Nicaragua 1985 (Part 1)

Managua was a donut city. The center was destroyed by the 1970 earthquake, and Somoza decreed that rebuilding be done on the outskirts--on land, that is, owned by the Somoza family. Most of the central city was still empty in 1985, and all the action was in the surrounding suburbs.

More photos below the fold:


This is Rivas, a town near the Costa Rican border where we had our first, and most expensive, meal. At the border they required each visitor to exchange $30 at an imaginary rate of 20 cordobas/dollar. The case de cambio rate was 750 cordobas/dollar, and on the black market you could get double that. So our first meal worked out to maybe $50 because we paid with the money we exchanged at the border, but it was really more like $2.

At dinner, ordering from a lengthy menu, we played out the first of several identical scenes:

Quisiera...el bistec.
No hay.
Bueno. Entonces, quisiera los camarones.
No hay.
Que hay?
Pollo.

The economy was wrecked, the supermarkets had soap and little else, and the restaurants had chicken.

This was a kids' fiesta we happened across in Granada; I think it was Virgin of Guadelupe Day. The kids asked if everyone in America had feet as large as mine (size 13), and of course I said yes.


In a country full of slogans, this was my favorite.


An interior courtyard in Granada. I don't know what this building was or had been.

More pictures in a day or two.

[That's all, folks]