nicaragua: my two cents

stuff i noticed:

• very green
• roads are in much better condition than costa rica
• granada reminds me of spain - it's full of bright colors, old churches and plazas
• you can stay in a hotel here on the cheap, drink and eat on the cheap too
• the beggars and vendors are off the hook...in the time it took me to eat two pizza slices and drink two beers i said "no gracias" to 12 vendors selling cigarettes, chocolates, hammocks (like am i really gonna buy a hammock at 9pm??)
• there are a lot less bugs, no bites in two days
• i feel like a tourist, i actually tok a lot of pictures
• people seem really into US culture, i wrote this listening to YMCA blasted through the plaza

my favorite things:

• riding the local bus half the way there, only gringo in sight
  
• using my spanish a LOT
• swimming in lake nicaragua
• buying my melon juice at the market for like $10 cents
  
• being here, never did i ever imagine i'd be here - i found myself saying "dude, i'm in nicaragua" atleast 5 times a day
• making friends with some great nicaraguans who took me out, dancing and to the best bar i've been to in central america (chonchi's = find it!)
  
• surprising myself mostly by just going with the flow and finding my way (which would not have been possible a year ago or prob even 2 months ago)