Bienvenidos a Nicaragua!

Last night, I arrived in Managua, Nicaragua - the beginning of my 11-week stay here. I will be doing my summer internship with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nicaragua, helping their Monitoring & Evaluation team. That will mostly include trying to make sense of lots of data, visiting agricultural producers in the field, and doing some data analysis - hopefully all to prove that MCC's projects in Nicaragua (which are focused in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure and property rights) have made a positive economic impact in the two regions in which they are implemented (Leon and Chinandega) in the north-western part of the country. I will be situated in Leon. But enough for the work-related introduction. Now, onto stories and first impressions.

For starters, you know that something is a little bit off, when upon picking up your luggage you are asked to show your luggage tag to make sure you are not taking someone else's suitcase instead. Also, upon entry everyone has to pay a $5 entry fee (and you basically get your visa, good for 90 days, right then and there). However, upon leaving the country, you have to pay a $32 exit fee (?!?) Guess they are happier to have you enter than leave. I had arranged for airport pick-up from the hotel in Managua (where I was spending one night). As we drove to the hotel, we passed by run-down buildings, old cars (including some Ladas), school buses (that serve as public transportation here), and groups of people hanging out at street corners in the dark. Managua is supposedly not a very pleasant city - it's sprawled out and doesn't really have a city center or much to offer in terms of sights (at least compared to other cities, like Granada and Leon). An earthquake destroyed most of the city center back in the 70s and they never quite reconstructed it since most of the aid that flowed in at the time was channeled through to President Somoza Debayle's bank account. Now, the landmarks that people mostly orient themselves by are the huge malls.

After spending the night in Managua, I was picked up early the next morning by the MCC shuttle minibus (which transports commuters from Managua to Leon and back every day). Driving up the "highway" (which consisted of one lane in each direction), we passed trucks with people crowded in the back, people on bicycles, and horses and cows roaming freely by the road. However, I was also struck by the landscape - lake Managua, the volcanoes in the distance, and the green vegetation. We passed several police checkpoints (at least two), and I also noticed that when cars/trucks stopped by the side of the road in places where they were not fully visible, their drivers would put a pile of branches a few meters ahead of their parked vehicle to alert other drivers to it (instead of the red triangle or flares normally used in the US or Bulgaria).

Upon entering Leon, I almost felt like I was entering another world. The colonial-style architecture in the city center is breathtaking, and upon entering one of the the houses I was even more pleasantly surprised. It's hard to describe the houses in words, but I guess it's enough to say that hidden behind a tiny, ordinary-looking door is usually a long, spacious, and immaculately furnished house with an inner courtyard/garden and the living room/common areas open towards this inner garden (basically all living rooms are the equivalent of verandas in other countries), while the bedrooms are windowless (mostly to keep them cool). As soon as I take some pictures, I will upload a few to give you a better idea, since I am definitely not doing it justice. So, I will be staying in a room in one of these colonial houses, rented out by an old lady who spent 24 years in the US but returned to retire in Nicaragua. The rest of the rooms are rented out to several students who are there mostly during the week, leaving for their homes on the weekends. I guess she took a liking to me because she offered to give me my own keys, even without my asking. (Usually students who rent rooms are not given keys for security reasons. Although Leon is generally quite safe, robberies do occur from time to time, and the fewer people that have free access to your house, the better.)

Upon deciding my place of residence, my supervisor and I got some lunch after which I told her that I needed to exchange some money. She told me that is best done in the street because banks give you worse exchange rates. I though "in the street" meant at a currency exchange bureau, but it turned out that she literally meant "in the street". We approached a man standing at a street corner with a big batch of cordobas (the local currency). My supervisor asked him for the exchange rate and upon determining it was good enough, she handed him my $100 and he counted off the cordobas (approximately 19 per USD). (One can also use USD here but it is easier to do everything in cordobas, 1) because you don't appear as much as a tourist and 2) because everyone will give you change in cordobas anyway.)

Well, now I am spending most of the afternoon acquainting myself with the projects I will be working on and waiting for my room to be readied. I can't wait to just lie down and do nothing! After all the travel from the past few days, it will just be nice to relax in one place. But more exploring will be done this weekend. I am glad this is a short week. And I will try to post more frequent updates.