Challenging Nicaragua

Oh, Nicaragua. How do I sum up my time spent in Nicaragua? The main word that comes to mind is challenging. So many travelers rave about Nicaragua, but I could not fall in love with it. I ended up having a wonderful time and I will definitely be back, but I did not have an easy experience during my visit.

• The main difficulty I had in Nicaragua was acclimating to the climate. Something I did not know prior to my visit: Nicaragua is HOT! After Guatemala, which had moderate to mild temperatures, I found the daily temperatures of high 90’s and at least 50% humidity difficult to handle. The temperature was perfect from 3-6 am, but unbearable at all other times. Further, businesses do not have air conditioning so it was impossible to escape the heat during the day. It was too hot to explore or do activities or even write.
• Guidebooks and other travelers named Granada, Leon, and San Juan del Sur as “must-see” destinations (and I ended up spending most of my time in these places), but I believe that Nicaragua has much more to offer than these cities. If I were to do it again, I would do a couple of days in each of Granada, Leon, and San Juan del Sur while focusing my time on Laguna del Apoyo, Ometepe, and the Corn Islands. These last three areas are naturally beautiful and filled with culture. The weather is milder or the location is near swimmable water so the day is not wasted trying to avoid the heat. It is more expensive but I would have rather bore the expense and enjoyed more of my time in Nica.
• Out of all of the Central American countries (and I have now visited all of them), I experienced the most amount of aggression from men in Nica. It could be quite crude and I got at least one whistle, catcall, or comment on each block that I walked. That was just during the day and became more extreme at night. The aggression was not dangerous, but it was unwanted and constant and tiring.
• On top of the aggression, my fellow travelers and I were constantly lied to when it came to the timings and pricing of taxis and buses. Typically, I had to pay too much for bus tickets or activities, and bartering did not lower the price by much. Here is my perspective on pricing while I travel: in general, I do not mind paying a higher price because my dollar helps a local more than it does me. As long as both parties feel happy with the price, I am cool with it. In Nica, it got to the point that I was given an extremely high price no matter what I did and where I was. So I decided to stop doing activities and to leave after two weeks instead of three. I met some very nice locals and was given a fair price a few times, but this tended to be the exception rather than the rule.
• The reason I will always love my time in Nicaragua is because the fellow travelers that I met were awesome! Not only did I spend almost all of my time in Nica traveling with some of my travel besties, but I was introduced to such a wide variety of travelers. I was able to get lots of recommendations and stories about other locales that I should try out. Further, I met some travelers that were only visiting for a week and some that were in the middle of a multi-month backpacking trip. It was such a fantastic mix of people from all walks of life who were on their trips for different reasons and with varying end dates. Despite everything else I felt about Nica, the people that I met and times we shared made my time worthwhile!

So that was Nicaragua. I am glad that I visited the country and am grateful for my time there. I met some of my favorite people and have some wonderful stories and experiences. And now…on to Costa Rica!

Two Months In

*This post is about a month late as I just completed Month Three a couple days ago. There were some unexpected delays, but that is travel. I will be catching up this week with lots of photos and posts. Get excited!

So Month Two of my trip is officially complete! This month was quite the whirlwind! At the beginning of the month, I celebrated my 28th birthday in San Pedro; surrounded by my road friends and family and more joy than I ever expected. I finished out my month of Spanish lessons and homestay and moved on to Antigua for Semana Santa (Easter Week). After a week full of Easter processions, Monopoly, great hangout time with some new friends, and a very special visit from Stephy and Santiago, I left Guatemala and traveled to Nicaragua via El Salvador.

This month was still a transition month for me (and I am starting to believe that every month will be some new transition). After my month in San Pedro, I found myself traveling to Antigua and once again solo. The feelings of loneliness came back, but because my life in San Pedro was extremely social, my loneliness was compounded in Antigua. So I spent my first two days in Antigua watching movies in bed or hanging around the hostel; not interacting with my fellow travelers.

And then I met Jing, Alex, and Reto. The four of us were in the same 10-person dorm from the beginning of my stay, and we ended up spending the rest the week together. All three of them are experienced travelers and I loved hearing their stories and plans. We shared jokes and drinks and Monopoly games. There was such an ease and comfort that was created within that week. At some point during the week, I was chatting with Jing and telling her about how much I was struggling when it came to meeting new people each time that I moved on. I told her that I was lucky to have met my three Antigua friends. Jing was so surprised by this and explained to me that it was not luck that I had met the right people. I had just needed to speak up and stop holding myself back. Her words were so sincere that it became a moment of realization for me and my trip significantly changed after.

From that discussion on, I have made it a point to make the first move and talk to others and to stop being so self-conscious. This caused me to meet Gabriel and Alli on the shuttle from Antigua to El Tunco, El Salvador, and then from El Tunco to Leon, Nicaragua. It gave me the confidence to talk with Guillermo and Raphael in Granada (also Nicaragua). And here I am, at the beginning of Month Three, and the loneliness and fear is becoming more and more foreign to me. Consequently, Month Two has been filled with more awesome people and memories and experiences than I ever expected.

And now on the Month Three! I am so excited because I will be spending a majority of this month reconnecting and traveling with friends that I met earlier in my trip. I have not intentionally traveled with others so I am looking forward to this change in travel style. Hasta luego, amigos!