Managua: Two Objectives

In Managua, we had two purposes: Go to the US Embassy for a meeting with all the NGOs in Nicaragua that have American affiliations of some sort, and buy stuff in Managua that we can’t get in Bluefields.

The first objective was easy, and relatively painless. We went, we sat through lots of hours of people talking at us, ate really bad “refreshments” and schmoozed with a bunch of oldies that work for NGOs on the pacific side of the country. No one had any idea what it was like to work in Bluefields, and they all thought Maya and I were crazy for even trying. It felt like the reputation of Bluefields, at least on the Pacific Coast, was that it’s full of savages beyond the point of even trying to save (whatever they meant by “save” I’ll have no idea). We were surprised by this mentality… but then again, while in Bluefields, we’d heard more than once how dangerous and evil the people of Managua were. Apprently there isn’t much exchange between the two sides of the country.

The second objective, however, didn’t turn out to be as easy as I had thought. In Bluefields, whenever something isn’t available, or is out of stock, the immediate thought is that it’s available in Managua. “Go to Managua.” people say. “You have to get it there.”

The problem is that once you’re in Managua, there isn’t another place you can go later. It’s either you find it in Managua, or it doesn’t exist in the country. Since part of our mantra is to provide our services with local talent and local materials, we either have to find our materials in Managua or use different ones.

Now imagine a shopping list something like the following, and you might get an idea of what we were looking for: architect’s scaling ruler, laminating plastic sheets, ceiling fans, 3/8” plastic tubing, ceramic tiles, volcanic sand, egg incubator, etc. Obviously we’d have to go to a bunch of different stores, but let me give you an idea of what it is like just to find, oh, I dunno… ceiling fans.

We walk into the hardware store we have a friendship with and ask for the ceiling fans. First we’re met with a surprised stare as they check out two young white females with a quiet older Nica servant/chauffer in tow. Then another surprised stare as we ask for ceiling fans (of all things). Then we’re questioned about or marital status, our non-existent children, and our age, and asked how long we’ll be in town, and if we’re available for dinner with some guy and his friend. Finally we get around to the topic of ceiling fans again, and we’re told that yes yes, they have them, but today they don’t. Ok then… where can we get them? Our chauffer knows.

And so we drive across town for 25 minutes staring at the same statues we passed on the way out to the first place and park in front of a giant hardware store chain… three of which we also passed on the way to this particular one. We go through the routine of our marital status, age, and availability this evening again only to discover that this place too has them, but not today. When will the next order come in? No one knows, but maybe this Friday. What about the other stores with the same name and brand and everything as the one we’re in now? Can we call them and ask if they have them? No, no one knows the number. Is there a phone book? Yes, but it’s back at the house.

So we go back to the house to look at what is apparently the only phone book in the entire city of Managua. We call the other stores. Yup yup, they say. They have them in stock right now today. And so back in the car we go, across town again, to store #3 that happens to be another version of store #2. Unfortunately this giant hardware store chain closes for lunch from noon until 2, so we have to wait an hour in order to even get inside the doors. We repeat, once again, the marital-status-and-are-you-available-this-evening charade only to discover that whoever thought ceiling fans were in stock today lied, because no hay.

Yes. Shopping in Managua is like that. We had something like 8 items on our list, and it took us almost three full days of running around town with our personal chauffer just to get half of them. The rest we couldn’t find. In the case of the ceiling fans, we did finally find a few that were miraculously in our price range. We bought them, took them to Bluefields, installed them, and THEN realized that the only reason the store had them at all, let alone for the price we got them, was because they ran on 220 voltage instead of 110, so no one except the super fancy special people can even use them anyway.