San Jose, Costa Rica, for 4
days a week, while exploring the country on the weekends. I checked
out the beaches (and monkeys) at Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast,
the cloud forests of Monte Verde, and the caves and waterfalls at the
Volcano Arenal. I had a lot of fun, saw some beautiful places, and
met some great people. Among the people I met, though, were a bunch
who had been traveling all around Central America, all of whom said
that Nicaragua was also really cool.
So I decided to come here too.
It really is amazing how different it is on this side of the border:
coming to Nicaragua from Costa Rica feels a lot like coming to Mexico
from Hawaii. Everything here is poorer (and cheaper, of course, which
is nice), hotter and more humid, and culturally a lot further from the
United States than Costa Rica is. The streets are full of horse-drawn
carts, the standard load for a bicycle is three people (husband, wife,
and child), there's garbage everywhere, 'bus' can mean anything from a
old worn down school bus with a broken speedometer to an old worn down
minivan with a broken speedometer - and both are packed full of
standing passengers. As in Mexico, you tend to get the 'that's just
crazy talk' look when you try to buy something using the equivalent of
a ten dollar bill in local currency.
Unlike San Jose, which was full of shopping malls and supermarkets,
the markets here contain hundreds of tightly packed wooden stalls
selling fruits, vegetables, meat, and DVDs of films not yet released.
The arts and crafts markets are amazing, though, including fine
pottery, paintings, woodwork, and varnished inflated (real) frogs
posed in a variety of sexual positions. I really hope the turtles
playing banjos didn't come from any threatened populations.
On a side note, the smoothies and milkshakes here are very good, and
sold everywhere - which is important, since the heat and humidity are
frequently stifling.
Although there are high end restaurants here selling top quality meals
for the price of fast food in the U.S., all of the outdoor dining
features a non-stop stream of children selling gum, cigarettes, and
leaf-origami, mothers asking for money to feed their babies, deformed
beggars, and peddlers selling hammocks, jewelry, and cashews
(interestingly, the hammocks cost the same amount as the cashews).
In general, Nicaragua seems to be a more religious country than Costa
Rica. My teacher here doesn't drink alcohol or dance, and she was
surprised when American students claiming to be religious did. I met
several people studying English at church schools, using texts such as
'our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,' and 'the Lord
is my Shepherd, I shall not want' as introductions to the English
language. (The guy I rented a kayak from at Ometepe Island asked me
for help pronouncing 'righteousness.')
On my second day in Granada, there was a huge thunderstorm, and the
ceiling above the computers in my hostel sprung a leak. The next day,
I repeatedly got an electric shock from my camera while plugging it
into the USB slot. Later that day, in what may or may not have been a
related incident, while going to some caves on the top of the Volcano
Masaya with some Croatian and Isreali tourists, I discovered that my
camera was periodically deleting all of the new photos I was taking,
every dozen or so photos. So I don't have any photos of the sunset at
Masaya (sorry). My camera appears to be working now, though. I'll
post a bunch of photos online when I get back to the U.S.
I met a bunch of people in Nicaragua who claimed that Guatemala was
even cooler - so I may have to continue my travels in this part of the
world some other time. For now, though, my travels are just about
over - I go back to the U.S. on Friday, where I'll have about a day to
get repacked before leaving to start a new job at Voyageurs National
Park in Minnesota. I hope you're all doing well.
Best wishes,
Nathan
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