Final Thoughts on Nicaragua

To me, traveling is the greatest life experience there is, especially when you can go somewhere that is, in the words of Monty Python, something completely different.  What you always learn is that even though the culture, landscape, food and art is different, people are always the same...welcoming, friendly, and just plain nice.

There were many things to love in Nicaragua...

The landscape...Nicaragua is a land of lakes and volcanoes.  And you can't get any better then the Island of Ometepe.  This place was so gorgeous.  Going over to the island on the ferry, with the two volcanoes of Concepcion and Maderas rising out of Lake Colciboca, is one of the great sites of the world.  We were lucky to have a clear sky, with just a puff of cloud on top of Concepcion.

The food...While I've had better in my life, I did have some wonderful food there.  The absolute best grilled fish I've had in my life is at a little shack of a restaurant in Merida, on Ometepe.  It was a 'guapote', a native fish from the lake.  Words really can't describe this amazing meal we had.  Also, in Granada there are some great restaurants and we had some fantastic steaks at Zaguan and some really good fish at El Mediteraneo.

The music and culture...we heard some really nice Nicaraguan marimba during the Diriamba festival.  This is classic Nicaraguan music and is beautiful to listen to.  During the festival of San Sebastian, we saw some wonderful traditional dancing and music...

The people....I think we met more people on this trip that we feel are now friends then on any other trip we've taken.  The Nicaraguan people are very welcoming and are very eager to show you their country. 

Here are just some of the nice people we've met along the way...

Don Alvaro Molina...the owner of the Hacienda Merida, Don Alvaro is a great guy.  As soon as we arrived at his hotel, he sat down with us to talk about his place, his island and his country.  He gave us a real perspective on recent Nicaraguan culture and, especially for Amy who always thought the Sandinistas were the only good guys, some new ideas on the reality of politics in Nicaragua.  Just imagine if you had had your property taken away by your government and you had to flee the country?  This happened to several folks we met there and made us realize that things aren't always as they appear. Here is Don Alvaro with one of his employees, Darwin...

Homero and Imelda Rodriguez...two wonderful ex-pat Nicaraguans, who are originally from Esteli in the north and are now living in Los Angeles, were visiting Ometepe with their friends Jeffrey and Sandy.  Both Homero and Imelda escaped Nicaragua when they were teenagers as their whole town was being blown up in the revolution.  Now, 30+ years later, they come back often to visit family and tour the country.  Homero and Imelda are great people and we had a lot of laughs with them (and Jeffrey and Sandy, who were being introduced to foreign travel by Homero and Imelda).  We also learned more about just what happens in a revolution and the shock of having to flee your home when you are so young.  Here is our picture with Homero and Imelda on the left and Sandy and Jeffrey on the right...

Roberto Rappaccioli...the owner of the hotel we stayed at in Diriamba, Roberto was so generous in showing us around town, introducing us to his friends and family and partying with us during the great fiesta.  We always seemed to run into Roberto at different times during the festival and we knew it was time for another good time with some local folks.  He even took us to his mother's house, where we got to meet many members of his family and eat some of his mother's wonderful Indio Viejo.  I especially want to thank Roberto for warning me about pickpockets at the festival.  Because of this, I only had $15 dollars pickpocketed from me instead of my wallet and credit card which I left in the hotel!

Rudy Carrasquilla...meeting Rudy was really serendipitous, as he sat next to us on the flight to Houston.  Rudy is from Diriamba also, although he has lived in the Bay Area for over 50 years.  Rudy is another fun loving guy who was down in Diriamba for the fiesta and to visit his 91 year old dad.  It was fun sharing stories of our time at the fiesta and showing Rudy our photos from the trip and it made our 3 hour flight to Houston seem like a 3 minutes.  With us all living in the Bay Area I know we will keep up our new friendship.

So we will keep many memories of the wondeful 8 days in Nicaragua (although it seemed like a month!).  I hope we go back some day to visit our new pals and enjoy the friendship of the Nicaraguan people. Just as with other place we go, Nicaragua isn't for everyone, but for those in search of a little adventure in their travels, Nicaragua is a great place to go.  And we just scratched the surface!!

some random impressions of Nicaragua

images:
in the morning, many women sweep the yard around their houses absolutely clear of all leaves and weeds, so that out in the countryside, there is a lovely sense of cleanness and neatness. Our friend Imelda who we met here, who grew up in Esteli and left as a 17 year old right as the revolution was happening ("luckily my grandmother had worked to get me my passport and luckily it was not in her house which was blown up") uses a woman's yard as the measure of whether or not she will eat in the restaurant. It's a pretty contrast, between the lush rainforest and the flat clean yard.
Aprons. women selling food to you on buses, prefer a style of apron I've never seen before. it is only from the waist down, and it has three or four scalloppy rows of scallopy ruffles forming 3 deep scallopy pockets. usually white but sometimes all kinds of colors. I suggested to Craig I get one, and greet him at the front door when he comes home exhausted. has a very 1950s kind of feel.
Fabrics: I never saw such nice fabric choices as in the costumes that the dancers wore in Dariamba. velvets and brocades, silky scarves at the wrists. nice complement to the hats made of peacock feathers.
carts: oxcarts, pony carts, single and double, bicycle carts, motorized carts. pedicabs with one cycler pulling a family of four. Two huge oxen yoked to a cart. One single pony dragging along a huge log out of the rainforest, just like we watched elephants do in south India.
Rich and poor: I have learned a lot more about what has happened to Nicaragua in the last 30 years. My mom went down to help the sandinistas who our government was blockading by smuggling in school supplies and many friends of mine have volunteered here. but what I guess is not too surprising is that at this time, the successful businesses are started and run (quite well) by people from the educated upper classes who left Nicaragua when the sandinistas started redistributing the lands of those who opposed them. As a tourist I've now met quite a few of these people and as a middle aged person how could I not be understanding about why they felt they had to leave, for their own safety and wellbeing. And they are nice folks who acted the same way I'd act if the US government suddenly seized my property. Revolutions are not pretty. and sadly the revolutionaries here who got in power reacted as others seem to: once you are in power and have a chance to make your own family's life more secure you seize the chance. yet I am sad that Nicaragua's experiment didn't seem to accomplish much.

At least in the places we have been,there is not much visible sign of much of a middle class.... the restaurants and hotels here in Granada are very busy but other towns we have been in don't have much in the way ff formal restaurants, people just don't have money to eat out. the snacks that are sold seem utterly basic and not looking that nutritious, compared with foods that poorer folks buy in mexico. Craig and I are quite comfortable with the clean 'comedors' in most Mexican food markets but the food markets we have seen here are chaotic and much more filthy. The bus stations in Mexico and Peru are tidy and organized, the bus stations we've been in here are like those in the poorer villages of south india, just a huge gravelly area with buses randomly scattered. So there is a lot of infrastructure when a country has been stable for a while, that is not here at this time. And that's a bit sad.
Other memories
There is a sound of many small bells ringing which I associate with this point in a catholic mass when the priest lifts up the wafer. Well in Nicaragua that's the sound of the Eskimo ice cream vendor wheeling his cart towards you. One time I kept hearing it on the bus and could not figure out why Santa Was still around.... Well that must have been loading an ice cream truck up on top of the school is
Rocking chairs: in the cool of evening, the oldsters of Granada come out on the front stoop in their rockers and rock the night away. Their quiet city hs become a tourist stop with street cafes and hawkers and loud bands and stereos. What's come over us, they probably say. In the good old days.....

Lake beaches. In granada, we have finally found out where ordinary folks hang out on a Sunday afternoon
Which is far away from the touristic downtown. Instead people are out at bar/restaurants on the black sandy beaches or cooking out with their families with lots of loud music and dancing. We walked quite a ways, with no other gringos in sight. What a nice change!

Beis-a-bol Been Berry Berry Good To Me

We have made it to Granada, also known as Gringolandia. It is a beautiful city, the oldest city that is still on terre ferme in the Americas. Apparently, the oldest city in the Americas is underwater somewhere off the coast of Florida. It is very nice here, right on Lake Colciboca and has beautiful colonial buildings, great restaurants, and nice hotels. In fact, it was a bit of a chore finding a hotel yesterday when we got in as all of them seem to be booked and we were getting a bit worried looking around town, carrying our backpacks. But finally we found a place just a few blocks from the main square called Patio del Malinche. We are paying WAAAAAAAAAY above our normal $35 and splurging on this place a $85 per night. But hey, we all deserve a little luxury once in awhile, don't we?

Last night we had dinner in a wonderful restaurant that was recommended by our new Nicaraguan/American friends, Homero and Imelda, called Zahuan. It's a steak lovers paradise and Amy had a tender, delicious filet mignon and I had a skirt steak that was as tender as soft butter. This was washed down by the tasty Flor de Cana Gran Reserva rum, a glass of Carmeniere for Amy and a cold beer for me. There was live Nicaraguan music and just a really nice atmosphere. It was a pricey dinner at $43, but for all of this? You decide if this is expensive.

Today we decided to go to the nearby town of Masaya, which is known for its craft market and hammock makers. We had gotten the address of a really good hammock maker from Don Alvaro in Ometepe and decided to check him out. I know, we already have a couple of Yucatan hammocks but you can never have enough hammocks!

We took the chicken bus over, which is an experience itself. We have been lucky to get seats on all the chicken buses we've taken so far and this time we got seats, too. In an hour we were in Masaya and after wandering around getting a bit lost, we hailed a cab and he took us to the market. Nothing great there, so we went down to the hammock area, a bunch of small places that make hammocks which are right on the lake. We found Mr Sauza, who was the hammock maker for Don Alvaro and bought a nice one which is off white with some blue trim. Very nice.

Right next to the hammock maker is the town baseball stadium, a nice big stadium that is similiar to some of the minor league stadiums in the US. It probably holds about 2000 fans, but today a little league game was going on and there were about 50 proud parents watching. The kids looked to be high school age. So we got to experience a Nicaraguan baseball game, which is a lot of fun. Baseball (or beisbol here) is the national pastime in Nicaragua and the Nicaraguans are big fans. We figured out who the home team was and were cheering right along with the parents.

Tonight we are back at the Malinche, swimming in the nice pool and enjoying the cooling afternoon. Again, Nicaragua has presented us with wonderful suprises and another joyfull day.

More Pictures from Nicaragua

Here are more pictures from the big festival! Thanks to the iPad.

Roberto and some of his huge family...

Dancers with masks and peacock hats...

Dancing Saints and Cold Beer

We are in the small town of Diriamba about an hour south of Managua. Here, in the third week of January, is held the oldest, most traditional festival in Nicaragua , th Festival of Saint Sebastian. It has something to do with the statue of San Sebastian being washed up on a beach near here 500 years ago and the statue was in perfect shape after being in the ocean a long time. Anyway, San Sebastian has a couple of buddies, also saints in nearby towns who get together three times a year and parade around in the streets in big processions with troops of folkloric dancers. The statues are all about six feet high and carried around by 6 or 8 strong men. Th procession lasts all day and covers many miles. It is proceeded by many folkloric dance trops and many thousands of people. All were Nicaraguans except maybe 10 foreigners.

The dances in the festival all have to do with making fun of the Conquistadors as all the dancers wear masks depicting some kind of Conquistador. There are old men and old ladies dancing to marimba music, young men and ladies twirling around, and many young men dancing to drums and flutes who wear tall hats made out of ribbons and peacock feathers.

Once the three saints have met up in the next town, they are greeted by the Virgen Mary, who sends them on thir way back to Diriamba. Here, in the church, they mar h in with the dancers with thousands of people whistling, cheering and waving flags in which only can be compared to a giant, very racous pep rally.

We are being shown around town here by the very nice owner of our hotel, Roberto. He is a very fun loving man who built this hotel on his family's old coffee plantation. It is called Jardin and Vivero Tortuga Verde. Rooms are $35 and are very nice. We have had dinner with Don Roberto each night and of course he knows everyone, so we have got to meet a lot of folks. Roberto enjoys his cold beer, so of course we have joined him on a number of occasions. Nicaraguan beer is pretty light, but who is going to complain about a cold beer on a hot day? Yesterday, we met Roberto's 90 year old mother, who was serving food to all her friends, which is a local tradition on this day.

Brahma Bulls, Grilled Fish and Creedance

We had an amazing bike ride on the island today. Saw a heard of Brahma bulls, just like those you see in India, head down to the lake and take a drink. Cycled through a village filled with cute kids who all wanted their picture taken. Ended up at a nice little restaurant where we heard they make the best fish on the island. This was indeed true, the best grilled fish I've ever had. The view from the restaurant was a group of local kids playing in the lake and the owner of the restaurant had Creedance on the stereo. What could be better?