Day 2

We woke up in Managua today and decided to figure out some sort of itinerary. I would like to see a volcano and maybe learn to surf at some point. Holly wants to get the heck out of Managua as there isn't really much fun to be had here. I ran into a Suzuki GN125, the exact same motorcycle I own back home. There are motorcycles everywhere in this country. I sometimes wonder how it is that anyone can drive here. All cars use their horn very freely.

Eats: Our first meal was at new moon right around the corner from the BIM we had tacos. Weird since tacos aren't Nicaraguan. The hot sauce they gave us was ridiculously hot. We never want to have that again. We ended up making dinner after going shopping about 2 blocks away. The supermarket is very big but if you want apples eat all you can in the States. The apples here are imported from the US and can cost about 3X as much as in the US. We bought beef, plantains, sweet peppers, pineapple, and Flor de Caña rum. This rum is popular and specific to Nicaragua.

Money: We went to BAC after somehow winding up here via taxi cab. The cabbie drove the long route so that he could charge more. We received 20.6... Cordobas for every dollar. I find it easy to do quick conversion math by first dividing by 2 and then moving the decimal to the left once place. Example: 200 Cordobas divide by 2 = 100 move the decimal point to the left = 10.0 ...So 200(C)= $10(US)

Transport: Other than the first cabbie giving us the run around through part of the city our experience was pretty good with cabs today. This other cab driver helped us figure out how the heck to get back to the hostel after the initial trip to the Bank. A tip: It is very rare to find places with addresses be sure to note some landmarks or even major streets. BIM is known by some cabbies as "Backpackers" but not all know this place. I used a restaurant named Taquiza as a point so that he could drive us in the right direction.

Fun: We jumped in the pool today. It was great. It goes to about 8ft in the deep end. big enough to actually swim, but not Olympic size by any means. We met a few fellow backpackers and had beers and wine. This place is BYOB and there is no bar.


PS. I thought I read somewhere that there is hot water here. There is not. Today was the first time I ever took a shower in cold water without it being by choice. It will take a little bit to get used to.

Tomorrow we head to the Surfing Turtle Lodge near Leon, Nicaragua

-Anna