Some thoughts… also strikes

by ariellestraveladventures

Hello folks!

Before my trip to El Salvador on Thursday, I just figured I’d share some thought I’ve had recently about living in Nicaragua for over a month (I still can’t believe it’s been that long). As I was walking to the bus stop to go to my first class the other day, I thought about everything I was doing and how everything I do on a daily basis seems normal, like it’s something I’ve been doing my entire life. I walk to the bus stop in the morning, avoiding the enormous gaps in the sidewalks where it’s like someone just forgot to fill in the space. I ride overpacked city buses and hold on for dear life. I drink orange and papaya juice out of plastic bags with a straw. Any meal that costs more than 100 córdobas (about $4) is just way too expensive. I haggle taxis down to 1o córdobas (less than 50 cents) each, because there is no way I’m paying 15 or 20 córdobas for a ride to Metrocentro (the mall). Everything I do here seems to weird when I write it all out or talk about it to someone back home. But when everything is actually happening, it just feels normal. Like my new normal. It’s amazing how quickly one can adjust to a new country, new norms, a new life.

Also, I didn’t have time to write about this before I went to the Coast, but there have been quite a few protests and strikes in the past few weeks. The first occurred on the same day I was supposed to go to a Pitbull concert. Pitbull was supposed to have a concert in Managua on September 28, so a bunch of us bought our tickets for $30 each. When we got there, we were informed that the concert had been cancelled at the last minute. Of course, we were all pretty upset and hoped that it would be rescheduled for before our trip to the Coast so we could still attend. Luckily it was rescheduled for two nights later, so we got to go and have an amazing time. Apparently, it had to be cancelled because there was a sugarcane plantation worker strike up near the border with Honduras, so the necessary equipment couldn’t get to Managua in time.

A little scarier and more recent was the taxi strike in Managua the day before we left for the Coast. We were told that morning that the majority of the taxi drivers in Managua were on strike. As we walked to our class that afternoon, we could see a plume of black smoke rising ahead from one of the protest sites. They were burning tires in the street. Later that evening, three of us walked to Metrocentro (about a 20 minute walk) to take some money out of the ATM for our trip. By the time we were ready to leave, it was already dark (it gets dark by 6 PM here). Normally this means we would take a taxi back, but then we remembered that the strike was still going on. After a quick call to the office coordinator, who told us we should be ok to walk home, we set out. Just outside the mall, we saw a taxi looking to pick up passengers, but we decided not to get in, since we didn’t know what the consequences would be if we were to run into a strike area. Thank goodness we didn’t get in. We later got emails from the US Embassy about the strike and saw the news reports. A taxi driver ran over and killed two police officers at a protest site. Also, striking taxi drivers were physically pulling people out of moving taxis that were still picking up passengers. Definitely one of those moments that reminds me how quickly things can change and how important it is to always keep your wits about you.

In other news, yesterday we got to look down a volcano and swim in the Laguna de Apoyo in Masaya. It was so beautiful and the water, like always here, was incredibly warm. I’m uploading pictures to my album, so you should check it out! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1869690821974.2045784.1232190724&type=1&l=9629e7f55e