nicaraguan conversation

I don’t speak Spanish. Lenin, Leslie’s boyfriend, doesn’t speak English. And yet, somehow, we managed to carry on a two hour conversation about music in Nicaragua. I found that Nicaraguans in general expect foreigners to understand Spanish, but they don’t care if you don’t. They’ll just speak to you in Spanish anyway. It’s such a change from Japan where everyone expects you not to understand a word of Japanese and as a result, forces their terrible English upon you no matter what.

One of my favorite parts of traveling in foreign countries is trying new foods. I will try anything once. My first dining experience in Managua was actually El Salvadoran. We ate pupusas, which are thick tortillas stuffed with cheese, vegetables, beans or meat. My second meal, however, was traditional Nicaraguan fare: fried chicken, beans and rice, and fried plantains with Nicaraguan cheese. I accompanied this with a glass of Te de Jamaica, which is iced tea made of hibiscus flowers. Everything was good, although a little on the fried side. I particularly liked the tea, which is a dark red color and lightly flavored with sugar and cinnamon.

Leslie gave me a short history of Nicaraguan politics on our way to the top of the hill where the old puppet president’s (or was it the dictator’s?) mansion once stood. Now there is a statue of the political martyr Sandino, from whom the political party the Sandinistas derive their name, marking a lookout point from which you can view the entire city. Managua’s city center was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1970s and was never rebuilt. Consequently, the city is one large urban sprawl with no centralizing spot. Because there are rarely any structures over two stories tall, the buildings were mostly splashes of color hidden beneath the trees.

To put it simply, there are two kinds of alcohol in Nicaragua: beer and rum. The rum, Flor de Cana, is “the best rum you’ll ever drink.” The beer, however, leaves something to be desired. You can choose from Tona or Victoria, both which taste like a bad Budwieser.