We landed very late, Managua is a desert a this time of the night and the cab driver, in all impunity and with no fear, is crossing all red signs to reach promptly the hotel Intercontinental, the only place that we booked from Belgium.The night is quite short and it is already time to find another place to stay : we cannot affoard to spend too much money to sleep. Fortunately our 2 rooms were paid through miles that I acquired over the last 10 years of travelling.We found, on Airbnb, a place to stay but the « Casa Inti » is not at walking distance and we need to take a taxi. We’re July 19th , the whole country is celebrating the Revolution day and people from all over Nicaragua is gathering into the capital, on everything that has wheels…and the taxi is stuck into the traffic. Finally we arrive at our destination in the hilly and green embassies district from Managua, Inti has gone to the city centre with others to celebrate the revolution and we are welcome by Belinda who is kindly showing us our appartment for the next 2 nights.
The girls dive quickly into the pool, I am bitten by tens of mosquitoes and quickly the weather is turning to heavy rain : yes, it’s rainy season in Nicaragua at this time of the year !
The hostel is not serving dinner and we’re hungry, we have no choice but to go outside and looking for something to eat :at 2/3 kilometers there’s a foodtrucks corner but not sure that we’ll find something today.We’re lucky, there is one foodtruck open, run by 3 palestinian sisters and we order shawarma and humus : our first meal in Nicaragua is not typical …and wet, under the leaking roof but it’s delicious !After a while, rain has stopped and we can return to the hostel. Inti, who had to retreat from the celebration due to the heavy rain, is back and we spend some good time with him speaking in French (his mom is Belgian, he lived and studied in Gent until a few years ago).
Next day, we’re heading to the city centre, without Lara who is sick, by local bus: the streets and atmosphere remind us of some towns in Brasil but in much more dirty…may be it’s because yesterday’s celebration ?
We walk through the parc, where the girls play for sometime, we pass by the national palace and cathedral and we arrive at the main square, where, the day before, hundreds of thousands of people were listening to the president’s speaches, drinking and dancing.
Today is much quieter, almost no one in the streets in this area of the city, only the tall metalic and colourful structures, so called Trees of Life. The rain is starting again, very heavily this time and we have to shelter under a – real – tree. We’re soaking wet despite our rain jacket and we decide to cross the avenue (which has become almost a river!) to reach the Salvador Allende port, a touristical district where we find a place to eat and (try) to dry.With this weather, no way to distinct the lake from the sky !
We are not very interested in Managua and leave the capital, by express bus (2h45), to Estéli in the northern part of the country where we hope to find a school to learn Spanish.
We’ve chosen Sacuanjoche school because it seems to be authentic and in full immersion : the 2 teachers, Norma and Alvaro, will help us not only to learn Spanish but also to discover the region and its communities and we’ll live, eat and sleep in a family from the barrio. It’s like an « All-in » with social and educative purpose….
Saturday July 22nd, we went to visit Tisay, a protected area with splendid view on the mountains/hills.Weather is a bit cooler at 1500m high, it is still hot but the breeze is refreshing. We walked around 10km and crossed numerous butterflies and flowers from different sizes and colors to end up in a very peculiar place : Don Alberto Guttierez natural museum. He’s a old man (78 years old) who arrived some 40 years ago in this area to escape from desperate love affair which turned him alcoholic.He lived there alone, secluded from everyone, like an ermit, only living from the fruits around him and the vegetables he’s producing, with one single occupation (obsession?) : carving the mountain with simple sculptures…and the result is amazing, it’s difficult to realize that this moutain has only been carved by one man only.
On sunday, the girls learned some traditional dances from Nicaragua.
The first week in Nicaragua ended up with the visit of a cigars manufacture in Estéli.
The place is dark, without airco (to avoid drying tobacco leaves) and the smell is unbearable. People, mostly women, are working hard (12 hours per day) and probably the situation is very similar to what we could have seen in Cuba : the owners are Cuban and arrived in Estéli region in the 70′ with their tobacco and techniques.