"A good place to meet people" Nicaragua by markus64

Nicaragua is the poorest country of Central America; among other things that means, it’s cheap for first world travellers but very expensive for most of the locals. In the less touristy places, like Masaya for instance, there are very few bars and people tend to go out only on Saturday. You see a lot of homeless people, sleeping in the street, and you meet with child labour and begging nearly everywhere.
Still I didn’t get the impression that the air is filled with despair, most people seem to struggle bravely towards a better future and even to catch some fun on the way.

There are only a few places I would recommend for a longer stay (unless you want to do some voluntary work and get really involved).
The most attractive places to me were the two colonial cities, Leon and Granada. Granada has the lake and maybe slightly more in the way of nightlife (if you want to meet some shrill people, try the Flamingo Bar, at the corner next to the cinema- no guarantee though, sometimes it’s just boring), Leon has the most attractive hotel for budget travellers, the best value I have found anywhere in CA. It’s Casa Ivana, near the theatre- one of the few cases where I agree with the lonely planet.
Managua is the worst city I have ever seen, a place without a soul. The lake is polluted and foul smelling, next to it is an awful slum area, the governmental area (monument area) is virtually deserted and somewhat eerie, the so called centre is just for cars, it’s life threatening for pedestrians. There are a few good clubs but they are far between. There’s no street life, in the night you’ll mainly meet hookers and vendors. In my opinion it’s not worth to spend even one night there, if you don’t have to.
What I liked was San Juan del Sur, at the Pacific coast. Not much going on, but it’s pretty, friendly and relaxed and there are some nice beaches in the area, even the one in the bay of San Juan isn’t bad. And you can get good seafood at very reasonable prices.

What about the Caribbean side? I spent two days on Big corn island, and comparing it to Utila (Honduras) I was rather disappointed. It could be quite nice, I suppose, but somehow the natural resources seem to be wasted. A lot of ugly buildings at the seaside for instance, and only one restaurant with a terrace going out to the sea. No quiet comfy bars, just a blaring disco which is pretty empty during the week. Few people I met appeared to get much fun out of it. Some of the facilities mentioned in the LP don’t exist anymore… seemingly the islands attract less visitors than was expected.
If you want to go however, and decide to do it on plane, I’d advise to choose Aerosegovia. They provide the best service by far and are even a bit cheaper than their competitors (Atlantic and Costena).

If you speak some Spanish, have time on your hands and want to get in touch with locals, Nicaragua is a good place to go. If you’re just planning on a short, stress free vacation, maybe you’ll be better off in neighbouring Costa Rica.

• Pros:openminded and hospitable people
• Cons:poverty, heat, lack of facilities
• In a nutshell:A place for travellers rather than for tourists.