Visit to Nicaragua

We had the good fortune to get down to Nicaragua since last I posted. The next few posts will give you something of a travel log of Nicaragua.

We arrived on the 11:45am flight from Miami. Alex was, of course, there to meet us with a driver ("chofer"), since he does not like driving in Managua.

We decided, since it was basically lunch time, and we had been traveling since very early (2am in my case), to get lunch at the airport. Augusto Sandino International Airport has quite a few dining options in their food court. Both large national chicken chains (kind of like KFC) have counters there. Also, you can find a Subway, but we opted for Hilda's Comida Tipico (typical Nicaraguan cuisine).

Typical Nicaraguan cuisine: chicken breast in sauce with peppers and onions, gallo pinto (the rice/bean concoction in the middle of the plate), queso frito (fried slice of cheese in the foreground), and pico de gallo

Hilda's food was good. Priced like real Nicaraguan food and truly delicious. I can't imagine anyone wants to arrive in Nicaragua and eat grilled (or fried) chicken sandwiches with french fries, if they can have the plate above!

Also before we left the airport, I wanted to get my birthday present (early): a crocodile purse. When we were there last, I was on the fence about getting one, but then we had to catch a plane, and that was that. So, I didn't want that to happen again. There is exactly one booth at the airport that sells "bolsas de cocodrilo" (note the R is in a different syllable). They had a tremendous selection compared to our last visit, including lots of different colors. They also had quite a few purses and clutches of boa. Very tempting.

Alex had put new tires on the truck earlier in the week, because he didn't want any mishaps with the old tires while he was driving around with us. After we admired the tires, we all piled in. A song from The Matrix was playing on the radio.

The airport is on the north side of Managua, so we got out of town with relatively little trouble. On the side of the road, about half way to Matagalpa, Alex wanted to stop to see about getting his girls a parrot. Locals catch the parrots and sell them from the side of the road, or even in cages at the intersections in Managua.

I snapped this one out the windshield of the car at an intersection in Managua, later in our trip. This man has one of the same birds in his cage.

Because the entire side-of-the-road-bird-purchase event transpired so quickly, I didn't get a photo. The short of it is that Alex's girls are not getting a bird because the man selling them that day wanted $15 for them, which Alex thought was too high. Alex tells me the birds are called chocoyos or pericos.

Beautiful yellow-naped parrot, native to Nicaragua

About 8 miles from Matagalpa, the car started making an unhappy sound. We pulled over so Alex could add water (from a 2-liter bottle in the trunk) to the radiator. Catastrophe averted.

Arriving in Matagalpa, it was drizzling a bit. Matagalpa is definitely the greenest place we went on this trip. This was our first trip during "the dry season," but in Matagalpa, which is in the mountains, the dry season is not all that dry. We got a little rain every day.

My husband and I were both anxious to get to our hotel to get cleaned up.