One very long day

Nicaragua from the air.

I didn´t sleep much on the red-eye which probably only surprises me. I read for too long and then slept a little and then we were in Houston where they insist on arm rests between all of the chairs in the airport (it´s the George W. Bush airport so I am sure he has something to do with it).

The weather is perfecto. Hot but a great breeze. The first business I found that was open Saturday in this ghost town on Easter weekend was a frozen coffee place. Cafe Latino has whole rows of slurpee-like machines with icey frozen coffee drinks. I signed right up for one since it was just about my afternoon latte time anyway and I was sweating my gringo butt off wandering around aimlessly getting honked at by underworked taxi drivers. Got most of the way through it before it suddenly dawned on me that I should be avoiding drinks with ice in it that may melt a little and release tiny amounts of water into my beverage. Let alone just drinking crushed ice! Oh well, tasted great so I am glad I didn´t remember sooner! So far so good.

Later in the evening I visited the Plaza de Revolucion, one of the few areas with touristic interest in Managua, unfortunately. The famous statue of Sandino is on the square. The profile of this statue is used as an icon everywhere. There is also a beautiful cathedral that was built in the early 1900´s that suffered too much in the earthquake in 1972 (I think) to continue to be used.

Sandino y yo

After that, I headed across the street to the coast of Lake Managua and walked around a mini festival, or maybe it was a permanent thing, hard to know. I had dinner under an easy-up that was weighted down from the breeze by coconuts hanging around the canopy. This made me happy. From my table I could watch all sorts of things. Here are the highlights... two kid`s rides, one powered by a guy on a bicycle, another (the teacup sort) just pushed around by three guys.

Pedal powered ride. Possible even a retrofitted ice cream bike.

A pickup with 11 people in the bed and 3 in the cab. A great clown. A teeny tiny baby squeezed (more so than held) in between two people on a motorcycle. A ferris wheel you could never pay me enough to ride. And a plate which indicates that in Nicaragua, pollo fajitas means chicken fingers.

On my walk home I came across a huge circus tent (nowhere near the other festival) and decided to see the Russian Circus rather than brave a nightclub as una gringa sola. I definitely didn´t want to return to the hotel at 7:30 even though it was dark and felt like midnight to me. One thing red eyes are good for is resetting your clock quickly.

5 dirt bikes. 1 Cage. FANTASTICO!!!!

Contortionist Grand finale- foot archery?

Now it is Sunday and I am off to catch the bus to Leon and one last night of relaxation before I try to stuff a bunch of Spanish into mi cabeza.