San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Got into San Juan yesterday afternoon (very hungry) at about 5:30pm after about a 6 hour bus ride from Managua, the "capitol" of Nicaragua.

(i'll start from the bottom and work up): apparently it's a cultural "practice" of the folks of Mexico, and Central America to publicly discard of their trash, refuse, aluminum cans, & plastic bottles by tossing them on the ground (for a stateside example of this, check out San Francisco's Mission District). Nicaragua takes it to a whole new level.

The people in Nicaragua are a lively bunch. And from empirical observations, it appears the majority of the population here are youth. i´ve been told Nicaragua is considered one the poorer countries in Central America. An example of this is, there is a rotating time shift of hours shared by each region when the electricity is shut off. Apparently, there is not enough energy provided by the country to provide electricity everywhere 24/7. However, Nicaraguans are not poor in spirit!

I do not recommend visiting Managua (if u do find yourself in that unfortunate predicament, and need a place to rest your poor, weary head, i highly recommend the Hotel Don Quixote - a beautiful hotel of traditional elegance, at a reasonable price). To put it quite bluntly, though the people are beautiful, the city itself is ugly & dirty.

A Nicaraguan bus terminal - now, that´s something to see! Swarming with parked & moving honking buses, venders everywhere - many on foot pitching their wares - snacks, sodas (they call them "gaseosas"), newspapers, fruit. Mini restaurants set up right in the same area where the buses enter & exit, and booths selling all sorts of commodities, and did i already mention the litter?! Saw a woman in a walker carrying a huge bag of stuff on her head (after traveling south of El Salvador, i began to see women carrying loads on their head). One of the venders selling cooked food (there were chicken legs cooking on a grill), had live chickens running around her area! these words are not even a distant approximation of the scene. u gotta see it to believe it.

Looking out the window from Managua i saw goats, big, fat pigs, steers. A young girl sitting next to me was listening to her iPod (her's was fancier than mine). The bus was very crowded. Ever see a woman carrying, raised high in her right hand like a waitress, a huge pile of pastries walk from the front of a crowded bus, people standing jammed together in the aisles, to the back announcing "Pasteles! Pasteles!"? There was another woman peddling facial cremes.

Yesterday late afternoon, after getting off the bus, i inquired to a fellow selling jewelry how i could rent a water taxi to go to Bahia Majagual (internet research recommended this place over San Juan). He said a car taxi was cheaper, and even cheaper than that was a collectivo truck that left in the mornings around 8 to 9am. however, he said rooms were cheaper in San Juan & referred me to the Hospedaje Don Wilfredo. It's definitely nothing fancy, but it's just across the street from the beach, has 2 queen size beds, private bath - $100 Cordobas por noche ($5US!). After checking in, i had a wonderful dinner of fish & salad. By the way, San Juan does not have a litter problem.

Turned out my timing for arriving here yesterday was good being the boxing affionado that i am, i was able last night, to watch Nicargua's native son Ricardo Mayargo fight Fernando Vargas, on TV in a bar with a bunch of drunk Nicaraguenses hooting & hollering & chanting & singing in support of their fighter. The place went crazy the 2 times Ricardo knocked Fernando down. It went berserk when Mayorga was announced the victor.

This morning, had a breakfast of a large fruit salad - fresh papaya, pineapple & bananas, and a large glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.

On my way to the beach to take a walk.