My Nicaraguan experience

(welcome to Nicaragua)

I've been in Nicaragua for almost two weeks now, and I've got to say, the experience hasn't been the greatest of all the countries so far. In fact, I' d go so far as to say it's been my least favourite Central American country so far. There are a number of reasons for that:

• I've been injured and doing rehab.
• The people.
• Expectations.

I left El Salvador with injured knees from my body surfing mishap. Your body and mind are so inter-related, whenever one is out of balance, the other is surely going to be also. So, I must admit that my temperment has not been the best, and the glasses that I've been watching the world from here have been a little injured. I have gone to physiotherapy in the two towns in Nicaragua that I've been to that have physiotherapists. The quality of the treatment has been a little suspect. The first doctor I went to was a little 70 year old man who, without personal assessment, went straight to his generic "knee problems" sheet, and gave me some generic exercises. Ohhhhkay. They actually did help. The second doctor, God save him, again without personal assessment, gave me some generic physio, a massage, and a spinal adjustment (who was also a chiropractor). Thank you sir, but I've never had such bad back pain in my life, and have been bed-ridden for four days. Right, so this has obviously affected things.

Secondly, the people here are not nearly as polite as other places I've visited. This came as a big shock, given the fact that all the traveller's that I'd met had said Nicaraguans are such hospitable and nice people. Well, so far, I've been lied to, stolen from, cheated, and treated like a money object constantly. A few times I've been asking simple questions, like, "what's this food made of?" or "where does this bus go?" and just been completely ignored and looked at with disgust, like I should just know. Weird. Maybe they don't like bearded people.

And clearly, I can't overlook the roll of expectations in my disappointment. I expected great things from Nicaragua. People have been talking about it so highly: the people, the scenery, the culture. I suspect most of those people did a lot of drugs, or came from places I never want to visit. With grand expectations, come grand disappointments. Having arrived from El Salvador, which was such an amazing experience, Nicaragua had big shoes to fill, and little feet.

Of course, even though the experience hasn't been the best, it hasn't totally been the shits either. There are always silver linings on dark clouds.



I've made my way from the northern border with Hondurus, down the West coastal region, to Granada.

I spent a few days in the north, in Esteli, a city that was a stronghold for the revolutionary group, the FLSN (aka the Sandinistas), that overthrew the Somosa dictatorship in the late 1970s. I could feel a certain coldness and tension in the people up there. The war and it's realities is not so far removed from the people. Check out the waterfall near Esteli, it was one of the highlights (not so much because of the waterfall, but because of the really great people we met there).



(A waterfall near Esteli, in the north)

From Esteli we headed south to Leon, one of the two old colonial jewels of Nicaragua. It was touristy. Coming from El Salvador and northern Nicaragua, this was quite a shock. There were white people everywhere, and with them, the generic white-person treatment you get from the locals who deal with the tourists every day. But Leon itself is quite a nice city. It is a city of art and culture, with a mix of the old and the new everywhere you look. It had a number of beautiful murals, some so big that I couldn't capture them with my camera.


(mural numero uno, the full length of a basketball court)


(mural numero dos -- Leon is Culture)


(mural numero tres: Bush Genocide, Enemy of Humanity, Death to the Imperial Invader)


(Leon: bike shops are a common site in the markets)

From Leon, we took a day trip out to San Jacinto, famous for it's bubbling mud pits. When we arrived, every kid in the town was there to greet us and offer there guide services. It's pretty cute when a 4 year old kid is touting his professional guide service. Unfortunately, we didn't have any money to give them for tips, so we walked into the mouth of the dragon alone, with them yelling warnings of great grave danger behind us.



(boiling mud pits of death and destruction)

At one point, a little girl ran up to me because I was getting too close to the soft spots in the ground. She told me that just recently a cow had fallen into the pit beside me, and died. After learning I didn't have any money, she quickly made her exit.


(cow killers)

From Leon, we wanted a break from it all (that being the Gringo Trail -- all of the places you can find in the Lonely Planet guide book), so we headed up the coast for a few days to Jicalillo. We'd seen an advertisement in a hostel for a place owned and operated by a Californian woman that wasn't advertised in the LP, touting and empty beach with "nothing to do". She sounded like a hippy. Hippy gold. Was I ever right, dude man guy. But she was absolutely lovely, as was her place. There were only a few people, and the locals were not overly touristed and were lots of fun and happy to have us there. This is where we watched the full-moon thunderstorm.


(our shell-filled deserted beach)


(only us)


(okay, not ONLY us)

We didn't have much to do but read, enjoy the water and the beach and watch the sunsets. With the thunderstorms at night, there wasn't electricity (how ironic). But that was no problem, we just lit candles, and enjoyed the shows.


(I love the big skies)


(admiring a sunset)

From Rancho Tranquilo, we headed for the other colonial jewel of Nicaragua, Granada. And I thought Leon was touristy! This place is probably tied for the most touristy city I've seen on my trip, with Antigua, Guatemala! Very picturesque, it's a nice place to stroll around and take in the architecture, or walk through a bustling market. This place has an unbelievable number of Westernised eateries, to cater to tourists. It's actually been tricky finding a place where locals go to eat!



(Granada, from the church bell tower)


(God loves a nice sunset)

When my back is good enough, we're outta here. We're heading for a less touristy area, and apparently one of the most beautiful spots in Nicaragua: Isla de Ometepe.