Living in Granada, Nicaragua in February, 2008

Living in Granada, Nicaragua is a pleasant experience. Average daily temperatures are about 30° C and there is usually a breeze coming off Lake Nicaragua. This part of the world gets around 300 days of sunshine each year. It’s a good place to spend the winter.

The people are friendly at every turn, and there’s not a day that goes by that someone, usually more than one person, gives you a smile even if you refuse the vendor’s cashews, or the currency exchanger or the women carrying fruit trays on their heads.

It seems that everyone is a vendor as we thread our way along the Calle Commercial each day for our breakfast. This is the open market where you can find just about anything you need. The street is so crowded with people that the big buses can hardly drive by.

Once off the market street, you can enter what’s left of the indoor market palladium, circa 1930, where there are rows and rows of vendor stalls, and wares that can be bargained for. And unlike the souks say of Tunisia and Turkey, the Nicaraguans are really laid back, eating their snacks and visiting the other vendors while they work, almost oblivious to the 4 curious Canadian tourists passing by.

For many of the locals, the market is where they endure, either to sell, barter or buy the goods they need. Prices are low, and there are enough meats, fruit, vegetables, pastries, drinks, poultry, eggs, and herbs to feed even the largest family. Last week we watched a 12 year old boy carrying a squealing pig under his arm, perhaps under instructions from his father to get as many cordobas( 18.8 = $1.) as he could muster at the market, but unknowingly giving practical meaning to the nursery rhyme which begins: “this little piggy went to market.”

Nicaragua has an unofficial unemployment rate of about 65% which may even be a little on the conservative side. Over 80% of the population survives on less than $1.00 per day, which unfortunately makes the country the poorest in Central America.

Yet, somehow the people survive and help one another even though poverty is rampant. Families are close knit and support one another. The nuclear family is alive and well, and the old and frail live with their children. Goods and services are cheap, and the people reuse, repair and recycle what they can. Bicycle repair stalls and shoe repair and machine repair are available in the market, and if it were not for the scurge of the plastic drink bottles, there would be a lot less garbage on the streets and in the gutters. The plastic bottles are a constant reminder of the greed of the big soft drink companies, and their disinterest in the environment. We need to go back to refundable glass bottles sooner rather than later.

Nicaraguans have been living under the new presidency of Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas for the past year, and are trying to forget their violent past. The Ortega government has proclaimed free medical care for all of its citizens, and free education as long as families can make or purchase a school uniform for their children. It’s a start.

Tourism has dropped in the past year since Ortega came to power, but the government has now realized that more than the paltry sum of $1 million needs to be invested so tourism can become a wealth generator. Promises of improved infrastructure and marketing campaigns to promote Nicaragua in other countries have been undertaken. Time will tell.

Granada is an unique situation in the country since it attracts the most tourists. A city with colonial roots, the downtown area has refurbished buildings and streets. In the 3rd week in February the city hosted an international poet’s conference, world renowned and well attended. City officials made an extra effort to clean the downtown and the main events were held at the spacious Parc Centro.

There are so many excellent restaurants in Grenada that going out for meals is a great highlight. The traditional Nicaraguan diet includes: plenty of locally grown vegetables, plantain of many varieties, rice and beans, chicken, beef and many corn based products such as tamales and burritos. Eggs are plentiful and even in the backyards in the city, people keep free range chickens.

The food is fresh and frozen food that we rely on in North America hardly exists. Being so far south, food is locally grown and harvested so it is not being transported hundreds and even thousands of miles to its destination.

A full course evening meal, well prepared and presented can be had for less than $10 per person- even lower if you eat at the local restaurants. Local beer sells for $1.25 so you don’t have top break the bank every time you decide to go out.

Beside the interesting churches and the other colonial buildings in Granada, there’s plenty of other things to see in the area.

The majestic Mombacho Volcano can be seen in the distance and is worth a visit to view the steaming crater or even hike to the top. Masaya is a small town nearby which is known for its extensive outdoor markets. The town of Catarina provides an ideal lookout of the several freshwater lagoons, formed by the volcanic action of the past.

Located on Lake Nicaragua, Granada also provides ferry service to the island of Ometepe that has a thriving tourist trade.

There are plenty of different predictions for tourism in Nicaragua but there’s no question that Granada won’t be turning the clock back.

Tourism is a thriving industry already and is really just beginning.