Settling down

I'm finally starting to get some sort of settling down in Nicaragua. I'm currently at a friends place in Jinotepe, we celebrated her mother last night turning 51.

The effects of Nicaraguan summer

My body is starting to adapt more to the extreme heat here in Nicaragua, the first minutes after I landed here and sat in the taxi I became a lake due to the 36 degrees celsius in the air. Now I don't have that problem anymore, I do get freguent headaches, showing a need for both more water and salt. Living in Nicaragua in the dry season is somewhat a big leap coming from minus 17-20 degrees celsius.


The average degree during the day here right now is 35 degrees, and at night it rarely falls beneath 28 degrees (which my nicaraguan room-mate finds extremely cold). It is in some ways very pleasant, and other ways it can be a little too much.


I'm very glad I have a strong skin though, I have not used any sunscreen for the first month of my trip, and I have yet to get any sort of burn.

Physical location

At the moment of writing I find myself at a friends place in Jinotepe, about an hour from Managua. However, me and Rayco are renting a house together in los robles, a upper middle class district surrounding the central parts of Managua. Bars, restaurants and most of what you need are within walking distances, though sometimes walking distance is too warm to walk.


Taxis in Managua cost about twice what they cost in most other cities in Nicaragua, and most things are a little bit more expensive, still for a norwegian you can cut our prices in three and that's where you'll end up on most things, though electronics and luxury goods are normally the same or higher priced than they are in Norway (and more often priced in dollars than cordobas).


The price of alcohol is very pleasing, 1 dollar for a beer and 5 dollars for a small bottle of rum, Nicaragua also has the highest rated rum in the world, namely the Flor de Caña, which is an extremely good rum. Tasting any other rum after it has a bleak taste in comparison.(it's like the episode of How I Met Your Mother where Marshall has tasted the best burger in New York and no burger is as good any more)


That said, I'm trying to keep my alcohol level as low as possible, but it is a little difficult with their drinking games making you take a shot of rum, instead of just a sip of the drink as in norway. The lemon game is difficult, especially with the fact that my spanish is not as quick or refined as theirs:


Everybody has a number, like 1,2,3,4 and 5 if there are five players. So what you have to say is [your number] limon, medio limon, [number of other player] limon, and very quickly at that. Rayco lost three times in a row and Chak lost five times in a row, I didn't lose in a row, but I did have to do three shots.


Ugh. I prefer mexican wave or I've never any day!


Anyways, next week we are going to Ometepe for the weekend, and the weekend after we are heading to Leon catching up with some friends there.


Stay in touch,
Kristoffer