Managua – Day 1

After arriving at the airport, realizing my one bag did not arrive due to how late I arrived at Dallas, I went through the final security checkpoint where your bags are x-rayed before you exit out of the baggage claim.  Waiting for me were Tim who lives in Nicargua; and my Aunt and nephew, Stephen, who had arrived earlier in the day.

Tim, Stephen, Mary

After a taxi ride back to Hotel Los Piños we stayed up and chatted about the journey, certain things to expect in Nicaragua, how not to shock myself on the shower head and that was that.

The first morning we got up, had breakfast of scrambled eggs, gallo pinto, bread and fresh juices; and waited for Tim to arrive.  After talking and playing with the new Blackberry PlayBook, the kids – Birmania, Anly and Ary all arrived and we went swimming in the cold waters of the hotel pool.

Hippo Zone

This was really a day in Managua to get our bearings – so we walked around quite a bit stopping in the Hippo Zone for lunch, going to see Sherlock Holmes en Español at Metrocentro,walking back to the Hotel to pick up our bags stopping at a coffee shop to get out of the rain and then back to Tim and Bernarda’s where we stayed for the rest of the trip.

Christmas gifts were given to the kids, Bernarda and Tim – and thus began the start of Ary, the Nintendo addict.

I was surprised at how cheap the movies were – essentially $30 for 7 of us with drinks.  On the other hand, as I determined later in the trip, clothing was on par with North American pricing and video games and electronics were about double the price.  The food, though, just amazing, and fresh.

C$200

Money, the Cordoba (C$) is exchanged at roughly US$1 = C$22 these days.  The money is made of a plastic polymer similar to what you would find in Australia, New Zealand and coming soon to Canada.

Guidebooks I read seemed to imply that US$ were used more and you do see prices in both C$ and US$, however as I learned, Nicaraguans do prefer to take Cordobas.  You can also get money changed on corners – a bit faster than going to the bank where you’l wait for ages.

640k/sec

Don’t expect fast net access in country.  640kbps was pretty consistant everywhere we went.  Check out the speeds and prices for residential service on Claro.

Masaya – Day 2

Getting up the next morning, after a great breakfast and lunch provided by Bernarda we set off for Masaya – the City of Flowers, but specifically the Volcán de Masaya.

Ary

For the whole trip we let Bernarda negotiate the taxis and bus transit, negotiating down the gringo rate.  Bernarda is not a woman you want to cross given her life experiences and the fact she knows how to use a machete really well.  LOL

Other than the Dina busses donated by Russia, busses in Nicaragua that go between shorter city destinations are typically vans that get filled up with people or smaller busses.  Going to Masaya we were on a smaller bus, and returning we were in a van.

Viajeros internacionales

Volcán de Masaya is an active volcano – you can see the smoke and smell the sulfur in the air.  It features a lookout that you can walk up, and there are also cave tours that you can go on.  The caves are interesting – not only were they were they sites of religious ceremony, but they were used for hiding in the civil war, and bodies were also hidden here during the civil war in the 1980s by both sides.

Bernarda y Tim

After visiting the volcano and the caves, we stopped for lunch at the visitor centre.  I have to say, beer never tasted so good – especially when you’re thirsty. LOL.  I will say, the two beers of Nicargua – Victoria and Toña were tasty.

Tim and I went to Metrocentro and I got replacement clothes for my missing bag as we did not know when it would arrive.  I have to say the service at Siman, which is a department store which is celebrating 90 years in business, was amazing.  It reminded me of what you got at department stores in Canada in the 1980s and earlier.  Very much appreciated!

Ary y Iain

That night we went out and had pizza.  During dinner, we received a call from TACA saying that my bags had arrived and that they were at the house.  We said we were at the pizzeria up the road and they said they’d drop the bag off there. Yes – imagine any of the Canadian or US-based airlines doing they. They can’t even be bothered to bring my bag up to my front door at the condo here! See why I say TACA rocks?

The pizza we had was the best commercial I ever had!

More gaming on the Nintendo for Ary and Anly, more texting on her phone for Birmanya, more teasing of Stephen to learn Spanish and more chatting for the adults. and then time for bed.

On my way!

Needless to say, it was difficult to blog while in Central America.  Yes, I could have written something on my laptop every day however, I wanted to live as unplugged as much as I could, and I’d say I was pretty successful at that given how much I sit in front of a computer at home and work, or with some form of mobile device.

So I figured I’d re-live the trip and write something more cohesive over the next few days about the trip, including pictures.

As you can see to the left, I was ready to go and as I was waiting at Toronto Pearson International Airport, it looked less and less that my holiday was going to start on time.  In fact, my flight leaving for Dallas was two hours late.  Admittedly, I expected TACA to be late, not Air Canada.  Oh well, first world problems.  As I said in this blog entry, TACA were fantastic on many levels which made my trip.  Mucho gracias TACA!

Equipaje

I traveled very lightly this trip, something I have been learning to do as I travel to the USA, and prepared to have two sets of clothes with me in the blue bag, and everything non-essential in the brown bag.  Since we were two hours late leaving Toronto, it meant I had 20 minutes to get to my TACA flight.  I made it, the brown bag didn’t. LOL!

Seating on TACA was great! Most North American airlines have the tray up quite high, and pamphlets, magazines and such down lower.  TACA gives more leg room by pushing everything up.  I like this and more airlines should consider adopting this kind of layout.

El asentar de TACA

What can you do – nothing, just trust the bags will arrive.

Arriving in San Salvador, El Salvador I was a man out of my comfort zone in a country where I had no formal training in speaking the language.  What’s a man to do?  Order a cappuccino con sabor and a Pollo Empanada in Spanish.  I did really well – yeah it’s not *that* difficult but I was proud that I was understood and someone didn’t’ say, “Speak English to me, your Castillano is horrible”, as I have done in French.

And thus started the sponge and desire to learn a new language.  And what a sponge my mind was.  I do wonder how closely linked learning a spoken language and programming language are in the brain.  I’ve got a knack for being able to pick up on certain key components and just running with what I have learned.

Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador

That said, I was reminded of the Pet Shop Boys song, Discoteca, from their Billingual album, “I don’t speak the language, I don’t understand a word…” – More than a few times during the trip.

After my walk from one end of the airport to the other, I arrived at Puerta 5 for my 40 minute flight to Managua where I was picked up by my cousin Tim – who has lived in Nicaragua for 15 years; my aunt and nephew who arrived in Nicaragua earlier in the day.

A tourist visa costs US$10 payable to the customs official you first meet.  They do speak English if you need to, but I always recommend knowing a few words of Spanish.

Shocking! Absolutely shocking!

One taxi ride to Hotel Los Piños where we stayed at for the first night, much chatting and then off to my first night of sleep.

Not without a lesson in shocking showers.  See, for those of us who are lucky to have hot and cold clean water running through out our houses in the first world, not every country has the luxury of hot water running throughout a home, nor clean water.  What you see to the right is an electric heater to give you hot water.  Yes, you can see how it’s wired – my aunt gave me specific warnings to be careful in case of a shock.  Needless to say, I got a nice shock down the left arm. 🙂

And that’s my day of travel.

I wrote a speech last night to the family in Spanish that Tim proofed (minus the addition I wrote specifically for him *GRIN*).  With a few minor changes and a missing word here and there – it was pretty good.   Here is what I said:

Bernarda, Birmania, Anly, Ary y Timothy

Ésta fue mi primer viaje a Managua, Nicaragua y Centroamérica. A total el mundo, muchas gracias por su hospitalidad.

Bernarda – Muchos gracias por la comida fantástica y por dejarnos quedar en su casa. Fueron muy amables.

Birmania y Anly – Buena suerte con sus estudios en la escuela, medicina e inglés

Ary – ¡No juegas con el Nintendo demasiado y estudias mucho!

Timothy – ¡Orgulloso de su!

¡Muchos gracias y yo voy a versar otra vez!

—

Bernarda, Birmania, Anly, Ary y Timothy

This was my first trip to Managua, Nicaragua and Central America, and I’d like to thank all of you for everything.

Bernarda – Thank you for your food and for letting us stay in your home.

Birmanya and Anly – Good luck with your studies in school, medicine and english.

Ary – Don’t play too much with your Nintendo and study hard.

Timothy – I am proud of you.

Thank you and see you soon!

—

Bernarda said that with 4 months in Nicaragua, I could be speaking Spanish almost fluently, I picked it up that quickly.

I have arrived in Managua via San Salvador and Dallas.

Firstly, TACA – great airline, and I highly recommend them.  They were fiercely on time, clean, great service, great entertainment system when you’re on a flight with seat back TVs.

Air Canada, which I adore, not getting such high praises from me, but hey that’s a first world problem.  In short, my flight was two hours late and my checked bag with the rest of my clothes (thankfully brought a few days to change with) didn’t come with me. as the time between flights at DFW was too short.

If you’re ever at San Salvador, check out the coffee shop across from Gate 5.  Tasty coffee and epañadas!

A few things, some of which I expected but I figured I’d document for the uninitiated.  I’m not going to sugar coat it, and I’m not going to criticize things either as it’s not my place to…

• The price of electronics is high here.  For example, a 160G Playstation 3 which costs CDN$249 to $299, I think, is US$549 in Duty Free shops.  There are a few considerations – import duties, the cost of securing an electronics shop, 24/7 security as well…  My understanding is that a Blackberry Playbook, that we have the luxury of purchasing for CDN/US$199 for 16G, are close to US$700 here.
• I will say, I was pleased to see PS3s, Wiis and even a red PS2 for sale.  Wish they’d sell electronics in North American Duty Free Shops! LOL!
• Don’t shock yourself on the hot water.  Say what?  Yes, in the bathroom you have cold water pumped, in this case, through the hotel, with a heater on top of the shower head you have to turn on.  You have to be careful as you can get shocked – and I did. LOL, I’m still alive. 🙂
• The taxi sounded like it was in desperate need of an oil change, the seatbelt didn’t work and the speedometer wasn’t working.  It’s all part of life here.
• The coffee is good!  I normally never take my coffee black, but had some tonight and it was tasty!
• The fee for your visa to enter the country is now US$10.
• The people are very friendly and will help you speak Spanish – very patient!

And that’s enough from me for tonight.  Tomorrow, it’s meeting Tim’s wife and the kids.  Unfortunately Anly cut her hand open and got 4 stitches.  I say she’s a warrior against her brother. 😉

View Larger Map

I’m headed on a one week vacation with my Aunt and nephew to Nicaragua to visit my cousin, Tim.

Tim has lived in Nicaragua for about 15 years, first going down to teach english, and when the hurricane hit, he stayed to assist with the clean up and got involved in various health programs and initiatives in the country – starting off in Waslala. In addition he got hitched to a lovely woman named Bernarda, becoming the father of three.  The family now lives in Managua.

It’s about time I got down to Nicaragua. 🙂

I can’t say I ever thought I’d visit Central America – other than Tim and family being down there, honestly, I didn’t have much interest and they’re really – at this time – the only reason why I’d go. If they weren’t there, I simply would not have visited.  It’s like visiting Mexico a few years ago – I would never have picked to goto Mexico, but I ‘won’ a free trip through work to Cabo San Lucas, so why not?

That said, after reading up on potential side trips and such, I’m ready for this adventure. And why not? It takes me off the beaten path.