Managua and what feels like ground zero.

6th July

It was bizarre in the Bearded Monkey. There were so many girls, many travelling by themselves. Since I have arrived in Nicaragua, I have met a lot of single female travellers but not in many other places. Not sure why Nicaragua has more than other places but no complaints here.

I wandered around Granada for one last time, went to the Museum, Casa De los Leones. Some amazing fotos there of Nicaraguans. An artist brought me to his workshop within the museum. His work and that of his colleagues was fabulous and so cheap, but I had already bought some paintings in Masaya.

Naomi and I took the bus to Managua and got a taxi to the Tica office where Naomi had a hotel booked. I left my stuff in Naomis room. Outside, the first guy we met told us not to walk down to the left and guided me to this other hotel. It was ok but I took the one across the road. The owner there also told us where not to walk. So we took a taxi to the central area of Managua after getting some lunch. It was deserted. This area had been devastated during the 1972 Earthquake. Much foreign aid came in but never made it to the people that needed it. Tents etc were kept by the reigning dictators (Samoza) family and cohorts. Other items were sold off instead of benefitting the needy. In fact the earthquake was a key factor in bringing a lot of the well to do into the revoloution and was the beginning of the end of Samoza's regime...

We walked around what would have been the heart of colonial Managua. Because of the earthquake, it is now deserted except for the many shanty towns around the central park. Many of the inhabitants are in their elder years and have probably been there since 1972, residing in plastic covered wooden frames with little else. It is appaling what these poor souls have to live in and with. The cathedral (opposite) still stands but in a state of disrepair. Apparently any visiting heads of state are brought here in the hope they might write a cheque for its repair. Needless to say...

It is a sad place.

It is also not the safest. However, there are some monuments to the revolution and the museum (pictured here) is in everyday use, and more return to the cities heart. But we picked the one day the museum () was closed. We felt very uncomfortable walking around, as the only gringas in the place.

So we got a taxi on to the Huellas de Acahualinca. Again the taxi driver told us not to move from the musuem but to wait until a taxi came by. It was relatively poor but most were just children playing. But there was also a sence of danger. We asked him to return in 20 minutes.

Huellas de Acahualinca is a tiny museum, housing ancient footprints (see opposite) of about 10 men, women and children. They are 6000 to 7000 years old and were buried some 4m deep under volcanic material. They were discovered back in 1874 by some workers. They pace in one direction as if in immigration...
Naomi and I were optimistic in asking for 20 minutes but lucky for us our taxi came early. We decided on a shopping mall, as we had exhausted the cultural activities. We went to see Super Agent 86 in Spanish and didnt understand a word but who cares, we were able to while away a few hours.

When we got back to Naomis hotel, the taxi was really reticent on letting us out. Everything was closed up and there was a bunch of guys loitering around. However one of them pointed out where the door was and we got into the hotel. I was literally 2 minutes walk from my hotel but I had all my stuff and was nervous enough to ask one of the bus drivers, to walk me to my door. A first for me. I said good bye to Naomi, as she was heading back to her teaching job in Honduras.