Managua
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
31
110
Trip End
Ongoing
Managua, the capital **,
Nicaragua
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Just stayed the one night in Managua. Main reason for the trip was to check out a few reqs for a visa to Columbia but said we`d have a quick look round the city while we were there.
A large, dirty, sprawling city with buses flying from all directions. Had three near death experiences yesterday, one of which included Collins went flying into my neck from the seat opposite me. Like all of Central America so far, the drivers are absolutely crazy. The bus driver capitalonians of Nicaragua are no exception. They too drive
the old American school buses.
Felt far less safe than in San Salvador, Mex City or even for the hour I was in Guatamala City...mainly because it`s empty of tourists (which of course is a good thing in the long run) but even the "touristy" sights like the Cathedral and the Monumental area (where they have a huge square dedicated to Pope JP..thought that was interesting) are eerily quiet. It was a scenario where you felt that anything could happen and no one would know.
Of course my feelings of insecurity were not helped by how utterly desperate the people are. The poverty is unbelievable. I had heard before going to Nicaragua that it was the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere but I felt that I was well prepared for that, after coming from parts of Mexico and Guatamala and seeing Bolivia in 2002. But Nicaragua tops them all. You can see old ladies and men sitting at the side of the road with their bones jutting out of their flacid, weather beaten skin. Women approach you begging for food rather than money for their children as a lot of the supermarkets won`t let them in.Many people don`t even have the energy to lift their gaunt necks to look at you when you pass. It truely is disturbing. It`s the first place that I`ve been that I would seriously think about staying to do some volunteer work if I had time.
Daniel Ortega, Leftie Prez, recently re-elected in November 5th, 2006, will have his work cut out for him to try and sort the mess that is now Nicaragua out.
On a lighter note, the men who are not poverty-stricken here are very cheeky. They wolf whistle and hiss at me even when Casanova is walking beside me. Usually most men in other countries have held off when they see Collins but this is not the case with many of the Nicaraguans. They even shout stuff at him sometimes! This morning, I had a 45 year old proposition me on the bus when Collins was sitting up in the front seat. Unreal I tell ya!
Just arrived in Granada today.At first glance, it looks beautiful. Again, there are homeless lyin on the flat of their backs everywhere you look. More on Granada later.
