Sunday, March 25, 2007

Nicaragua and Niger

While in Nicaragua I kept finding myself saying "In Niger..." because I found so many things similar between these two worlds-apart nations. Leslie (who lives in Nica) pointed out that this might be due to the developing world landscape which includes Blue Bird school buses converted into city buses among other similarities shared by the "third world".

Some of the things we noticed in this category:

1. The lack of washing machines and the necessity to handwash one's clothes (or pay someone else to do it)
2. The need for talc powder to walk comfortably or ride on a plastic bus seat for several hours
3. Shared taxis
4. Donkey carts among taxis, cars, buses, and trucks
5. The ability to ride in the back of a truck standing up, packed in like a sardine
6. The necessity to sweep one's house at least once a day to avoid the dreaded black foot
7. The broken bottles set in adobe walls as barbed wire substitute
8. The willingness and necessity of people to protest
9. That nearly all tourists and homeowners in the nicest tourist spots are extranjeros (foreigners)
10. Terrible beer (at least at first... until you realize it's cold and has alcohol in it... then it's delicious)
11. Frequent marriage proposals

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

On the Road

My first full day in Nicaragua was another day of travel. After picking up the necessary sunscreen and bug spray, we hit the bank, and then hit the road. The road consisted of a taxi (20 cordobas), a bus (60 cordobas), another taxi (12 cordobas), a very small motorcycle-toting ferry on a ridiculously rough riding lake (50 cordobas plus the cost of Laura's lunch, which we lost), another bus (18 cordobas), and feet (3 kilometers). 160 Cordobas is just under $10.

We stayed at Finca Magdalena, a cooperative organic farm on Volcan Maderas for $2.50 a night with a view of Volcan Conception in front and of the coffee drying flats in back. (I thought I'd posted the pictures, but apparently not). After a restful night on a cot and a belly full of gallo pinto, we set out on a hike. I should have been wary when our guide asked us "don't you have any shoes?" that the hike would not be so easy in Chacos, but alas, on we went.


The hike was beautiful if treacherous.


And after our guide, Freddy, finally realized that we would make it in our stupid gringa shoes, he was really sweet.

Only the Second Most...

Apparently San Salvador, El Salvador is the second most dangerous city in Latin America. That little unknown fact did not stop me from using my 7-hour layover there to do something other than window shop at Duty Free. I got there and decided to go to the beach. So I grabbed my bags, went though immigration and customs ($10) and set off to the beach. I was greeted by what seemed like a sea of small El Salvadoran people lined up at semi-permanent fences in bleacher-like formation. Then I was greeted by some pretty aggressive "taxi" drivers. After getting someone down from $25 to $16 for a 35k trip to the beach (La Libertad), I headed out to the parking lot with Manuel. Then he unlocked his white, unmarked, Toyota pickup truck and told me to get in. So I did. Gotta live, right? So as I tried my best to memorize our route (it was only 2 turns), we drove toward what I was desperately hoping was the beach. Otherwise, I would have a few people angry with me. Luckily, he was not a killer, rapist or abduction artist, and I made it to the beach in one piece with a little Spanish practice in for the day. I gave him a $2 tip for not killing me or taking me to an undisclosed location. Then I hit the beach... but I had my bags, which I didn't want stolen, so I was a little weighed down... which made beaching a little difficult, so I lunched. I ordered pescado (fish) without seeing the menu, and then realized about 20 minutes later what took so long: my food came to me wearing a toothy grin and a glimmer in its eye. I hadn't eaten a whole fish since I was in Benin, so it was a little shocking, but tasty.

Then I met William, the Salvadoran Surfer, and after a nice conversation he helped me find a bus back to the airport. About 45 minutes and 95 cents later, I was at the airport 1.5 hours before my flight. So I made it. I flew into Managua and the next day, we started our journey to Ometepe, the volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, which is the 3rd largest lake in Latin America, and the 21st largest in the world.

This One's for Media Concepts


NicaraguaRebel 009
Originally uploaded by MotleyPrincess.
My friend Matt enjoys bumper stickers--especially political ones--and even more especially than that, he likes anti-Bush stickers. So I thought he'd really enjoy these I found in Nicaragua near the beach in San Juan del Sur. It could easily be a gringos car, but I don't know. Take special notice of the sticker running up the right side...