It has been 5 days since we arrived here in Nicaragua, and so much has already happened! Walking out of the airport into Managua, Nicaragua I immediately realized what would be the worst part of the trip. THE HEAT!! But so it goes.. the day of our arrival was just setting into the hotel and a quick tour of the neighborhood. The first thing you realize is how the homes here are short, and mostly made of brick and stone, without any drywall or insulation. Some might assume that it’s because of the people being poor, but an idea was given to me that it could also be because of how hot it is here, that those houses are the most viable for the heat.
The second day, we spoke with Joseph of Center for Global Education. He gave us a run down of the history here. The few key points that I found most interesting and aggravating was that most of the last 100 years the government has been keeping the country from progressing due to arguments between Liberals and Conservatives and then afterwards, corruption keeping the money up top with the president. And then, more angering was that the US made things worse by having a secret war here, which set back the government here a lot. His presentation did a great job at summarizing the history of Nicaragua.
Finally, we did some sightseeing here in Managua and got to see the old and new cathedrals. They were both pretty breathtaking, but personally I liked the old one better. The interesting thing about the new one was that there were political posters hanging from the front. Right now, my mind is a bit in a mess thinking about how bad the government has been to the people, but right now it’s the best they’ve had to they sort of settle.. what else can they do??
Ricky Galvan