Nicaragua

I was nervous to ask my family about Nicaragua, however, to my surprise they received it very well. My Tica Mom made it clear to me before she answered that she was telling me her opinion only. My Tica Mom doesn't mind Nicaraguans because some (emphasis on the some) are very hard working and do the jobs that Costa Ricans don't want to have. She also understands why Nicaraguans would want to come to Costa Rica. She said they often come here to escape the political, economical, and social situation in their country. While my Mom was telling me this my 16 year old brother was smirking and shaking his head. He told me he doesn't like Nicaraguans but couldn't give me a reason why when I asked for more details. I also found it interesting that my 22 year old brother is dating a Nicaraguan. So I believe that's probably another reason that my Tica Mom is so open to them. As far as how Nicaraguans are affecting Costa Rica my Tica Mom said that there are many Nicaraguans here but that it's the same situation as the United States having Mexicans come into the country. At this point my 16 year old brother is still shaking his head.

When comparing Costa Rica to Nicaragua, I noticed two main differences along with some smaller ones. First the poverty in Nicaragua is much more evident than in Costa Rica. When we arrived in Nicaragua before we even got off of the bus the door was surrounded by people trying to sell us things or asking for food. This is unlike Costa Rica, however, I had a conversation with Linda a few weeks ago and she mentioned that Costa Rica is really good about hiding their poverty. And in my experience in Costa Rica I have never encountered someone begging on the street although I'm sure I have seen a few homeless people sitting outside.

The other major difference that I noticed was the architecture of Granada. It was very beautiful and had a lot of history connected to it. To go along with the beauty, Granada was very clean (in the city at least). There was no trash on the street and there were actually defined sidewalks. Going off looks alone I would have thought that Nicaragua was more advanced than Costa Rica; however, we know that is not the case.

I wasn't able to get a picture of fruit because I rarely saw any. There weren't any people selling fruit out the back of their trucks or small fruit shops that you could stop in. While we were driving I saw maybe two fruit stands, but they were small had didn't have much fruit. This is interesting to me because it shows how the country must not have access to fresh fruits like here in Costa Rica. I don't know if the lack of fruit can be connected to anything politically or economically but I believe there is a deeper meaning to it.