Arrived last night about 7 to La Casa San Juan. Its in a pretty nice neighborhood from what I can gather, and its just about a block and a half from the Universidad de Centroamericana. Its one of the many Jesuit schools throughout Latin America and just like in Cuba it educated a fair amount of revolutionaries that ended up in the upper echelons of the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional), more on that later.
Coming into Managua last night at dusk was cool and a little nerve wracking, I would have liked to come in during the day just to get an idea of my surroundings. I was standing in line to be checked by customs when a woman approached and asked if I needed a taxi, I said yes, and she led me all the way to the front. I was half expecting a typical New York line of complaints from all the people I passed, but nothing was said that I heard and I was quickly led to a taxi. 20 minutes later and I arrived at Casa San Juan, where, to repeat, no one speaks English.
I really tired the woman out that was behind the front desk between my asking for a place to eat and trying to figure out how long I was staying. She opened up the phone book and started taking to someone it sounded like she knew; at one point I heard her say "Eduardo no hablas espanol..." and then she laughed a bit. Funny. An hour and a half later some fried chicken and beans showed up which she supplemented with rice and a really nice medley of carrots, celery, peppers and onions. The vegetables were easily the best part. I drank a few beers, did some work and then went to sleep, knowing that I had no alarm clock to wake me up for my 8:30 meeting the next morning.
I have a nice two bedroom at the back of the courtyard on the right side. One window, AC, a huge shower and some cool birds that make lots of noise. Works for me, and there is a nice patio right outside to work at.
Today, Tuesday, was my meeting at the Instituto Historica de Nicaragua y Centroamericana. Really pretty unsure about this one, I wasn't too confident that there would be anything for me to use since I knew that the tapes I wanted to listen to were not available. BUT...The Director was awesome! She very much understood what I was looking for and we had a good conversation back and forth in English and Spanish. One thing I love about Latin America is that coffee is served at every meeting I have ever been at, and it is always fantastic. Small cup, little bit of sugar, perfecto.
Its definitely a challenge not having a firm command of the spoken language, I can read and listen just fine, but my talking ability is limited. I generally get the jist of what everyone is trying to tell me, and then I do a lot of smiling and nodding. If you don't do it a lot, I recommend giving it a try, it goes a long way.
Took a long walk after doing work until about 2 to grab something to eat and ended up at a cool grill type place that had some really awesome beef, chicken and pork grilled up with fantastic tortillas and pretty good rice and beans. Grabbed a bottle of Flor de Cana (maybe the best rum in the world) and I am heading out into my courtyard to do some reading and enjoy the rum into a relaxing Nicaraguan evening....although a pretty good thunderstorm just rolled in.
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