Oh oh Nica

Not bad to start my week here in Nicaragua during the weekend. Namely an excellent opportunity to get myself a Nicaragua crash course. That is how it feels. Yesterday I ‘ did’ Managua on foot and by taxi. I started my tour climbing to the Loma de Tiscapa, a hill overseeing the unique crater lake in the middle of the city. There I saw how green Managua is, a great park it seems, with only a few houses scattered around. Reason for this false impression, is that almost zero high rise building were built, either destroyed by earthquakes and now no longer desired for the same reason. And single floor houses do simply not stand out in the lush green of this vast city. The Loma is also famous as the national hero Augusto Sandino, a freedom fighter who fought the American occupiers in the 1930s, has its statue here, and a museum as well. Then my feet (and my lonley planet) took me through barrio Martha Quezada, with its tiny shops, budget restaurants and bars. Tired of walking, I asked a taxista to drive me around the Zona monumental, a mouthful for a rather surrealist part of town where very few people walk around the rectangular theatre, a church without an interior (as it was devastated by the earthquake 40 (!) years ago and never restored) and a national museum where I was the only one to visit at that hour. Ok, it was hot, that may have scared people off the street. At the nearby Malecon (the rather shabby boulevard “ of broken dreams” ) of Lake Managua, I found more people but unfortunately quite loud music as well. I moved on and ended up in a quieter part of the boulevard, the brand new Salvador Allende pier. And a fine move that was: here I had my finest moments of the day at the lakeside, having a great lunch: a good vigoron (consistent national dish of yucca, onion, dried meat and cabbage) fried bananas with beancream, and local Tona beer. Looking across the lake, feeling the fresh wind in my face, I mused about the meaning of life while watching a dead volcano at the other side. Wow, that sounds philosophical doesn’t it! On the way back to the hotel, I stopped by the New Cathedral, a concrete giant, where I could join the service and sing with the local crowd. Back at the hotel, I lay down for a while, before going to Mariecke, the regional manager who had invited me for dinner that night. Very cosy and nice talking about the life here and the situation back in the Netherlands. Wow, that was not bad for a first day. A good night’s sleep prepared me for the second… a day I will never forget. See some photos below, that says it all. The true story will be told later… OK, so far for the fun. Tomorrow work starts. But this makes me sometimes realize what a nice job I have…