Hotel El Conquistador Managua

... passengers in the back and asked them where we were. We were in Managua, an hour or so from Masaya. The taxi driver said he would take us to the nearest internet cafe so I could cancel my bank card immediately.

Al was conscious of the fact that we only had 100 cordobas on us and the bus to Masaya would cost 60 cordobas for the both of us. We asked the taxi driver if he would be able to drive us back to Masaya where Alan could get his bank card ...

... the city, tent cities full of displaced Nicaraguans, and sense of disorganization. But our stay here did give us an appreciation of the city and the tumultuous history of natural disasters and political unrest of beautiful Nicaragua.

Today we experienced government inefficiency at its best as we attempted to ship our hammocks home. After getting quotes from UPS, DHL, and Federal Express for $750 - $900 to ship one big hammock and ...

... purchased down here in Managua. They bought this property and are beginning to build a house on it for future study abroad programs to Nicaragua. The land and house is beautiful! We got to look around the place and then played charades for a little while we waited on dinner. Dr. Giles had picked up food from a local restaurant... it was real Nicaraguan food and very delicious! There was so many different foods to try (and they were all prepared the Nicaraguan way) - beef, chicken ...

We made it safely!!! My flight was on time and smooth... so all that was great. We landed in Managua about 8:30 Nica time (so 10:30 at home). It took a while to go through customs and get our bags, but it wasn't too painful. I met some nice Nicaragua people on the plan who talked to me like I spoke Spanish - so I just smiled and said si! Also, once we got off the plane all of the airport people were masked! Apparently, they are scared of Americans bringing in swine flu?! kinda funny ...

We came to Granada on Tuesday morning. As we were about to catch the bus in Managua we saw the first tourist in days. It was an estrange feeling. In Granada, that tourist (a man from California) asked us about a hostel, and we went together to look for one. On the street, a boy told us about a woman who rented rooms in a colonial house and we went to have a look. She offered us a really beautiful and big room with private bathroom, in a very beautiful house with a ...

... become a paradise - it definitely has the potential! The way back to the park we walked the street where locals live. Big difference. Houses are small, no gardens inside. But everyone is really friendly. It seems the poorer people are, the more friendly and smiling they are! We did not feel any danger at all, like some (may) suggest. Back at the hotel, got online, read a bit to wait off the heat. Then we went into residential area on the west side of ...

... it was a great help for us that we could communicate with the locals!!!

Nevertheless, in spite of all the good advice other travellers gave to us, we will have to go through it all by ourselves!

I hope my blog will give you a good idea what's the country and the people like.
I hope you will enjoy it!

Sincerely, Hilde

PS. Dutch ...

... budget somewhat!! There was also monkey island which was tiny but had 4 monkeys living on it. Next stop was to see Volcano Masaya, which is actually 2 volcanos and 5 craters - one of which is still smoking (so there were lots of toxic gases in the air!). Then it was onto a handycraft market and then to a village well know for its pottery, here we saw ...

... river (originates?). Because I had been told I could take my camera, I did and ended up carrying my backpack on the top of my head holding it with one hand and swimming with the other one. That was ok for a few meters, but not for two hours. This was when I understood why the lovely planet mentioned that we had to be in good physical condition for this trek! Fortunately, another group caught up with us and those ones were definitely prepared. They had proper ...