Traveling by bus in Nicaragua is just crazy. Not because the bus is uncomfortable or something, no. It is because I always have to pay for two. In the beginning I thought that I have to pay for my luggage. However, later I realized that I have to pay for my schizophrenic me, as they also charged me double when I was traveling without luggage…
But in Nicaragua they occasionally do charge for luggage, too. Despite charging a full person price, though, they have a fixed luggage price. And they charge everyone, foreign tourists and locals alike.
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| Beach at Playa Madera |
When I arrived at Playa Madera I was lucky enough that my reservation at Café Revolución did not work out. That is why I ended up in the Hostel 3 Hermanos right at the beach. Meaning literally in the sand, jumping into the sea from the balcony (well, maybe not…depending a bit on high or low tide). There was exactly one single room left. For some reason I got even a 50% discount on the normal price. It was supposed to be my personal Christmas discount. The weird thing about it is, that all other hostels in this region increase their prices over the holidays…
After I got bitten by a scorpion in the evening, things started to take its course. I got a cup of dark coffee without milk and sugar (important!), so my tongue will not swell. One after the other all brothers showed up to check out on my hand. From every corner there popped up more and more brothers. So there were definitely more than three. Maybe they forgot a zero when they named their hostel. However, that way I became a part of the family, which can be a nice thing when Christmas is around the corner.
Ever wondered how Christmas is celebrated at the beach in Nicaragua? Of course there is nothing much going on the 24th of December. I think Germans are the only ones who misunderstood something in the history and celebrate Christmas already on the 24th. Or Germans are just impatient and cannot wait. So, Christmas is celebrated the 25th, obviously. What is there to eat? At lunch it is barbecue time. All sorts of meat and potato salad (maybe there is a slight Australian impact here with the potato salad, though). Oh, and ice cream for dessert. Everything accompanied by some beer. All that takes a while, collecting wood, making a fire, roasting the meat. At night we went to the family dinner: rice and chicken stew and more beer. Or rum, the national drink of Nicaragua Flor de Caña.
How do Nicaraguans celebrate? Dancing of course. And singing karaoke songs. The whole family blasts out some karaoke songs first and then dancing part starts. Merengue, bachata, salsa. The party ends already at 10 or 11 o’clock. Time is different here, as it gets dark so early. What about Christmas decoration? It is not like in El Salvador or Guatemala overloaded with Christmas stuff and light. You have to search a bit, but eventually you will find a little star dangling from the bar. Presents? No. Also you can search in vain for Christmas stress and anxiety, or old family issues coming up on Christmas eve.
Time seems to run different at the beach in Nicaragua. It just stands still. Everyday is the same: Relaxing in the hammock, reading a good book, cooling down in the sea, walking along the beach, going for another swim, taking some surf lessons, eating, Hammock again, taking pictures of the beach, going for a last swim, having dinner, watching TV. That is the day. And the next day is the same, maybe in a different order. Suddenly you realised that you have spent already six days at the beach and that the new year is approaching. I could have stayed forever at Playa Madera, but is was time to move on and reach Costa Rica for New Year’s Eve. Maybe a bad decision, but that is a different story.
Ich schreibe und ich reise. Mal bin ich ganz weit weg, mal erkunde ich meine Stadt oder nur meinen Block, manchmal reise ich durch mein Zimmer. Dazu gibt es meistens Zeichnungen aus meinem Sketchbook. Auch mal Fotos. Und vielleicht bringe ich von der ein oder anderen Reise auch ein leckeres Rezept mit. Hier findest du all meine Erinnerungen. Schön, dass du vorbei schaust!
Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful article.
Many thanks for supplying this information.
Good morning, how are you?
My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Nicaragua? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Nicaragua in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog http://www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez