After a few more days at Las Cruces we headed towards Nicaragua, stopping at San Jose for a night to break up the 14+ hour bus ride. We had to leave at 4 am from San Jose to Nicaragua in order to beat the rush at the border. Fortunately it only took us about an hour to get across the border. Here we experienced our first moment of discrimination in favor of United States residents. Only the student with a Bangladeshi passport had her bags searched.
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| Our room was at the end of the hallway |
On the way to the hotel stopped at a Nicaraguan clinic. Although there were always people waiting in line in Costa Rica, it was surprising to see the volume of patients there. Another difference was the government propaganda lining the walls. Apparently Costa Rica manages to keep its health care system separate from the government. I still don’t quite understand how this works. Regardless, apparently a problem with having health care tied to what’s happening in government is that there tend to be a lot of changes every time the group in power changes (something I’d never considered before).
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| Cathedral outside the hotel |
When we arrived at the hotel it was shockingly nice. There was even a pool which was salty and almost too warm… in other words easy to get in but uncomfortable to swim laps in. I wouldn’t have minded having it be a bit cooler since the Nicaraguan weather was consistently hot. The internet was better than anywhere else we’ve been so I got to watch grey’s anatomy and private practice for the first time. The town we were staying in, Granada, reminded me a lot of Europe. There were even some delicious Italian and Mediterranean restaurants. Where we were there wasn’t too much evidence that the country is the second poorest in this hemisphere.
The most shocking part of the trip was going to a gigantic market in the capital Managua. I was in a group that required us to walk around the food sections. Meat was hanging from hooks with flies swarming around it, chickens ran around the ground and some vendors were shoeless and/or shirtless. The smell was unpleasant to say the least. Additionally, although we were warned about cat calls in Costa Rica they were nothing compared to Nicaragua. Those of us wearing shorts got an unwanted amount of attention.
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| Main street of Granada |
We had some lectures but also got to do a fair bit of sightseeing. We took a boat ride on Lake Nicaragua, which takes up something like a quarter of the area of the country and took a trip up to Volcán Masaya. It was fairly impressive (although I liked Poás better) although we weren’t allowed to stay more than half an hour because the fumes can cause vomiting. We also went to some other markets that were dedicated to crafts and souvenirs (fortunately there was no meat). Even on the streets of the hotel there were people approaching us selling handmade bracelets, earrings and hammocks. Some of us managed to buy hammocks for a mere $5. Getting used to the córdoba (currency) was difficult having finally gotten used to colones (in Costa Rica) and at this point I’m not sure I even remember the exchange rate… 20 córdobas for a dollar… I think?
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| View from Soltis |
After Nicaragua we went to the Soltis Center which is owned by Texas A&M. The ride had an awful amount of twists and turns but on the way we got a view of Arenal Volanco and Lake Arenal which were impressive sights. The facilities rivaled Hotel Granada. I stayed in a double where we each had our own bunk bed, sink and huge bathroom and shower. Perhaps the biggest perk was consistently hot water with good water pressure. It was kind of a strange portion of the semester since we were really only there for reading period (which I had never had for midterms before) and midterms.
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