El Vago en Suramerica

Rockin out in Managua, Nicaragua.

Yeah its been a while since Ive written, and Im sorry if anyone has been overly concerned. Im safe, and having lots of fun.

Its funny… Im not gay (honestly), but I could probably write the “Gay Travelers Guide to Central America.” I keep meeting gay people everywhere I go. If anybody is gay and interested in heading to San Pedro Sula, I could most definitely hook you up. Let me know.

I arrived in Managua yesterday. I was going to spend some time in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, but after looking several minutes at a calendar, i decided it was time to be on my way.

Managua is bizarre. On my previous trip to Nicaragua, in the summer of 2004, i never saw the capital, staying instead in the tourist center of Granada. This time, I decided to see something a bit different. It is a city without skyscrapers, but also without any big buildings whatsoever. Most of the city was destroyed in the 1970´s by an earthquake, and in the aftermath it developed haphazardly and randomly, resulting in the current city layout. The historic center is the site of the ruins of the pre-earthquake city, an interesting, pretty spot, but extremely quiet and empty. The city´s modern centers seem to be based around several markets and shopping malls quite far from one another. Public transportation is somewhat infrequent compared with other Central American cities. There are numerous parks, which are unfortunately quite polluted and lacking in shade. It is a hot place, comparable to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I do like Managua, however, in several ways. The natural setting of the city is gorgeous; there is a beautiful lake below a tall hill in the center, and the city is located right on the edge of the enormous lake Managua. Also, I´ve had no trouble meeting people, and everyone seems very friendly.

Today I walked for hours, all over the city, and it was nice to do this type of exploration again. I havent spent so much time walking around any other big city in Central America. It was a good learning experience, and I found some true chaos during my wanderings. According to my Footprints Guide, “The Mercado Oriental is said to be the largest informal marketin Latin America, and its barrio, Ciudad Jardin, should be avoided at all costs.” I have to agree with them. You would have to be crazy, as a tourist, to go shopping there. In the sprawling mess, I saw not a single cop but hundreds of drunks and drug addicts, streets piled high with trash, and wild hordes of people. It was quite an experience. I dont think Ive ever seen a place so hectic, dirty, and poor as that market and the surrounding area. There was an empty lot full of trash 15 feet high, and on top of the trash were about 25 people, adults and children, looking through the trash for food. In nearly all of the abandoned buildings scattered around the area, destroyed by the earthquake, including former hotels, churches, and government buildings, are packed dozens of families, living one on top of the other. It was tough to see, even after having seen so much poverty and desperation during my travels.

I spent the past week in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I never really thought I would end up in San Pedro, but thats just how things turned out. I ended up leaving San Salvador a bit late on a Monday, so I had no choice but to spend a night in the town of Ocotepeque, on the other side of the border in Honduras. In the morning, I looked at a map, and realized that I was far closer to San Pedro, so I went there instead.

As I wandered around San Pedro, several guys came over and began to talk to me. They were all clearly gay, but I had no problem talking to them. Soon, I had made about 8 gay friends, all crazy partiers and crazy people. At night, I ended up going to a gay disco, which had a great atmosphere but was obviously quite lacking in girls. I went with Johan, my best friend of the group, to the Caribbean at the city of Puerto Cortes, on Thursday and Friday. On Friday we made another friend, a Salvadorean living in Cortes, with a big house on the ocean. His mom cooked us a soup, and we sat gazing at the sea and talking all day.

I had a great time in San Salvador. I hope this doesnt sound repetetive, but i made a number of friends there as well (including one gay guy), who owned cars and were able to drive me around the city. We went to the best place in the country to eat Pupusas, the national dish, and we spent one evening at the beach by the city of La Libertad. The parties were good in San Salvador, and I usually started drinking early with friends from my hostel before going out. I also spent a lot of time there in a huge shopping mall called MetroCentro. Though I have always hated malls, young people don´t have any business in the city center or in the parks, so the malls were the best place to be around people my age. After seeing so much chaos in the markets of central america, sometimes the malls can be a relief, but I still get tired of them rather quickly.

I love you all, and will update soon. If anybody has any questions about my travels, dont be afraid to ask…

Dan

Tags: Nicaragua, Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 17th, 2006 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Nicaragua, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.