Day 2 (January 28, 2017): Our first bite of Nicaragua

As anticipated, it was a short night's rest at the Fairfield Inn. We hit the hay at 1am and were up at 5am for our shuttle back to the airport.

The usual check-in and security hassles were - as expected - painful. But a helpful United Airlines  employee worked some impressive creative acrobatics to seat us together on the packed flight.

We used our Priority Pass memberships to access the KLM lounge for a pleasant breakfast, zipped to the gate and were up and away right on time at 9am.  A perfect flight straight down over the Gulf of Mexico, over the Yucatan Peninsula, and on to Central America.  We slept a little bit enroute, and shared one of United's excellent tapas boxes.

Our United Boeing 737-Next Gen aircraft from Houston to Managua

United has an excellent 'tapas' snack box, containing 8 items, from olives to bruschetta spread!  Excellent!

Cotton-puff clouds over Mexico

A lake-filled volcanic caldera upon approach to Managua 

Nothing to note about the arrival in Managua - smooth sailing through customs and bag pick-up, withdrew some Nicaraguan Cordobas (27 = 1 loonie), and jumped in a cab and headed for the Hilton. 

Enroute from the Airport to the Hilton, it quickly became apparent that Managua has that street-intersection vendor culture typical of most Central and South American cities

Having landed in Managua just before high noon, at 2pm we were ready to roll out of our hotel room and start exploring this city known for kidnappings, muggings, and the sort!  We hopped in a cab at the hotel and headed for the Plaza of the Revolution.

It is clear that Managua has attempted to create a lot of public art and install many statues

Managua was devastated by an earthquake in 1972.  The city's main cathedral was badly damaged.  It still sits in Plaza of the Revolution, but is off limits.

The impressive Palace of Culture in Plaza of the Revolution

Art installation at the Palace of Culture

Tomb of Carlos Fonseca, who founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front. Fonseca was later killed in the mountains of Nicaragua, three years before the FSLN took power.

We certainly didn't expect to see THIS in Managua!  The port area has been transformed into a tourist area, although it doesn't quite feel like it has taken off.  The area borders on Lake Managua - one of the most polluted bodies of water in Central America. All in all, a very pleasant area to stroll.

The waterfront area features a series of replica traditional buildings, reflecting the life of Augusto Sandino, Nicaragua's most celebrated revolutionary Leader.

 

The National Theatre was another surprise.  Nicaragua is hardly where we expected to see a production of the famous, "Madame Butterfly"

It was nice afternoon of strolling both historical and contemporary sights in Managua.  A nice breeze off Lake Managua made the 33C temperature quite bearable.  We shared a taxi back to the Hilton area with a young lady from Managua and her mother, who were incredibly kind to us.

We made it back to the hotel in time to spend an hour resting by the pool.  At 7pm, we joined the CEO of Compassion Canada and the Country Director for Compassion Nicaragua for dinner at the hotel.  All in all, a wonderful day of much variety!  The larger contingent of the Board arrives this evening from Canada, via El Salvador.  It will be nice to see them all in the morning.