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Sun, 12 Feb 2006 10:41:58 -0800 (PST) 

Leon, Granada, Masaya, Managua (Nicaragua) to USA. Done
with ALL of Americas.  Migrations . . .

I am typing this from Hostel Venegas in Managua where I started
my trip about 2 weeks ago.  Tomorrow off to the USA. Well,
"done with ALL Americas" means all countries and regions,
from the tip of South America to Arctic Circle in Alaska,
coast to coast USA and Canada, all coasts of Mexico and
South & Central America.  Next comes all of Europe,
possibly also all of North Africa--will try visas to
Algeria and Libya, the latter from Europe--and thus all of
the Mediterranean, starting on March 20.

Upon return, I have a few fine pages to post from this
trip, but only 4 days to do so, before I meet my mother in
El Paso, Texas and do a 3-week tour with her thru the
national parks in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and several
choice spots all the way to Miami.

1. Visas.  There is no entry payment to Guatemala.  You pay
$10 to El Salvador if you stay more than 2 days; otherwise,
get a free transit visa.  Honduras you pay $3 as transit,
$10 to enter Nicaragua.  I dont know yet if there is an
exit tax to get out of Nicaragua.


2. San Salvador, bus to Managua, Leon.  The Tica Bus that
was supposed to drop me off in Leon--the road passes by
(not thru) Leon--apparently forgot about me.  So I ended up
in Managua Tica Bus Station.  There, I had to pay a taxi
$2--they first asked $5--to take me to Terminal ISRAEL for
a minibus (30C, or less than $2) about 70km back to Leon,
but on a road with glimpses of Lago de MANAGUA and Volcan
MOMOTOMBO along the way.  This part of Nicaragua
(southwest) is the most volcanic region of entire Central
America, called CORDILLERA de los MARIBIOS, about a dozen
of them all the way to Granada.  Anyway, instead of at 2pm,
I arrived in Leon at 5:30pm, after an hour in minibus.

a) Hostel Mi Casona in Leon.  A guy from Finland I met on
the bus and I asked for a taxi to take us to the center,
about 1km away.  The driver asked $1 from each of us, I
offered $1 for both.  We agreed on 20C, like $1.15.  We
came to Hostal CLINICA, among the recommended hostels in
Lonely Planet.  It is a dump (plus had climb a very narrow
spiral staircase to the room), and the old lady wanted 70C
from each of us for a shared room with bath & toilet.  The
one next door, owned by a Westerner, wanted $6 from each
for a better room.  I recommend the one we accepted, 15m
away on the same side across the street: MI CASONA HOSTEL. 
It has a very nice courtyard, TV with HBO in TV room, the
rooms not worse than the ones before, but for 50C, about
$3.50 each for shared room with outside bath & shower.  And
it is only 2 blocks from Parque Central.

b) Leon, the city.  the most progressive and liberal city
(2nd largest after Managua, population about 125,000) is
the old capital (for 2 centuries) before the honor passed
on to Managua, also as a reconciliation between the old
rival cities of Leon and Granada, both established by
Cordoba.  Though a neat little city, at first Leon does not
seem to have the ambiance and pizazz of Antigua, Guatemala,
primarily because there are less tourists.  But in the
morning the place began to grow on me.  It has its own
ambiance, not less than the one in Antigua.  Everything
here is Colonial too, with Basilica Catedral de Asuncion at
the center, across from Parque Central.  There are at least
4 other neat churches.  All need face-lifting, but perhaps
they look more authentic as they are.

Facing the Cathedral from the Park, at the corner on the
left is the EL SESTEO Cafe/Restaurant that has the best
location for people and cathedral-watching.  The Tourism
Info office is right next to it along that side street, and
there is an Internet place nearby--ask the info place. 
Then comes the Internet cafe, a bank with ATM follows, the
latter across from the Italian Pizza place owned by a
Lebanese, where I had a kofte dish at US prices last night.
 (The restaurant is mentioned in Lonely Planet.)  Walk
around and become a part of the ambiance of this neat
little city.  Casa del Obrero is also in Leon, where poet
journalist Lopez Perez killed Anastasio Somoza, the
patriarch of the 4 decades of Somoza dynasty.  Mouseleo de
los Hereos y Martires is at the corner right next to the
left of the Cathedral--facing it.  It is an open museum,
like a small park, with Sandino and Sandinista Movement
very much alive and celebrated on the long mural depicting
the history of Nicaragua on the wall of the museum, with an
edifice in front.


3. Bus Leon to Granada.  (Conservative) Granada is the
other old capital established by Cordoba.  (By the way, he
was killed for wanting to become the governor of the cities
he established.)  There is no direct bus from Leon to
Granada; you have to take a bus to Managua first (25C),
take a taxi (20C) to the bus station across from UCA (Univ
of Central America), then another bus to Granada for 25C. 
The station in Leon is chaotic, with buses of all sizes
(including US school buses, some painted over colorfully as
they do also in the Mideast, just different designs) going
in all directions, surrounded by a full market and food
stalls, with loud music to add spice.  Buses to Managua
start at 5am, go every hour until noon, then at 2pm and
4pm, all for 25C.  It takes about 1.5 hours Managua to
Granada, passing also the artsy town of Masaya and the
entrance to VOLCAN MASAYA National Park.  The drive is very
nice, just as scenic and lush as driving to Key West. 
Instead of the water, you will have the volcanoes on your
right, otherwise surrounded by all sorts of tropical flora.

a) Hostal Central, etc..  Facing the cathedral from the
park, continue along the wide street (Calzada) to the left
of the Catedral about 150m and find Hostal Central on your
right.  It is the most popular and has all amenities, but
is somewhat noisy, including 2 barking dogs.  Dorm rooms
(16 beds) go for $3, Singles 85 (one bed in room) to 100C
(2 beds for you only, less than $6).  Baths are outside,
there is a full restaurant, travel agent, Internet (free
for 30 min per day, otherwise 14C per hour, others in the
city are 20C), and TV and all sorts of social corners
within.  If you want your space and want to relax and rest,
try another hostel either further down the same street or
along one of the streets that intersect.

b) Granada. Is on Lago de Nicaragua, the largest lake in
Central America, and near Volcan MOMBACHO.  So you have
more options here, like taking a tour of the volcano,
surfing in the Pacific, or doing some of the islands in the
Lago. There are more tourists, and upper class ones too, in
Granada than in Leon.  However, I would not say Granada is
prettier, though more buildings in Granada are renovated
than in Leon.  Continue Calle Calzada 1km further than the
hostel, you are at Lago.  There are excellent views of the
volcanoes from the city, one from the church with
powder-blue front on the parallel street away from the
Catedral, next to the excellent museum and exhibition hall.
 You have to pay to get inside.  Overall, I felt underneath
the amiable facade, Granada is a touristy place.  And you
are constantly badgered, even while eating a meal at a
restaurant at or near Parque Central, by people who want
sell things, kids and grandmothers who have memorized "I am
hungry" and want money.  It was not so in Leon or Antigua. 
To get to the bus station for buses to Managua, with the
cathedral on your right, cross Parque Central and turn left
after the park.. Walk about 50m to find the bus station on
your left, inside a yellow wall.  The fee is 18C, about 1$.

As far as Granada, Nicaragua, Century 21, Remax, Caldwell
Bankers, etc. are also in Granada, meaning retired
Americans and Europeans, and those fed up with the
structured scene in their industrialized and so perhaps
also robotized and robotizing homelands, are buying land
and property here, as they have been doing in Mexico, Costa
Rica, Guatemala, etc.  So Granada tends to be more
expensive (than Leon, for example).   

c) Lago de Nicaragua, Cocibolka to the natives.  Just
offshore are a group of 365 diminutive islands formed by
Volcan MOMBACHO, Isla ZAPATERA one of the largest among
them.  There are lagoons withing the Lago, as the gorgeous
Laguna de APOYO.  There is access to the Caribbean via RIO
SAN JUAN, to the Pacific via the RIVAS Isthmus to the
south.  One of the most attractive places in the Lago is
Isla de OMETEPE with Volcan CONCEPCION at one end, smaller
Volcan MADERAS at the other.  Further east in the Caribbean
is the the touristy CORN Island.


4. Migrations.  Thru all my travels I noticed that there is
another kind of migration and immigration taking place
around the world, one born out of inner restlessness,
perhaps also longing for something different, not so much
for economic reasons.  Compared to the numbers of normal
migration, like the poor Mexicans to USA, the numbers in
this case are tiny and the activity more subtle, but it is
there, like a South African opening a restaurant at a
remote spot in Honduras, an Australian buying some property
in Malawi and converting it to a camp for overland trucks
in Africa, a white Zimbabwean starting a hostel in
Swaziland, a bored American retiree getting himself a
native wife and moving to Honduras, etc.

Once you begin to visit other countries, the stark
differences vis-a-vis the home grounds become an attraction
for many and so they move, many even without language. 
These are nice and innocent places, with very nice (but by
language remote) people, and things are much cheaper than
USA, without the hassles at home.  So it dawns on you that
there are other environments and cultures where life is at
least as much fun as living even at best locations in USA,
Europe, Australia.  This realization is like rebirth, as if
finding the Fountain of Youth, for many.  Whatever, but for
long-term stay and with local women one must learn Spanish,
though I met one today who was good in English, an
accountant by profession, who will go to Canada for 3
months to improve her English.  These are exceptions on the
street, but one can probably meet others like this at the
university and professional environments.

This was a good trip, in some ways also a confirmation that
so many Americans also want to escape to other worlds,
rather than retire in Florida, Arizona, etc., as usual.  In
fact, one Legionnaire I met on the bus to San Salvador got
fed up with the predictable routine in the States, in
whatever order, quit his home in Tampa, married a
Guatemalan, and drove all the way to down here, and is now
living happily in Guatemala City.  Despite being in his
late 70s, he seems rejuvenated, to be able to enjoy his
last few years this way . . .  And apparently Central
American women are not averse marrying foreigners, indeed
prefer them, knowing they will be treated fine and fairly,
live like this perhaps a decade or so, and then be able to
start a new life while still young and now much better off
than when they started.  It is nice to know that this
option exists, that some can make use of it to add zest to
their lives.

Then there are younger or more adventurous travelers to
whom the idea of settling down anywhere, however wonderful,
is an anathema, not as long as they can move, turn another
corner, not as long as they can finance this on-the-go
lifestyle.  I am in this group, though as most in this
group, I too make allowances that something, an event, an
encounter may put a sudden end to this.

In this group are also vagabonds (besides part-time
backpackers with regular jobs, who are students, etc.) who
are struggling with wanting to stay, wherever this may be,
but wondering if they can make enough money to live.  I met
such persons (even Americans) in Africa, Hawaii, Latin
America, India.  By then they are aware that
quality-of-life includes other things than the the usual
variables they have been parroted to. One guy from Utah who
works at Hostal Central is among these, as another, an
Israeli American, who works for a moving company in USA in
the summer to earn enough to finance his trips world-wide. 
I am more in this mold, and fortunate that I can continue
without being hindered by financial limitations . . .

Sirman