Nicaragua, highs and lows..

8-10 March 2007

Crossing into Nicaragua we get hit by our first true scam on the entire tyip. Its not a good way to enter a country…

Having been told there is no bank there to change money, I use a street trader. I am dead tired after the long bus ride yesterday and not thinking straight. The exchange rate is 18 Cordobas to 1USD. I change $40 and just cant seem to do the arithmetic in my head. Getting frustrated I cant find my calculator, and believe the money changers one. Something feels wrong but we trade $40. About a minute later I finaly click. He has used a rigged calculator and short changed us by almost $25…..

I am furious. More at myself than him. We try to find him but he has disappeared. His friends say that hes not their friend when we ask them. After 10 mins we give up. This leaves me fuming for days
On a positive side the process of immigration is quite straight forward, which is an improvement on the minimum of two hours stated in our guide book.

The book also says positive things about the Pacific side beach town of San Huan del Sur, which is not too far away.

Unfortunately the book is wrong again.

The place is far from awesome, but is amazingly expensive. The dorms cost &US a head, and we finaly get a double for $15. The most we have ever paid till this point os $13, and even that was an exception…. Normaly we are under $10. This is concerning cos Nicaragua is supposedly the cheapest country in all of Latin America, ie Central and South America…

Amusement comes from the huge plethora of real estate shops. All in English and quoting incredible costs. Condos nowhere near the (dirty) beach come in at $250,000 USD… and the average wage for most people living here is $3 per day!!! Total ridiculous.

The other amusement comes from a mad Canadian who owns a seafood restaurant, Captain Barneys. He states that his beer battered fish and chops are the best in the world. He will make them for us, and we only have to pay half price. Or they will be free if we don’t like them. Then he throws in a milkshake for free. And of course tells his life story. Admitedly the fish is very nice, we finaly prise ourselves away later in the afternoon… hes as mad as a snake…

Climbing the high hill gives a great view over town and the coast line. We see an amazing sunset (the first in the entire trip) and are met by an El Salvedorian, who is drunk as a skunk and mad as a hatter. In a small world curiosity.. he is the business partner of the restauranteer!!

We had planned to stay here for 2 nights, but on the strength of this arvo, amusing as it has been, we decide to boost tomorrow morning.

The day of travel is not so long, but is soured by the second scam attempt in 2 days, this time in the dirty great capital of Managua. We have to taxi from one bus terminal to the other. A taxi driver agrees to 15 cordobas, then moments later his friend jumps in the front seat. As we pass a gas station he says I need gas money. I give him the agreed 15 cords while his friend gives him150. He then tells us that 15 was the agreed price just to get into the car, and travel was additional. I am still fuming about the border scam and tell him to get fucked. This turns into a screaming match, while Sara tries to be the voice of reason. The two of them threaten to drive off with our bags as soon as we get out. They then say lets go to the police station. We says that’s a good idea, noting that we are driving past a gaggle of cops and not stopping. In the end after five full minutes of this he gets out pulls our bags from the trunk and throws them on the ground. All but one that is, speeding off with it.

I have a rare explosion of extreme anger around now. Not pretty at all.

Then as we walk 200m back to the bus station, the cabs drives past us and throws the bag on the ground. It has been opened of course, and there is nothing of value in it. I am amazed that they gave it back though, and this eases my temper a little at least….

The drive to Leon takes 1 hour and I have mellowed by then. We get thru to the Big Foot Hostel no problems, and check in to their newest room, finished about 5 mins ago!

The operator here is Darren, an ex Oz Experience driver, who a mutual friend of ours told me about. We came here wanting to gain some insight into running a hostel in this part of the world, and Daz is more than forthcoming. He has a pretty sweet setup, and his Volcano Boarding trip is fun too. Basicaly we walk up a small volcano, run down into the center, climb back up, and slide down the side on homemade sleds. The speed of the sleds is pretty quick if you don’t brake. I highly appreciate the goggles and overalls, and am amazed that these are a very new addition!

Daz also takes us down to the beach to check out a surf comp. The beach is nicer than San Juan at least, and the water is amazingly warmer. Leon itself though doesn’t do much for us, and tempting as it is to stay there and hang with him, we decide to move on again. Sara has read about the Copan ruins in Honduras, and we are now going to try and sqeeze them into our busy schedule..