Nicaragua so far

Another country, another currency, another accent, though the same language thank god. It feels like I'm back to reality here in Nicaragua, well back in Latin America at least.

Apparently its the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, just behind Haiti. And that's easy to believe. But despite being incredibly poor, it definitely has a certain charm to it; the locals travel into town by horse and cart to carry their products to the markets, everyone rides around on bicycles, and particularly here in Granada, the preservation of the colonial buildings gives it that unique ambiance (I never thought I'd use that word) giving you the impression its the 1930`s.

Downtown Granada

Local returning from the market in Rivas

Though people really do struggle to get by here; even those with employment, trying to make something of themselves have a hard time. Speaking to some university students here, they tell me of the fees they have to pay not only for each lecture, but the huge amount just for the certificate at the end of the course to prove they have passed, without which the degree is worthless. These huge amounts of money are really just around 50 USD, which seem like nothing, but that really takes a long time to save that money if you`re working in an unskilled job here (its amazing what you can buy for 3 English pence). Some of the guys working on the streets, just hussling tourists really, told me they cannot get a job because they have no identity papers, and they have no identity papers because you have to pay for them - like you have to pay for identity papers to live in your own country?! And it was an amount that these people just couldn`t afford, though whether that was actually the full story I'm not sure.

The general lack of education amongst the population is really evident. Most kids don`t go to school, and if you visit some of the poorer towns around Granada like Masaya, you can see the really dirty conditions that people live in.

Kids playing in the market in Masaya

So I have had just about a week so far in Nicaragua, mostly around Granada, taking a few more Spanish lessons and making some trips around the area. The next move is to head out to the Corn Islands with some fellow travellers, and then travel up the Carribean coast, where apparently there are some indiginous communities and unexplored territory, its not clear if there is a means to travel up the coast (there are no roads out there), so nothings certain.