Postcard from Managua Nicaragua
The day I arrived in Managua went from one disaster to another all day long. First, I had bad information about the availability of a deluxe air-conditioned bus north from Granada and had to take an old rattletrap school bus up to Managua. Then, looking for the major international bus terminals in the "other" city center on a public bus I got robbed! I knew the guy was up to no good and kept a close watch on all my valuables. Even with all that heightened awareness, he managed to get the folded money out of my right front pocket, about $110 in US and Cordobas bills. To be honest, I may have made it easy for him by exposing the wad when I fumbled with the coins in the same pocket to pay the bus fare.
Next, all the deluxe bus terminals in Managua had only Spanish speaking staff, and getting schedule information proved to be almost impossible. Fighting my way in and out of the offices meant running the gauntlet of obnoxious hotel and taxi touts, some quite persistent, even threatening. As I hoisted my backpack and headed back toward a barely acceptable hotel I'd seen earlier, it began to rain. I hopped from the leaky shelter of one tree to another until it really started to come down. Stranded under a leaking tree that became increasingly porous, I quickly got soaked. Eventually, a Special Forces soldier poked his head out of a white tent nearby and motioned me to join him under his shelter. Inside were three of the most heavily armed and armored combatants I have ever seen. Clad in black, they seemed to be a riot squad or anti-terrorist force waiting for something to call them into action. When the rain finally paused, I dashed the five blocks to my $40 hotel, both my clothes and backpack completely soaked. So much for Monday. The next day things brightened up considerably, and my third day was great. I walked five hours from the hotel down to a spot near Lake Managua where archaeologists have excavated a layer of rock containing footprints of twelve individuals who walked on wet volcanic ash six thousand years ago. The record of ancient footprints at Huellas de Acahualinca is impressive, clearly the highlight of my visit to Managua.
My present hotel is not bad, not an excellent value at $68, but not bad. The breakfast is mediocre at best, but I am only about a five-minute walk to a modern shopping mall with an extensive food court. Give me a Big Mac or some KFC chicken and I will tolerate most other irritations without exaggerated complaint.
While having lunch there one day I noticed all the fast food counters serving chicken had signs featuring pictures of happy fowls. It struck me as ironic that pictures of smiling chickens would be used to encourage people to eat them. I’ll bet the chickens weren´t consulted in this matter.
Managua has no conventional city center any more; the earthquake of 1972 destroyed most of the central business district and killed thousands. Today, commercial activity and shopping are clustered around a series of small to large shopping malls scattered around what used to be the city center. The new capital complex has been built on the previously devastated area; only the ruins of the cathedral remain of the original buildings.
Everyone seems to use taxicabs if they can afford them. The buses are old dilapidated decommissioned American school buses. The same old yellow buses are used all over the country for public transport, so someone must have made a killing on old American school bus trade-ins a couple decades ago. Some still sport the fading names of the original school district painted on their sides.
An important purpose of ceiling fans down here seems to be mosquito control. One local told me the moving air makes it difficult for the little flitters to navigate with the precision needed to target tasty human hot spots. I can’t confirm that, but it sounds reasonable.
One sees seriously armed private security agents everywhere there is anything of portable value. Some of these guys carry military type automatic weapons. Local attitudes toward the reality of danger from common criminals or gangs of criminals vary considerably. The US State Department leaves no doubt they consider the dangers real and caution every American traveler to take extraordinary precautions. Except for my encounter with the pickpocket on the crowded bus, I have seen nothing that would alert me to anything more dangerous than one might face in some parts of Los Angeles.
Printed time schedules and fares at bus stations, even the deluxe services, are closely guarded secrets. Rarely does staff in these terminals speak English, and potential passengers who fail the language test are pretty much ignored. Ask for information from one staff member on Monday and get a different answer than provided a day before by a different employee the next day.
The previous president, Arnoldo Aleman, who "served" from 1997 to 2002, was convicted of diverting a hundred million dollars to a bank in Panama and received a twenty year sentence, which the government later commuted to confinement under house arrest last year. His party has forgiven him and is working for a pardon so he can run again in the 2006 presidential elections. The old Sandinista Marxist, Ortega, is being challenged by another Sandinista turned capitalist, Herty Lewites. Interesting politics in this country.
No one with who I spoke had anything bad to say about the American involvement in the revolution back in the 1980's. The current generation hardly seems to remember there was a war at all. It reminds me of the conversations I had with people in Vietnam during my travels there a couple years ago. Painful memories fade fast for the majority.
Short stay in Managua; short postcard. For a well done collection of professional photos take a look here. My photos can be seen here.
PS: I see Britain is debating the advisability of restricting the freedom of firebrand Islamic clerics to preach violent Jihad. Western governments would do well to reconsider the strategy adopted by the People's Republic of China, examples of which I observed during my visits to predominantly Muslim cities in western China. Instead of knee jerk reactions to anything associated with "godless Communist" regimes, the successes of China's clergy licensing policy might well serve as an example for the West as it struggles to understand and control the religious extremist elements in other parts of the world. We widely use government licenses to confirm an individual has the training, experience and ethical attitudes to serve clients in the public interest. Physicians, attorneys, engineers, psychological councilors, even fortune-tellers are subject to government regulation and/or professional association board certification. Religion alone has avoided public oversight. Clergy, guilty of sexual exploitation of the vulnerable, historically have been subject to different controls than other members of society. American laws prohibit inciting to riot, but any crazy zealot can preach hate under the guise of religious freedom. Freedom of speech does not give you the right to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes astutely observed, even if your religion demands it! FB
Next, all the deluxe bus terminals in Managua had only Spanish speaking staff, and getting schedule information proved to be almost impossible. Fighting my way in and out of the offices meant running the gauntlet of obnoxious hotel and taxi touts, some quite persistent, even threatening. As I hoisted my backpack and headed back toward a barely acceptable hotel I'd seen earlier, it began to rain. I hopped from the leaky shelter of one tree to another until it really started to come down. Stranded under a leaking tree that became increasingly porous, I quickly got soaked. Eventually, a Special Forces soldier poked his head out of a white tent nearby and motioned me to join him under his shelter. Inside were three of the most heavily armed and armored combatants I have ever seen. Clad in black, they seemed to be a riot squad or anti-terrorist force waiting for something to call them into action. When the rain finally paused, I dashed the five blocks to my $40 hotel, both my clothes and backpack completely soaked. So much for Monday. The next day things brightened up considerably, and my third day was great. I walked five hours from the hotel down to a spot near Lake Managua where archaeologists have excavated a layer of rock containing footprints of twelve individuals who walked on wet volcanic ash six thousand years ago. The record of ancient footprints at Huellas de Acahualinca is impressive, clearly the highlight of my visit to Managua.
My present hotel is not bad, not an excellent value at $68, but not bad. The breakfast is mediocre at best, but I am only about a five-minute walk to a modern shopping mall with an extensive food court. Give me a Big Mac or some KFC chicken and I will tolerate most other irritations without exaggerated complaint.
While having lunch there one day I noticed all the fast food counters serving chicken had signs featuring pictures of happy fowls. It struck me as ironic that pictures of smiling chickens would be used to encourage people to eat them. I’ll bet the chickens weren´t consulted in this matter.
Managua has no conventional city center any more; the earthquake of 1972 destroyed most of the central business district and killed thousands. Today, commercial activity and shopping are clustered around a series of small to large shopping malls scattered around what used to be the city center. The new capital complex has been built on the previously devastated area; only the ruins of the cathedral remain of the original buildings.
Everyone seems to use taxicabs if they can afford them. The buses are old dilapidated decommissioned American school buses. The same old yellow buses are used all over the country for public transport, so someone must have made a killing on old American school bus trade-ins a couple decades ago. Some still sport the fading names of the original school district painted on their sides.
An important purpose of ceiling fans down here seems to be mosquito control. One local told me the moving air makes it difficult for the little flitters to navigate with the precision needed to target tasty human hot spots. I can’t confirm that, but it sounds reasonable.
One sees seriously armed private security agents everywhere there is anything of portable value. Some of these guys carry military type automatic weapons. Local attitudes toward the reality of danger from common criminals or gangs of criminals vary considerably. The US State Department leaves no doubt they consider the dangers real and caution every American traveler to take extraordinary precautions. Except for my encounter with the pickpocket on the crowded bus, I have seen nothing that would alert me to anything more dangerous than one might face in some parts of Los Angeles.
Printed time schedules and fares at bus stations, even the deluxe services, are closely guarded secrets. Rarely does staff in these terminals speak English, and potential passengers who fail the language test are pretty much ignored. Ask for information from one staff member on Monday and get a different answer than provided a day before by a different employee the next day.
The previous president, Arnoldo Aleman, who "served" from 1997 to 2002, was convicted of diverting a hundred million dollars to a bank in Panama and received a twenty year sentence, which the government later commuted to confinement under house arrest last year. His party has forgiven him and is working for a pardon so he can run again in the 2006 presidential elections. The old Sandinista Marxist, Ortega, is being challenged by another Sandinista turned capitalist, Herty Lewites. Interesting politics in this country.
No one with who I spoke had anything bad to say about the American involvement in the revolution back in the 1980's. The current generation hardly seems to remember there was a war at all. It reminds me of the conversations I had with people in Vietnam during my travels there a couple years ago. Painful memories fade fast for the majority.
Short stay in Managua; short postcard. For a well done collection of professional photos take a look here. My photos can be seen here.
PS: I see Britain is debating the advisability of restricting the freedom of firebrand Islamic clerics to preach violent Jihad. Western governments would do well to reconsider the strategy adopted by the People's Republic of China, examples of which I observed during my visits to predominantly Muslim cities in western China. Instead of knee jerk reactions to anything associated with "godless Communist" regimes, the successes of China's clergy licensing policy might well serve as an example for the West as it struggles to understand and control the religious extremist elements in other parts of the world. We widely use government licenses to confirm an individual has the training, experience and ethical attitudes to serve clients in the public interest. Physicians, attorneys, engineers, psychological councilors, even fortune-tellers are subject to government regulation and/or professional association board certification. Religion alone has avoided public oversight. Clergy, guilty of sexual exploitation of the vulnerable, historically have been subject to different controls than other members of society. American laws prohibit inciting to riot, but any crazy zealot can preach hate under the guise of religious freedom. Freedom of speech does not give you the right to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes astutely observed, even if your religion demands it! FB
posted by Santa Barbara Theatre at
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