La Vida Nica

[Toyotero]

When a person looks back on their life, they sometimes refer to having "started a new chapter" but it's not often that in the moment you know that it is happening. My life recently took a change that is bigger than a new chapter, it's more like closing the book and starting the next in the series... and I knew full well that I was closing one and starting the next.

After 10 years of building a professional career in the IT industry, I desired a break. I tired of cubicles, 3am on-call work and that the only sun I sometimes saw all day ended with Microsystems. Drinking Mt Dew, eating Doritos and trying to figure out what Bill Gates' creation was thinking 60 hrs per week was not my dream job.

Of course, big change is hard to do... sometimes you've got to be pushed into it. My push was more like a kick in the rear when my employer became one of the biggest bank failures of 2009. Since I worked in the corporate office, I got a front row seat to the nitty gritty of "The Great Recession". FDIC seizure, asset sale, new owners... then liquidation and layoffs.

Fast forward a few months and I've stumbled upon what appears to be the perfect fit job on Craigslist... Basically an Operations Manager position for an American company's foreign operations. It's a big change from IT, but I think I'm uniquely qualified, and I'm certain that I can beat out all competitors. After couple of interviews, I convinced the company of that as well and I got the job. Next was the big change, 'uprooting' my life to live full time in Nicaragua.

Back to present day, my wife and I have now been here 11 weeks. My culture shock was lighter than happens to most since I've spent 8 months in Central America prior to this move and I'm fluent in Spanish. My wife had none at all since she is from here originally.

I've eagerly read about all of y'all's travels and experiences, so I wanted to share some of mine for anyone interested in what life is like for a gringo transplanted to Nicaragua. My new hobby is photography, mostly nature and landscapes, but I'm also trying to capture what strikes me as oddities and absurdities, so expect to be surprised by some posts. Lastly, I've been interested in 'travel writing' so this will give me a place to practice and develop such skills (constructive criticism appreciated).

Cuidense,

Toyotero.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I fell in love with Nicaragua, even with as short of visit that I had. I cant wait to see the picture style you have described... and I'd like to see more of the country as you explore it!

 

[StromHawk60]

Central America is beautiful

I spent a year in Honduras; I'm in the Army and was stationed at Soto Cano Airbase. I had the great opportunity to fly all over that region and it's really one of the most beautiful regions I've been to. Now...I'm writing from Kabul Afghanistan and the region is not so close...Enjoy your time down there.

 

[Toyotero]

I fell in love with Nicaragua, even with as short of visit that I had. I cant wait to see the picture style you have described... and I'd like to see more of the country as you explore it!

"what strikes me as oddities and absurdities "

Oops, I think my ethnocentricism is showing. :-D I'll post some of what I'm talking about soon...


I'm living in Matagalpa, "Sandino Country" deep in the Nicaraguan northern highlands, which is very rugged and generally cooler than the rest of the country. The temp swings between about 60*F low at night and 80*F high temp in the day year round. It reminds me of Southern California or Los Angeles a lot, except that there is a rainy season in which it commonly rains 3 or 4 times per day (which has just ended).

My job has me moving around a lot every day, both in the city and out in the country, but no matter where I go I carry my camera with me (an Olympus Stylus 720Sw, I highly recommend it for a compact, waterproof an durable p&s) so I get a lot of opportunities to photograph the beautiful countryside, the unique 'critters' and other surprises that I encounter.

To give you an idea of what the countryside is like, this is a shot I took out the truck window on my commute to work...

A typical day at work involves me spending a couple of hours in the Nissan on roads like these :

One thing about tropical jungles is that they are crawling with life, literally. Night and day there is movement of animals and bugs... and much of it very colorful. For example, I often see more different types of ants each day than I had cumulative in my life before I moved here... my personal favorites are the leaf cutter and one I call the "golden hairy butts" because, as you might guess, their abdomen is covered in golden hairs... no photos of them yet, although I hear their sting is like having a lit match pressed against your skin....

This is a little guy I caught running around inside my house.

This one was outside... I'm guessing it is some kind of locust.

This bug was almost 3 inches long... I've only seen one and it was at 9pm... I'd hate for him to fly into my face at night.

I found this one out in the countryside... again, almost 3 inches long.

I've seen some impressive moths here. This one is nearly 8 inches wide!

I'm told that this smaller healthy looking tree on the left is called a "Mata Palo" or "tree killer." I've seen younger ones, they are a parasitic plant that looks like a vine that travels up the tree, then it shoots out and wraps the tentacle like pieces around the host tree which I believe are roots that it burrows into the host tree's cambium layer, sucking the nutrients that the host's roots are extracting from the ground and killing the tree.

That's all for now amigos. Time to hit the hay... another dia, another peso.



EDIT: Hosting photos with Google and embedding them here seems to result in a variety of image sizes... I'll have to figure out what is up with that. Hopefully I can do linked thumbnails like photobucket offers.

 

[defrag4]

fellow IT guy here, once you had the job it was pretty easy to handle the legal relocation to Nicaragua?

what exactly are you doing down there?

 

[greentruck]

Nicaragua is beautiful and the people are great folks. I spent 4 weeks traveling around back in the early 80s. Matagalpa was one of my favorite places, although Bluefields is a close second.

Very interested in whatever you post up.

 

[Toyotero]

fellow IT guy here, once you had the job it was pretty easy to handle the legal relocation to Nicaragua?

Moving down here was pretty easy, but what do you mean by "legal relocation"? Right now I'm here on a 90 day tourist visa, which I applied for a renewal yesterday ($10 when I entered the country, 680 Cordoba renewal ~ $32). I'm going to apply for a 2 year residency next year ($60 + US police record, birth cert, etc). I had asked Nica Immigration about applying for a work visa, but they don't have one. I guess no one ever comes to Nicaragua to work, it's always the other way around.

what exactly are you doing down there?

I've broken out of the cubicle cage! :-D In order to facilitate a change of careers, I spent every night and weekend for two years in grad school to finish an MBA last March. I'm very fortunate to have an awesome wife who tolerated it... although she did mention a couple of times that she "hopes it's worth it." :-D Lucky for me it worked out great.

My job is basically an 'Operations Manager' for an American company. You probably wouldn't see our company name on your local store shelf, but you might buy our product, Nicaraguan arabica bean coffee. Much of it is sold as "cafe oro" ("gold coffee," processed up through the to sun drying) to buyers in AUS, EU, Asia and USA where the buyers toast it and sell it under their own label. We are currently in the middle of 'crunch time' of the year, harvest time, which is about 3 months long. The company will pick and process approximately 1.5 million pounds of 'cafe oro' this year... which starts out as "coffee cherries", approximately 7 million pounds of them. (Hence the reason that I don't get to post much to this thread right now :-D )

My responsibilities are somewhat flexible, but to start with I oversee the processing facility, motor pool, and all equipment as well as a supervision of employees in the facility and out in the plantation. I work directly with the contracted repair men: electricians, vehicle mechanics, machinery mechanics, etc to keep things working. So far, I split my time between in the office, in the processing center, out in the main plantation, out at the other locations, out procuring parts and materials from the local venders, and working with contracted service providers to do work for us.

The biggest challenge is the difference in the cultures between the parent company and the local labor. My job is to ensure this side of the business is run in accordance with the guidelines and expectations of the American side, including high standards of quality of workmanship, completing work in a timely manner, accurate and timely reporting, etc.... which is all standard procedure in the USA but generally the norm here is somewhat relaxed about such things. One aspect of my job is simply being resourceful and making sure nothing stops us from moving forward since we literally have a mountain of work to do. :-D



As I mentioned, yesterday I went to apply for a new visa as that my 90 day tourist visa expires next week. Luckily there is an office in town, so I went to this local government office to do the application. Good thing I did because I was planning for a day trip across the Honduras border. At the gov office, they informed me that the Nica-Hond border is open to US citizens, so I wouldn't be able to renew it that way anyhow... Costa Rica is the only option for border crossing renewal.

The spray paint on the outside is actually propaganda for the political party that is currently in power: The Sandanistas.
FSLN = Frente Sandanista Liberacion Nacional = Sandanista National Liberation Front"
Seguimos con el frente = We continue/follow with the front.

I didn't take any photos inside... but it was more run down looking than the outside.



Since I'm in charge of the motor-pool and mechanical equipment, part of my job is procuring the repair parts for them... which can be a challenge at times. I now to understand how LandCruising's experience was in Bolivia, except that he had the advantage of being in a big city. I've already had to make a trip to Managua, the capital, for parts for my truck... who'd think that it'd be so hard to get a clutch vacuum booster, clutch disc and a pressure plate? Parts for Nissan Patrols seem to be unavailable anywhere in my town, even the Nissan dealer!

I've gotten to know all of the hardware stores and parts suppliers in town... this one is one of my favorites as that they have the best selection for auto parts.

Here's a tool you probably won't find at your local Lowe's or Home Depot:
A banana cutter for harvesting the bunches from the tree... mount it on a pole and it cuts pushing or pulling... the store also has a great selection of machetes.

Here's an absurdity for you... a few nights ago I was I was the first person to encounter an accident on the highway: a motorcycle single-vehicle accident caused by a couple dozen football size rocks scattered on the highway that a construction crew left to discourage drivers from running over fresh pavement. The rocks were unfortunately right after a curve, at night, in the rain. When I got there, there was a bike and a driver lying in the highway at the end of 50 ft of skid marks. I stopped to offer assistance and fortunately the driver was pretty much ok and didn't need a ride to the hospital or even any medical attention I could offer. The helmet law probably saved him... now they just need a 'don't leave hazards in the highway' law. :-/

I didn't get a shot of that site before they cleaned it up the next day, but here is another one I drive through often with the same construction markers.

Why don't we have this in the USA?

Milk that expires in 6 months! (6 April 2011, photo taken 10 Nov 2010)

I've seen a lot of people be critical about Treadwright retread tires... the 3rd world version of it is scary.

For products destined for a Spanish speaking country, the Chinese REALLY don't give a care to the accuracy of their English translations.

At least it's a much more cheery toy than "Malignant Boy"...

Don't worry, he's got a safety chain from the roof rack to his neck. :-/

I'm not much into self portraits, but I think that this one is a good representation of this phase of my life :-D

No one knows what´s around the next corner, but at least it´s interesting getting there. :-D

I've yet to organize some photos of an exhibition that the local military unit had at our office... more to come...


Regards,

 

[x32792]

Thank you for sharing.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Very interesting and I hope you continue to post. Congratulations on making the move. Seems like an awesome change of pace for you and your wife. Good luck.

 

[David Harris]

Lucky man! Living the adventure! Need to find me one of those "benign girls"! Christmas is coming!

Cheers,

David

 

[suntinez]

Props to you for the career change, inspiring!

I really enjoy getting a feel for local life in your posts, looking forward to more updates.

 

[LACamper]

I knew a guy that collected moths. He died a few years ago (in his 80's), he'd have paid good money for that one!

 

[Toyotero]

The ole fire extinguisher and road triangle Gringo trap...

I knew a guy that collected moths. He died a few years ago (in his 80's), he'd have paid good money for that one!

Bummer about the late moth man, I could have run a side business here supplying him with specimens... Who knows, I might even have gotten a sub-species named after myself if I sent him an undiscovered one, eh? :-D




One thing I've heard a lot about from people who travel through Nicaragua by auto is the old "do you have a fire extinguisher and road triangles?" Gringo trap that the cops pull and offer that the driver pay the fine there on the spot. Well amigos, it turns out that it's not just some trick that Spanish speaking policia pull on blonde people with out-of-country license plates. It is actually a requirement that they have for all drivers in the country... I have verified this twice. Due to the current coffee harvest, there are police roadblocks on the edges of town that check anyone hauling what appears to be coffee, typically carried in 100-120 lb sacks. They check for:

1. insurance/registration/ownership documents
2. papers from the plantation authorizing them to transport their coffee (coffee theft is a problem )
3. road worthiness (a good thing when they are probably carrying twice their rated payload, which is common here),
4. equipment compliance, IE, an extinguisher and two road triangles.

The second time was when I recently had to get a few of our vehicles here inspected (much like is done in the US... inspection completed at a auto repair shop licensed by the gov) and sure enough, they required that we have triangles and extinguisher present.

I believe that these are required due to the commonality of auto breakdowns on the road... I've personally seen probably one hundred in the last 90 days that I've been here... and the high potential for car fires due to the, eh, low standards of quality of workmanship for auto repairs.

I've also been told that reflective tape is required on trucks... which is silly if all the lights work, but then again, lights break and don't get repaired... tape keeps on reflecting. I have lost count of how many cars, trucks and motorcycles I've encountered at night without working taillights... many without taillights at all!

Here is what I carry in my company vehicle... and after seeing how bright the reflective tape can be at night, I'm planning to pick up some of it to stick on it too, in a tasteful amount and locations of course.

One thing that doesn't cease to be fun about living in Nicaragua is that it is like a old and exotic car museum. I've seen cars here that I've never seen anywhere else... for example, can you guess the maker of this truck?

If you guessed Jiangling Motors Corporation, you'd be right... and I'd be surprised! I know nothing more than what you see in the photos... but my guess is that it if Harbor Freight sold cars, this would be on the shelf.

Some quick Nicaragua history... After the revolution in 1979, there were efforts made to make Nicaragua another communist country, much like Cuba. The USA didn't like this, and the USSR did, and trade reflected that. The end result is that you can see more Eastern Block vehicles rolling around Nicaragua than you'd see anywhere outside of, well, probably Eastern Europe. They fit well here since they were built for bad roads and they are simple machines to fix and maintain.
Some examples:

There are tons of these trucks East German IFA W50. I've hard that parts are expensive, but they are otherwise great 4WD heavy trucks.

There are also lots of Soviet UAZs around. The military still uses them, but a lot have been sold off to civilians. I'm tempted to pick one up... it's one of the few vehicles that could make me break my Toyota brand loyalty fetish...

I've seen about a dozen Nivas here:

It was cool to see a Yugo fanatic:

There are also a lot of Ladas and Zils... I'll post photos of them at a later date.


One interesting vehicle that I've seen all over the country every time I've been down here is this model Datsun. To me, it reminds me of some of AMC's cars that were built using an existing model but with some changes to save money on research and development. To mean, it appears that Datsun did that with this vehicle... Kind of reminiscent of a Ranchero/El Camino...

I'm not much of a Jeep guy, but I think I can hold my own when I comes to the brand history. None the less, I was quite surprised when I encountered this one here in town! A 1988 CJ10!

Who'd guess what's under the hood? A Nissan 6 cylinder diesel.

The owner informed me that they were a model built specifically to be sold to militaries. This one was property of the Nica military and he bought it a few years ago... oddly, yellow is the original color.


And since this has become a post of nothing but cars and trucks, I cannot leave out Toyotas. Nicaragua is full to the brim with Toyotas... for anyone who has never been here, to look at nearly any street you'd think that the FJ40 was a 5 year old model because they (BJ40s actually) are everywhere.

There are almost as many of these little 70s as 40s..

If I were to need an ambulance, this is the one I'd like to arrive

Some people dream cars are Ferraris and Lamborghinis... this is one of mine:

Aside from the company car, I don't yet have a personal one here... and I'm eager to take a trip over the the Miskito Coast to the East. I've thought about importing one from the US, but the local delicacies are looking good. Since I ride around in 70 series a lot at work, and I've gained a real appreciation for the lighter suspension of the Hilux. Nothing carries two tons+ in the bed on and off-road as comfortably as a Land Cruiser, but when it is empty and the roads are of typical Nica quality, the rear springs feel like I-beams between the frame and axle... so when it comes time to seriously shop for a vehicle, I might pick up one of these: One of the last of the solid axle Hiluxes..

 

[Toyotero]

I hit my 25 photo limit (so there's a photo whore alarm, eh? )

On a non-automobile note, I caught another cute animal in the house recently. The locals call the lizard a Perro Sompopo. They are humorous, not just because of their big eyes and smirky mouth, but because they bark. At night, they make a smacking-a-kiss-into-the-air sound. **********, **********, **********, **********, **********, **********.....

Buenos noches amigos. Let me leave you with this; another from my list of reasons not to drive at night in a 3rd world country:

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

That was always the funnest thing for me (well, maybe second) when traveling in Costa Rica... seeing all the cool old cruisers and Series Rovers.
Please, continue showing us the eye candy.