Strolling Around Taking Pictures Where Ollie North's C.I.A. Cohorts Did Dirty Arms Deals...
Written: Feb 22 '06 (Updated Sep 18 '08)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Didn't see any gringos ANYWHERE. Nobody speaks English.
Cons: Rough & tough city to love with limited touristic attractions.
The Bottom Line: Managua is *definitely* off the beaten path, and it's a fascinating place to visit, even if you might not want to live there...
|
|
|
| mrkstvns's Full Review: Managua, Nicaragua |
There might well be Nicaragua travel guides out there in the book stores, but I don't have one. Not sure I've ever seen one either. I do have an older all-encompassing Central America travel guide. It says to stay away from Managua, which it describes as a flat, ugly, landscape of ruins and poverty.
I visited Managua a few weeks ago, and while it's not exactly what I'd call a "lovely" place to visit, it's also not quite the abyss I would have envisioned, had I actually thought about it enough to envision something. I wouldn't go so far as to "recommend" visiting Managua --- not for leisure travel anyway --- but for me, it did make for a reasonable stopping point for a couple days and it does work pretty well as a "home base" for exploring some of Nicaragua's more interesting sights. Especially considering that almost everything in Nicaragua of touristic value is clustered around the central part of western Nicaragua.
Most folks will tell you that Leon and Granada are nicer cities than Managua. That's true. Most folks will tell you that the jungles and mountains and rustic Pacific coast beaches are the reasons to visit Nicaragua. And that's true too. But it doesn't mean staying out of Managua altogether...at least not in my opinion, especially considering that you're going to have to pass through the city anyway if you're coming into the country by plane, and most likely by bus too.
Nobody here on Epinions has ever talked about Managua, so let's take a sec to do the birds-eye view and get a big picture view of what the city is all about...
Managua in General...
Okay, so what's Managua like? Well, it's Nicaragua's capital and largest city, so it's crowded in a lot of places, but it's also a city that has, in not very distant history, been plagued by civil war (sadly, fomented and supplied by our own illustrious C.I.A.) and earthquakes, so there's still hulks of wreckage scattered around, and you frequently walk or ride past blocks of scruffy growth. There's not a lot of tall buildings either.
For the most part though, things have moved on, new stuff's been built, old stuff's been razed, internationally known corporate logos are sprouting up almost as fast as the weeds in those bombed out blocks. The city has kind of a sprawl feeling, not too unlike cities back home in Texas, with a generally flat looking central area, but with some definite hills --- it's not totally flat, for example, there is a good-size hill at Laguna Tiscapa where you can get a nice vista of the city layout.
The city might be generally flat, but it's surrounded by spectacular natural scenery. There's volcanoes and towering peaks in the backdrop --- particularly the ever-present Momotambo, which dominates the landscape like Popo over Mexico City --- not to mention the shores of Lake Managua dominating the city's focus and geographic mentality.
I mentioned Laguna Tiscapa. It's kind of a strange natural feature --- I think the lake there is actually an ancient crater and the hill surrounding it is actually the smegma or effluent or whatever you call it that gets blasted out of a crater when it forms. I've heard that many Central American lakes were ancient craters and that the infamous cenotes of the Yucatan are also places where meteors and such struck earth in long distant millenia. There's another lagoon over near the university, but I forget what it's called...
Folks who've been will tell you that there's not enough in Managua to keep a tourist busy for more than a day. That's pretty much true. It's a place that works as a transport hub or as a home base for day trips or overnights to several nearby towns, beachs, parks, etc., but that really isn't a tourism magnet of any merit.
Most of what passes for tourist attractions in Managua are located in a central historic district close to the lake itself. Most of the burgeoning new construction is happening elsewhere --- such as along the major highways. Shops and restaurants congregate in a downtown business area and in an area along the Carretera a Masaya called (as in most latin cities), la Zona Rosa.
Managua has a rough reputation, and the city does not feel particularly safe, although I was told that as long as you stay in the "good" neighborhoods, you're unlikely to have a problem. Probably true, since that's the case just about anywhere in the world. The problem is that foreigners don't always know when they're passing out of the comfort zone, and a city like Managua can look "iffy" even when it's not, and an area that on its surface looks bustling, can harbor pickpockets, bums, and prostitutes galore. In short, Managua is pretty much a city that fits the stereotype that many Americans have of latin American cities. There's still cool things to do though, and there's still safe ways to see it and enjoy it.
I'd recommend getting around the place by taxi. Taxis in Managua are plentiful, inexpensive, and safe, and you should use them anyway since nobody who doesn't already know Managua is ever going to figure out how to get around. (How the heck people can live in a city without street signs or numbers on buildings is quite beyond my ken.) The only thing to be aware of is that taxi drivers sometimes try to charge gringos a higher fare than latinos....the normal fare just about anywhere in Managua will be no more than a buck or so, if you're charged over $2 (35 cordobas), you're probably being played for a sucker.
There's a ton of local buses going everywhere. I'd stay away from 'em. Even if you don't have jack in your pockets, it's probably more than anyone else has, and with the pressing crowds of teeming legions of locals on every bus, you'll be a pickpocket target with bullseyes painted all over you. Besides, the buses are ugly, smell bad, usually don't have air conditioning, and will almost certainly be headed to a part of town where a gringo is going to stand out like a blinking neon billboard. Lord knows, I'd never use a local bus in Managua...
Doing the "City Tour" Schtick in Managua...
Most of what's worth seeing in Managua can be seen in an afternoon. There's just not all that much, plus it's mostly concentrated in one area. I don't know how long an organized city tour would be, since I didn't take one, but I can't imagine it being more than about 4 hours. That's all you'd probably need to do it on your own too, and it's easy enough to just hoof it (which is what I did). Here's my suggestion for an easy downtown walking tour...(just remember, leave the valuables locked up in the hotel safe and don't carry anything you wouldn't care to contribute to the city's underclass).
Take a taxi downtown. Tell the driver to drop you off at the Teatro Nacional --- it's a beautiful old building, and it's got a wonderful setting right on the shore of the lake. It's also where you'll find the Malecon, where you can stroll along the lakefront. On a weekday morning, there's not many people out there and the couple of carnival rides that are there are as silent as a tombstone.
On the Calle el Triunfo, also next to the lake, is the city's beautiful colonial-style cathedral. It's a ruin in the making, but it's still a very impressive piece of churrigueresque, for those of you who love the ostentatious style of traditional 1600s era spanish churches. It's a fairly small cathedral for a city the size of Managua, and I can only imagine that its smaller size reflects the lesser significance that Spanish envoys placed on Managua compared to grander structures in Granada and Leon. The brownish tan stone of the front facade is carved in elaborate churrigueresque patterns, there's a nicely shady park area in front of it, and the church itself reflects the classic layout of the cross with symmetrical bell towers gracing its face. It was probably once a wonderful place to pray, but its crumbling structure and obviously gutted and roofless interior testifies to its current status as a mere memory of what once was. What's cool about the old cathedral is that you can walk around the grounds and go into an interior courtyard area and admire the once-grand architecture, which, ruined as it is, is still remarkably well preserved in som aspects. (For the record, Managua has a new cathedral headed out towards la Zona Rosa, officially called La Catedral a la Purisima Concepcion ( Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Anglo-speak_ --- unofficially called "Catedral Nueva" ---- it's modern, but I find it generally ugly and boxy except for the way that the weird looking roof reminds me of being on a beautiful nude beach, a bevy of bewitching beauties lying on their backs with perky breasts pointed skyward. I can only assume the architect finds such fantasies as heavenly and inspirational as I do...)
There's a plaza downtown where Pope John Paul II cured a ham. Just kidding. He said mass. No cures...and not much remarkable to see there either...
There's also a big honkin' fountain dedicated to Ruben Dario, a famous poet of the 19th century, and a veritable Mark Twain and George Washington all rolled into one as far as the Nicarguan national psyche is concerned. (Not only does Dario get a big fountain downtown --- complete with about 80 skyward pointing jets --- he also gets a traffic circle named after him over by the Metrocenter Mall --- Man! this dude is hot! (For an ancient dead guy, anyway).
So anyway, walking around downtown. Check out the opulence of the Palacio Nacional and Casa Presidencial. Palacio Nacional has some rough spots on the edges, but generally attractive, well-groomed grounds and it looks a lot like the White House in Washington D.C., but unlike the White House, there aren't barricades, high fences, bomb sniffing dogs, concrete jersey walls in the streets out front, armed soldiers in machine gun nests across the street, and armies of black-suited sunglass-wearing bozos with wires in their ears walking around watching everyone. The Nicaraguans will have to learn that if they ever want to achieve such industrial-nation niceties, they're going to have to go out and bomb a bunch of brown people all over the world and then make up silly stories about "weapons of mass destruction" and such. That's the only way they're ever going to get everyone else in the world to hate them enough to justify such fortress mentalities. Mere Sandinistas and Contras just ain't gonna cut it!
Palacio Nacional is the equivalent to Washington's Capitol building though. The functional equivalent to the White House is the Casa Presidencial, which is new, modern, glitzy, and looks remarkably similar to the newly built branch of the Houston Public Library near my house (if only the library's architect would have added a bizarrely romanesque entryway...)
It's out of the way by about a half-mile for my easy-breezy walking tour, but it was recommended as a "top Managua site", so I stopped by the Huellas de Acahualinca. You're gonna have to be a serious history geek to appreciate this place though, since there's not much more to the "museum" beyond the footprints themselves. Yep, footprints. What the place commemorates is a set of human footprints, dated to be about 10,000 years old, in volcanic rock --- Yikes! Did somebody really step, barefooted, into hot molten lava during a volcanic eruption?? Evidently so! I guess when the volcano rumbles, everyone hot foots out however they can...
If you're into shopping, or just looking for some cool trinkets to bring back to the kids at home, grab a cab over to the Mercado Roberto Huembes --- it's only a buck or two ride and the market is very cool with lots of artesanal folk art kinds of things. Oil paintings on leather, baskets, carved wood toys, even a few guys selling cigars --- your choice of local Nicaraguan brands or Cuban puros.
Places to Visit Within Easy Day-Trip Range of Managua...
If you're using Managua as a "home base" to do short daytrips and overnights to nearby (more scenic) destinations, you'll become familiar with the Mercado Roberto Huembres (aka, the "artesanal market"). That's where you catch inter-city buses to Masaya, Granada, and San Juan del Sur. If you want to do a trip to Leon, the bus leaves from Mercado Israel Lewites. Inter-city buses are fairly nice and comfortable, but are cheap to ride. Figure a buck all the way to Granada (which takes about an hour and a half).
The colonial city of Granada is a "must see" for visitors who want to experience a nice, colonial era, traditional Nicaraguan city. It's windy streets are filled with colonial-era architecture and its generally a safer, nicer, more attractive place to be than in Managua (it actually makes more sense as a "home base" for most American travelers than Managua does, even though it's a substantially smaller city).
Masaya is Nicaragua's most famous volcano and national park, and it's a definite must-see daytrip. It's close enough and cheap enough to do by taxi, but the direct bus will only cost you about 30 cents. If you're looking for souvenirs, you'll want to stop at the Masaya market. There's also a scenic lake there, ready and waiting for the shutterbugs.
For many years, Nicaragua was a "jewel in the rough" and an "undiscovered gem" with beaches that were just as good as those a few miles south in Costa Rica's Guanacaste region, but that were much cheaper and where gringos rarely tread. Surfers and backpackers are starting to pick up on the reality and today you find a fair number headed to Nicaragua's southwest shores. If you really want to "get away from it all", you can do it in Nicaragua.
I've got a lot more to say about all these places, (and hey, I didn't even mention Lake Nicaragua yet...) but I should probably keep to the topic at hand, which is Managua, so I'll save the deeper detail for another day.
Eating and Drinking in Managua....
Food in Managua is easy to find, remarkably inexpensive, and shockingly varied. If you want American grease pits, you can find 'em, and I saw several motos buzzing around town emblazoned with Dominos Pizza logos (Dominos Pizza delivers....especially if you're staying anywhere around the Zona Rosa area (Altamira, Los Robles, etc.) There's Pizza Huts too, and even a TGI Fridays, so you only have to give up eating really bad food if you choose.
Better choices abound.
In the Zona Rosa, I loved grabbing coffee and a pastry at Case del Cafe on the Carretera a Masaya. Outdoor tables let you people watch and gawk, and they have a great newsstand if you want to grab an english language newspaper or book. Light fare, friendly service, casual attitude, upscale clientele, inviting ambience. Lots to like (and the coffee is strong but wonderfully earthy).
A great place for dinner is a restaurant at KM 5 on the Carretera a Masay, called Bongos. Silly name, serious Cuban food. I had a wonderful ropa vieja, tender strips of lean beef with outstanding moros y cristianos, and the mojitos were simply to die for (naturally, made with the real McCoy --- genuine Havana Club rum. Great eats and I got out the door for under 200 cordobas including drinks (about US$12 on the bottom line)
The barrio Martha Quezada, closer to the colonial downtown, had numerous good-looking options, and I wish I'd had time to explore more of the eateries around there. There are also quite a few bars and discos around, so it looks like a booming nightlife is possible. Thankfully, the Nicas haven't forgotten their latin heritage like the neighboring Ticas have, at least when it comes to music. I swear I couldn't go 5 feet anywhere in Costa Rica without getting bombarded by really bad 70s American pop hits coming out of every friggin' speaker in the country. The radio in my hotel room in San Jose picked up more English language music stations than latin music stations. How sad! At least in Managua, they pretty much blow off most American music and listen to more interesting, culturally relevant stuff. I was surprised though how Mexican their tastes ran, with more cumbias and rancheras than I've ever heard outside a Tex-Mex border town.
Oh yeah, food and drink. I almost forgot what I was talkin' 'bout!
I stopped in at places called Las Cazuelas --- awesome little cafe with super friendly folks running the place. I don't think they spoke a word of English, but then, I didn't even try. What I did try was plenty of wonderful pupusas topped off by a healthy dollop of wonderfully tangy and peppery curtido.
A good pupusa is a wonderful thing. Why these things haven't caught on like tacos, I don't know because they are seriously delicious! First, you start off with a super thick, hand-patted, pan toasted fat tortilla, and you stuff it with good stuff....usually cheese, though you can do a bit of stewed meat, or a veggie mix. Then you toast it on a comal or a fired stone until the outside it wonderfully toasted with some traces of charred black. Top it off with curtido --- which is like a cole slaw that's pickled with chili peppers...it's richly flavorful and one of the most authentically Central American dishes you can eat. Wash it down with some chilly Victorias, and you will be one happy local cuisine eatin' mo-fo.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you about the tamales. They're bigger than Mexican tamales and they're steamed in banana leaves instead of the corn husks used to the north, and you find them stuffed differently too. The ones I had were filled with a shredded spicy barbecued pork and diced potatoes. Man! That is some eatin'!
But I didn't even tell you the best part: a huge lunch with chilly beer included cost me less than $5.
Sleeping in Managua...
There's a fair number of hotels in Managua, in just about any price class you might want. There's a Holiday Inn Select, a Days Inn, a Camino Real, some bed and breakfast type places, and more. What do you want to pay? Where do you want to stay?
There's two Inter-Continental hotels in Managua --- both big, both high dollar, but both very safe choices. The one that locals call "the Inter-Continental" is the big white one that's downtown, near the Martha Quezada area (by the way, this is also where you'll find Inturismo --- the city's tourist info center). The big pink one next to the MetroCenter shopping mall is the "Inter-Continental MetroCenter" and you need to use the "MetroCenter" moniker with cabbies if you want to get there. I didn't stay in either, but I think most of us know that Inter-Continental's are generally very glitzy, high-end, corporate style places that cater mostly to business travelers.
If I were stuck on corporate style hotels, I might opt for the Camino Real. I don't care for it's somewhat remote location, but I did see it pop up on hotel reservation web sites at rates considerably below Inter-Continental or Holiday Inn, and the price difference was more than enough to make up for the highe prices you'd end up paying for taxis...so it could be a good choice.
I stayed in a place called the Hotel Los Robles. It's a small, upscale boutique hotel in the Zona Rosa area and is a very good choice for someone who likes personal attention and comfortable accomodations in a traditional, colonial setting. Not a good choice for families, but then, I've never heard of anyone other than Nicas traveling to Managua with kids.
Logistics: Getting to Managua...
Managua's main airport (MGA) is only about 10km from downtown, so it's a close easy ride in and out. The airport itself is fairly small and not particularly attractive. Personally, I think it looks like a self-storage warehouse with a control tower stuck on top, but it gets the job done.
From the U.S., you can get direct flights to Managua on Continental (via Houston) or American (via Dallas or Miami). You can often snag cheaper fares on TACA for flights from the U.S., but will usually have to connect in San Salvador or San Jose.
I did a round-trip from San Jose (SJO) to Managua. 50 minutes in an Airbus A320. $219 round-trip on TACA. Good flights, new plane, on-the-dot punctuality.
Some folks prefer doing buses, which are the primary transportation mode in latin America anyway. From San Jose, it's about 8 hours on Ticabus, which runs 4 buses a day and costs $12 for one of the basic first-class buses or $16 for the one executive-class bus. From San Salvador, it's about 11 hours and costs $25. (See www.ticabus.com for schedules and bus station info).
Local currency is the cordoba, but a lot of businesses will take dollars. Exchange rate is roughly 17 cordobas to 1 U.S. dollar these days (as of New Years 2006, anyway). There's ATMs around, but they're not everywhere like they are in the U.S. They had 'em in the airport, and I had good luck finding one in the Metrocenter mall where the BANPRO one worked fine with my U.S. issued Plus-labeled ATM card. Credit cards were accepted at most hotels and restaurants that I saw.
Bottom Line...
Managua is never on anybody's list of "must see" destinations, and in truth, there's good reasons for that. It is Nicaragua's capital and cultural hub though, and it is a city that quite a few folks will pass through at some point or another. In my opinion, it can be an interesting place in it's own right too. It's not a lot different from San Jose in neighboring Costa Rica: often endured, rarely embraced. I don't recommend going out of your way to make Managua a destination in itself, but if you're going there anyway, might as well dive in head first and enjoy what there is to enjoy. That's my philosophy anyway...
Until next time, see you on the road. As always, look for me in the cheap seats!
Photos
As I've done many times in the past, I've put a few of my photos online. Take a look at...
http://community.webshots.com/user/mrkstvns
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Friends
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.