Week 5 – Manuel Antonio, CR and City hopping in Nicaragua

Oh my god – The national park Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica is amazing. It is easy to reach with direct buses from San José or Quepos. Therefore you will also meet many tourists compared to more remote – more difficult to access – parks. Anyhow, the perfect combination of jungle and beach is stunning. Ever seen a crab in the jungle? I did. And it was a huge one.

I think the pictures (see cover picture) will say enough. When visiting the park, you will see many animals from sloths, birds, different kinds of monkeys, grasshoppers and so on. If you are terrible in finding animals yourself hidden in the forest, you can easily hire a guide at the park entrance.

Manuel Antonio is a touristic place, so are the prices in the restaurants. If you like a tasty Costa Rican dish, it is best to go to one of the good „Sodas“ in Quepos, where they serve plates  – too big to finish – for just 3 Euros.

It is interesting how language changes while traveling in different countries in Central America. Spanish is definitely not Spanish. The accent changes, the words change and sometimes people do not understand my „Ecuadorian“ Spanish even if it is a simple sentence like „where is the bus station“ . And sometimes the same thing has an entirely different name, e.g., a dish with rice and beans is called Casado in Costa Rica, Gallo Pinto in Nicaragua or Moros y Christianos in Cuba.

As I am still in Nicaragua, I do not want to go into the depth on the political situation. You might have heard about the protests last year and how the government „silenced“ the protesters, even forbidding doctors to treat them, forcing many people to flee the country to avoid torture or the death sentence (of course without a fair trial). For more information, you can have a look at human rights watch: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/nicaragua

When doing my 2h Managua walking tour to see the most important things, I immediately noticed that there are FSLN flags everywhere. FLSN is the party of the president. On the market, you can buy t-shirts, banners, everything branded with FLSN. They even print Che Guevara on the shirts with FLSN. Che, the icon for revolutionist ideas, often considered a martyr and praised especially by left-wing anti-government / revolutionist groups. I assume, that this is referring to the fact, that in 1979 the FLSN ( back then mainly a military organization) ended the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. Looking at the recent developments, however, the interpretation of Che´s critics that he was brutal and executed his opponents, etc. might make more sense.

Yesterday was a public holiday – the Sandinista Revolution day – the day the Somoza dictatorship ended. I am not sure whether all the flags and t-shirts were only there because of the holiday or whether it is the new „normal“. I have the feeling that at least to a certain extent such propaganda is the new normal here.

Back to the beauty of the country and away from politics. Another thing I noticed, while wandering around in Managua is that the city is much cleaner than any other big city I have seen in Latin America, and I walked about 10km through the city not only at the beautiful Malecon and the touristic places. The same in Masaya – the 2nd city I have visited. Only the area at the market municipal (the market where locals buy their clothes, food and so on) is a little bit dirty. The bus terminal is in the middle of it. So I had to walk through the crowded market with all my luggage.

But yeah, due to the holiday, there were no buses to Granada, so I had to go all the way through the market again and to the “Highway” to stop a minibus from Managua heading to Granada. I hopped into a full minibus (the guy just throw my bag on the roof) and we somehow squeezed all in. Sometimes, I think they want to establish a new world record on how many people fit into a van or minibus.

Granada is a city full of beautiful cathedrals, churches, and colonial architecture. The streets are full of tiny, colourful houses and in the evening the road next to the cathedral is busy – one bar next to the other. You can sit outside, enjoy a tiny breeze and a cold Cerveza.

Next week will be a little bit calmer for me. I decided to go to a Yoga Retreat at the coast to find my inner peace  – letˋs see how this will work out 🙂