Nicaragua

UGH. I’m the tight wad in the family.

Bill confessed that he splurged and bought business class tickets from Panama City to Georgetown, Guyana. With all the fiasco about us not having yellow fever vaccinations we had to come up with plan B.

Of course, we didn’t buy flight insurance (not sure it would have applied) and immigration issues are of no concern for Copa Airlines. “You can pay $150.00 per person to change your flights. If you want to use the credit from your cancelled flight you must book business class out of Panama City.”So here I sit again typing this blog from the most expensive seat on a one hour 35 minute flight. At least we were served tapas and we’re drinking copas de vino tinto – that’s a bonus. One doesn’t get to use any remaining balance of the un-used plane fare. Bill chalked it up to another adventure while I fought back tears from losing the value of our tickets. Such is life.

We’re on our way to Managua, Nicaragua.

More later……

So we get off the plane and two people in lab coats are checking the immigration papers that we filled out on the airplane. They looked at each person’s form in front of us and waved them through.

But not us. Oh no. “Where’s your vaccination paperwork” questions the man with the lab coat. Say what? “No tenemos.” I exclaimed. We don’t have them.

He promptly calls over another more official lab coat person who pulls us out of line to interviews us. She wanted to know how our ages, how many days we were in Panama and did we really visit Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.

Visions of the Managua Immigration Hotel were floating in my head.

We answered her questions and after a few hems and haws she waved us on through with a bienvenidos – welcome.

Phew! Close call. Now that has me wondering if we could have pulled that off on the Guyana trip.Not too many tourists stay in the capital of Managua. It’s a jumping off place for other locations in the country. The only building of any historical significance is the cathedral that was devastated in the 1972 earthquake and never rebuilt. Supposedly the whole center of Managua was destroyed in the earthquake and the following years of civil unrest kept it from flourishing.

There’s a fantastic malecón. The long walkway boarders Lake Managua with a huge park, restaurants, amusement activities and rest areas.Since we arrived late we decided to stay here to check it out and then move onwards.Granada. A popular tourist destination resting at the foot of the active Mombacho volcano on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. A charming old town with colorful buildings and cobblestone streets. The hawkers in the main square were exhausting. Lucky for us it was the first time we had to deal with it on this trip and when we left the main tourist area to explore we were left alone.It’s remarkable how many countries look the same. Discovered by the same people, ruled by the same people, built by the same people. Bill reminds me that countries are just lines on a map.