What You Should Know about Traveling to Nicaragua

1. Don't break any traffic laws, ever. Always have your fire extinguisher and triangle handy. Buy the stupid car insurance. If you have Salvadoran license plates, you will be stopped approximately every 15 minutes. Nicaraguans know how to drive like "normal" people. This is happy, even though donkey carts and horses are mixed in with cars.
   
2. Phone service sucks.
3. 70 sunblock does exist and is a worthwhile purchase.
4. You can spend cordoba or dollars. Why change, as long as you're good at doing conversion rates in your head?
   
5. Nicaraguans make good food. And they have international food. Yum, gyros and bibimbab.
6. Medicine is cheaper in Nicaragua than El Salvador.
7. Gas is more expensive (even though they're getting part of it from Venezuela?)
8. Malls are much more interesting. I actually found clothes I liked, even though they were outrageously expensive.
9. Buy the $1 map and don't get "lost" in the Selva Negra with the crazy howler monkeys.
10. You can't buy the isletas in the lake by Granada, even though there's signs saying you can.
11. Volcano fumes can make you feel really sick, or even pass out. A comforting thought for all of those who were tossed over the edge as sacrafices...they probably didn't get to the bottom before they were unconcious.
    
12. San Juan del Sur is nice, but nothing special unless you want to surf. The road to "one of the most touristed places in Nicaragua" especially during semana santa sucks.
    
13. Queso ahumado is awesome, as is Flor de Cana.

This was an excellent trip, and we got to see a lot. It was a good idea to come back on Friday, since we avoided traffic just about everywhere, and I got to see people making alfombras in Soyapango as we looked for a way that wasn't blocked to go to Edwin's house. Edwin went to the beach yesterday with his family, and said what is normally a 30 minute drive took 2 hours going and 3 hours coming. Glad I stayed at home with the cat!