Nicaragua

Thanks to Costa Rican visa requirements, today we ventured to Nicaragua, a first for us all. We drove about two and a half hours to the border. We managed to figure out where the secure parking was, parked our car and walked away to Costa Rican immigration. After a very short wait, our passports were stamped and we walked across the border to Nicaragua.

The contrasts were striking. It was immediately clear that Nicaragua is not as economically gifted as Costa Rica at this point in time. The people we met, however, seemed to be equally friendly. We were escorted to the Nicaraguan immigration and paid US$70 for our family to enter. This is customary when entering Nicaragua, so we have read.

With a little bit of help, we managed to find the local bus that would take us towards Granada. We were impressed with the heat, how busy everything was and by all of the people selling food and drinks on the bus. We managed to strike up some conversations with people on the bus. We talked about baseball. We talked about Nicaragua. We exchanged some phone numbers and emails as well.

It turns out that baseball is one of the national pasttimes in this country. Within the first hour, I noticed four hats with logos from American major-league baseball teams. In fact, it was a New York Yankees baseball hat that started our first conversation on the bus. After about 90 minutes and a few stops, some of our new friends told us that we should get off the bus and hustle over to another bus towards Granada. The second bus was a converted old school bus. The attendant on the back was letting people in and out the back door. We were very impressed with the short amount of time that the bus actually stopped. The attendant usually was hanging on with the door open while the bus was moving. It was very exciting for us all. The first bus ride set us back three dollars each. The second bus ride was about $.40 each.

On arriving to Granada, we were again struck by the heat. We walked through a local market on the way to the hotel. The kids' eyes were wide open, as it's clear there is more poverty and more trash on the street then we are all accustomed to in Costa Rica.

We found our lovely hotel without much difficulty. It's beautiful and open to the outside. The vegetation is gorgeous and tropical. After a quick dip in the pool, the first order of business was to check out the chocolate museum. We all had cold chocolate drinks. Mine was a traditional Nicaraguan chocolate drink that included, in addition to milk and cacao, cinnamon and corn. This is apparently the traditional way that the Mayans took their chocolate.

The kids were tussling over a small dish and managed to break it in the gift shop. The people working there were very nice and refused to let us pay for it. The chocolate museum was attached to a gorgeous hotel with a combination of traditional colonial architecture and modern art. There were even some turtles mixed in for fun. Sully enjoyed the squirrels and rabbits apparently being rehabilitated as well.

Nearby as well was an unique museum with a very large collection of Central American pottery from hundreds or even thousands of years ago. In addition, there were several very old funeral urns that we were told were shaped in the form of a pregnant woman's abdomen. Fortunately, we managed not to break anything here.

We strolled through town, past the beautiful main church and down the main street with restaurants. Of course, we managed to find some other jugglers. As we were talking and juggling with them, yet another local woman walked by and said that she used to be in a circus. She joined in the fun too. What kind of place is this? Strange coincidences.

We finally settled on a restaurant and ordered a very large dish of typical Nicaraguan food. The waiter, Daniel, was exceedingly friendly. He again explained Nicaragua's love of baseball as well as boxing. Apparently, his cousin plays for the local AAA baseball team and his brother is an accomplished boxer. Dinner and drinks were very tasty, but no one really enjoyed the blood sausage as much as we hoped. During dinner, several folks came up either asking us to buy things such as gum or cigarettes or played musical instruments for us to enjoy. Several very young children were either selling gum, or were making flowers or insects out of leaves. A few kids asked us for a little bit of the food. We obliged. Our dinner was very cheap and we asked for a to-go box, planning to give it away. We did not anticipate, though, that a couple of the kids would be competing for our leftovers. We finally sent them away with a girl who was about Sullivan's age. I do think this left an impression on our own kids. It sure did on me. We are fortunate indeed. Tomorrow will be another interesting day, I don't doubt.