Lonely Planet Writer Dream Crushed

Nicaragua has been on my short-list of countries to see for some time. I have only heard wonderful things about the people and the country and so I finally made my way down. However, my frequent flyer miles could only get me another overnight flight and so when I arrived in Managua, my stomach screamed for food. Instead of taking a shower after arriving at the hotel, I went out to lunch. I soon discovered that my lunch partner, Lucas an Australian, wrote the Guatemala guide for Lonely Planet and founded XelaWho my favorite publication in Xela. Now, he is in the process of writing the Nicaragua guide. I just happen to be one of Lonely Planet's biggest fans, however, for Nicaragua, I am having an affair with the Moon Guide book. Lonely Planet just didn't cut it, which is probably why Lucas is writing the new edition.

For some time, I thought I would enjoy being a travel writer for the Lonely Planet. I love to travel, eat, sleep and party, but after spending the day with one, I have now crossed that off my list. After eating lunch at a nearby seafood restaurant, we compared write-ups on the place. I lacked any adjectives to fairly describe the place and gave up since writing about restaurants in a sentence is really not that fun. We then toured the city together. Interestingly, I didn't realize how differently he sees sites than I because of his job. Often I felt as though we were just trying to check off the boxes and write down the opening and closing times of each place instead of getting a feel for the place and taking in the moment. Or maybe he takes in moments faster than me. After awhile, my filth overwhelmed me, and I left him to take a shower.

We met up later that evening to conquer the nightlife scene. He wanted to just go into each bar and club for a few minutes and leave. I wouldn't let him do it and insisted that we stay and dance at each place and mingle. We still hit quite a few places since many clubs don't close until 9am.

One club looked like a human bumper car scene since fire regulations probably don't apply. Hundreds, packed like sardines, swayed to the wave of music while tired fish sat atop the bar and blocked the thirsty ones from getting any of the all you can drink liquor. Thursdays are Ladies Night at El Chamman where women can drink for free all night long and men sort of subsidize the ladies by paying an $8.50 cover, but then they can drink for free. I thought it was a good deal. Another club appeared to be a teeny bopper hub and another the bump and grind crowd and all had the all you can drink theme for $2.50 for women and $7.50 for men.

Later, I convinced Lucas to play pool with me and he promptly kicked my butt. I thought he might write about the pool hall, but he has a more discriminating eye than I as to what should be in the book and pool halls are not one of them. I honestly don't remember how many clubs and bars we checked out, but I definitely had my fill and my dream crushed.

Managua nightlife is definitely varied and bars and clubs are not the only things to see. We discovered many interesting theatres and music halls as well. The next day, I even went to the circus with Bryce, an American who met his American wife in Iraq while working there and then they left their jobs to live by the beach in Nicaragua. So cool. Back to the circus... it appeared to be a Las Vegas show complete with an 80's aerobics performance, tiger in a cage magic trick, lots of leggy women dancing on stage and lively acrobatics of men dressed in flourescent chicken costumes. Still entertaining.

We timed our evening just perfectly so that we could also see the new Bond movie; we walked in just as the MGM lion roared. The Alhambra VIP theater is fanciest move theater I have ever visited. Inside are over-larged reclining seats onto which I could curl up into a little ball while watching the movie or be almost vertical. By pressing a button located next to the chair, a waiter appears to take the food and drink order. If I wanted, I could order a bottle of wine and a steak sandwich and the waiter would deliver it to my chair. The ticketer allowed me to pick my seats when I bought them and each theater only holds about 26 chairs. Oh, and Bond looked good in the movie!

I'm already behind on Nicaragua with the day activities I will write about later. Oh, and wanted to mention that I just booked an awesome job in Bolivia starting Dec. 30th. I'm trying to figure out logistics now and will write more later. Very excited though!