Day One

Buenas Noches from Managua!

Being back in Latin America is really amazing. The sight the smells and the sounds all bring back fond memories of so many different places. But before all that, let’s get to the ‘how were the travels’ part of everything.

We left Springfield at 10:11 ish in the morning on Monday (which, more than any other place I’ve been, feels like a week ago already). Landed in Atlanta and Ryan and Jim and I went to Chili’s for lunch. Knowing that we had several hours on our hands, we sat there for a long time. I had a hamburger I think, and of coarse a coke-a-cola to drink. Heaven forbid that any airports or any airlines anywhere carry Mt. Dew, or Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper! Seriously, how is coke still kicking everybody out? Ok, back to the story.

Ryan and I were ‘flying’ buddies if you will. We were seated next to each other on both flights, and he’s the guy that I’ve spent the most time with prior to the trip, and it’s he and I that are doing all the video work, so we’re spending a lot of time together. So, almost the entire duration of both flights we talked about the plans for this week. We really tried to nail down what we were looking for, what type of stories and so on. Not having much time to prepare for this journey, I was feeling desperate to know these things.

My first view of Managua was from the plane (obviously). I was not surprised by what I saw, because I had done my homework. I saw beneath me a fairly organized, very well lit modern city. I could see the traffic lights, yes they have them and they even stop when it turns red…they even keep their vehicles in lanes (except for the motorcycles). Very reminiscent of the places I have been in Mexico. So, this is what I saw from the sky and it was proved when we were out of the airport and literally walked across the street to the entrance of the hotel.

After the plane had come to a rest and the doors were open, well…let’s just say it was obvious that the doors were open. The heat poured in very fast and very thick. I knew I had arrived. The funny thing about arriving in Nicaragua was the music that started playing over the airplane’s intercom, “Babylon” by David Grey. Don’t get me wrong, I love that song immensely, but that was the truly last place I expected to hear it.

The hotel we are staying at is called Las Mercedes. It’s a Best Western. It’s pretty stinking nice. The physical housing is a remodeled US Army barracks. It’s a huge facility with many many rooms, two pools, a bar, a restaurant, wireless internet and on and on. The staff are extremely hospitable.

The rooms are amazing. Air conditioned, hot water, electricity, alarm clock, desk, TV (with CNN!!!), two night stands, toilet, sink, tile floor and a pretty hard bed with two pillows. Yeah…I’m a little spoiled, and I have my own room. And to add to my comfort, I brought the appropriate audio cables to hook my mp3 player to the aux input on the TV and use it as a radio (when I’m not watching CNN).

So, on this day of first’s…that is first to Central America, first to leave the country with only strangers…I had another first that I did not expect. I had a Cuban…cigar that is. However, I have a dilemma. I am not an avid cigar smoker. In fact, it’s been years since I’ve had one. So, I relate this to wine. If someone had a bottle of wine that was considered the best wine in the world…you know some French or Italian wine that was 100 years old and the bottle cost $12,000 or something…if someone gave that to someone who had never had wine before…they wouldn’t really grasp what they were tasting…it would almost be a waste of a good wine. I relate that to the Cuban I had. It tasted and smelled like a lot of cigars I’ve had before. So, not being a coinsure, it may have been wasted. Be that as it may…I won’t lie; I enjoyed that Cigar knowing the controversy that exists in the states over them. It just felt like a very ‘right’ moment.

And that’s what it was like for me to come to Nicaragua for the first time.