Our First Couple of Days

Pandora Hostal 




After a very long day travelling, we were picked up by the owner of Pandora Hostel at the airport in Managua. Adi and Matt are a lovely couple that run this hostel and made our first evening away, enjoyable and comfortable. The hostel was clean and had a very welcoming and chill vibe. We would highly recommend this hostel to anyone thinking of staying in Managua.

After checking out our room and the rest of the hostel, we enjoyed a few cervaza in the sitting area. We were eventually joined by Adi and Matt and had a great time talking about our lives and getting to know each other.

The night was extremely hot and humid! We all needed to go stand in the cold shower before heading to bed with a fan on us. Elora slept like a baby however Christa and Karen had a little difficulty sleeping in the heat. There was also some noise from a group of rowdy guys from Holland. #hostellife

In the morning we all had a traditional Nicaraguan Breakfast which included toast, egg, cheese and gallo pinto (rice and beans). The cheese was very strange compared to our cheese back home. Elora ate all three servings of cheese. #cheeselife


Here are some photos of the hostel! Check them out if you are ever in Managua!



Managua City 

Approximately 1 million people live in Managua City. The business of the city was the first thing we noticed. Driving to the hostel, vehicles ignored all the lines and the motorcycles drove where ever they pleased. Despite what we saw as a bit of chaos, vehicles got around fairly easily. The hardest part of finding our way around the city was the lack of street signs. Despite the lack of direction, we headed out to explore and set off in the general direction of the local market on recommendation of Adi. We passed expansive old buildings, the military base and the mall along the way. Walking around is not something local people do. There are far more people driving or waiting to take the bus so we were often the only people wandering around.

The market was definitely a lot of firsts for us. We could not spot any other non locals wondering about and no one spoke english. We saw several carts of unidentifiable meat baking in the sun, bagged drinks that we were curious about but a little unsure about trying, and a lot of people, cars, horses and motorcycles all trying to navigate the narrow streets and plentiful vendors. The language barrier was very evident here. The only thing we ended up purchasing was 3 L's of agua.

We experienced a lot of 'cat calling' in Managua. During our research we made note that this type of thing is common but what we did not expect was to get it from more prominent people such as military soldiers. We didn't pass a single male who did not call after us or try to speak with us. Even expecting this, it took some getting used to.



First Impressions of Granada
As soon as we arrived in Granada, we all felt a little less... tense? It was still extremely hot, and very little people speak english, but there seems to be a much slower pace here in Granada. The old, colourful colonial buildings line the streets of Granada making it hard to watch where you are going. There is something beautiful to look at in every direction.

It is also easy to see that this city gets a lot more tourists at certain times during the year, and people seemed a little more patient putting up with our awful broken spanish and hand gestures.

Either way, we walked to our house from the rental office, unpacked and relaxed. We were tired from travelling and the heat.






Some sights from our first day.


La Nueva Esperanza + Juan

We started our Thursday off by meeting Pauline from La Esperanza for breakfast at The Garden Cafe. This was a really great start to our time in Granada. We got the opportunity to ask Paulina some questions about herself, the organization as well as the community we were building in.

We then got to meet Juan. Juan is a very friendly young man that works with La Esperanza as well as lives nearby to the house we are building. Juan took us on a tour of the community and pointed out many of the other projects La Esperanza has worked on including some schools as well!

The community we are working in is a very poor community. There is much litter around, and many of the homes provide minimal shelter (after witnessing our first tropical rain... its hard to imagine these homes keeping the families and their belongings dry)

Everyone was very friendly and seemed happy to see us there. We encountered plenty "Hola's" from many children that we passed. My favourite was the little boy in his yard that yelled to him mom "Mom! Come see the pretty ladies!" (Thanks Juan for the translation)

We got to meet Mrs. Hernandez. She did not speak any english but quickly offered us some chairs and we visited with the help of Juan in the shade behind their house. She wore a smile on her face the entire time we were there and was extremely friendly. The house they currently live in is pretty pieced together and falling apart in many ways. We are not 100% how much is being torn down and how much is being salvaged. We will find out from the builders we will be working with on Monday when we start the project. Below are some pictures of the community we are working in!



We are very excited to start working in the community. We have a few days to do a couple touristy things, get adjusted to the heat and orientate ourselves within the community! Stay tuned!

Elora, Christa & Karen