I have seen...

Car trips in Nicaragua will never get old, because I love watching the world pass by. Most observations from the window of the car depict the relaxed, communal, simple life that most lead here in Nicaragua without factoring in their reaction when a gringa (white person) interferes. I need to start having a camera out in the car so that I can capture the absurdities in photos. I have seen…

·      Trash. Everywhere. Nicaraguans finish a bottle of soda or a bag of chips and just throw the trash out the window.

·      5 people on a single 2 wheel bicycle. I have not seen how they ever get on and balance all at the same time… Everyone here rides with their knees out to the side, because there is usually a heavy bag of rice or beans in front of them, draped over the front bar or a few people balanced on the front bar in front of the handle bar.

·      Hammocks strung in the back of pick up trucks so that people can relax getting from a to b.

·      Animals. Everywhere. Dogs, chickens, roosters, goats, sheep, horses, cows. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to stop to let a herd of some sort of animal plod across the road.

·      Tucans, sunglasses, cigarettes, cell phone chargers, wind shield wipers and anything else you can imagine sold at red lights.

·      Into every house in Nicaragua. No one shuts their doors, and everyone seems to live on their front steps or front porch. Privacy here in Nicaragua? Doesn’t exist

·      The lone remaining sky scraper left in the city after the earthquake that destroyed everything in 1972.

·      Gorgeous straight rows of plaintain trees, rice patties, and pineapple bushes growing in the lush soil produced by the volcanoes.

·      Women carrying gigantic baskets and bins of goods on their heads

·      Every food imaginable sold by the side of the road in a little stand.

·      Angry ox, no longer wanting to pull their heavy load of timber back to the house stopped dead in the middle of two lanes in the road

·      Roads that can hardly be called roads. I think a path of rocks and dirt might be more appropriate

·      A boy riding a horse with a pig schlepped over the front. The pig was too stubborn to walk itself home, so the horse had to give it a lift.

·      Kids cleaning the windshield of cars at red lights. The minute the light turns red, the kids appear spraying water out of a bottle and wash away. If you don’t want it to be washed, an enthusiastic finger wag is needed before they get too far into the washing.

·      Casinos, TGI Friday’s Nicaraguan Comedors.

·      Businesses, and houses smushed together in tight quarters in the same neighborhoods across the city.

Whether a 4 hour road trip starting at 4:30 am or a trip to La Chureca that I make every day- driving down here never gets old.