Latin America Collection

Nicaraguans ­ or Nicas (used for both male and female) ­ are
known as a generous, warm-hearted and hard-working people.
Nicaraguans, especially in the countryside and in smaller villages,
are usually very welcoming of respectful foreigners, and willing
to help out when they can.
Most are also patient with foreigners who trip over their Spanish.


About 70% of Nicaraguans are mestizos, or mixed blood between
Native Americans and decedents of European stock. 17% are
white, 9% black and 5% indigenous.
Most Nicaraguans are Catholic, with conserve and traditional
family values. It is not uncommon for adult children to still live
at home, sometimes even after they are married.
Nicaragua is a class-based society ­ often along lines of race ­
with 50% living below the poverty line. Social mobility does
exist, but is rare.
Wealthy people have the money to send their kids to school, or
start businesses to perpetuate the cycle of wealth. It's the same
way rich people stay rich everywhere in the world.
The country's population is 5.3 million, with another million or
so Nicaraguans living outside of the country, mostly in the
United States and Costa Rica.
Nicaragua's history of suffering and struggles for justice has
produced a country of poets. The Sandinista revolutionary
government was oft-romanticized as a revolution of poets and
campesinos.
The country's most well-known literary figure is Rubén Darío
(1867-1916), known as the "Prince of Spanish American
Literature." His works inspired poetry movements and literary
trends through Latin America.
More recent famous poets included Ernesto Cardinal, the
Sandinista's former Minister of Culture, and a candidate for the
Nobel Prize for Literature.


Nicaragua has also produced accomplish authors ­ such as
Gioconda Belli and Sergio Ramirez ­ and folk musicians, such as
Carlos Mejía Godoy.
More recently, Nicaraguans have embraced more pop music,
salsa, meringue, rock and the lobotomizing beats of reggaeton. If
you trust your feet to keep up, check out a disco and learn some
new dance moves.
Ceramic arts are part of Nicaragua's artistic traditions and can be
found for sale in many markets in the so-called "White Towns"
around Masaya.
Despite all the admirable qualities, there is a negative side to the
Nicaraguan culture. While generalizations are odious (both in
describing the good, the bad and the ugly) it can be said that
corruption and bribery is an ingrained part of the culture here. It
is the way things get done, from cutting through bureaucratic
red-tape, to getting the police officer to give you your license
back.
Nicaragua is also a very machista culture, and many of the men
are aggressive (both towards women and towards other men).
Machismo
has something to do with sexism (ie, women belong to
their man, as if they were livestock or property), but it is often
more complicated than that. Machismo often leads to domestic
violence (which often goes unreported because the women are
also inculcated in machismo), but it can also have to do with an
understanding of one's roles and responsibilities in society.
But beware: in a machismo culture it is easy to offend someone's
honor without meaning to. Machismo makes people touchy,
insecure and impulsive. Just ask President Bush.


It is also not uncommon for men to cheat on their wives or
girlfriends, or for the woman being cheated on to know about it.
Foreign women walking along the street will be alarmed by the
aggressively flirtatious behavior and outrageous comments of
some Nicaraguan men, and boys. Many of these flirtations or
piropos
, as they are called in Spanish, may border on the obscene
but are, usually, harmless forms of flattery to get a female's
attention. It is usually best to ignore such advances, and behave
in a way so as not to encourage it or invite more.
While most people are honest (maybe), others will try to take
advantage of the gringo stepping off the plane who doesn't speak
Spanish and has a billfold full of dollars. Find out the prices of
taxis and other basic services before dolling out what seems like
a lot of money for something. If you think you are paying too
much, you probably are. Some unscrupulous people will charge
foreigners double the local cost. Find out if you are getting the
Nicaragua's warm-hearted people are a treasure.


"gringo quote" or the Nicaraguan quote before purchasing
services or items.
Along those lines, be leery of people asking to borrow money.
Don't get into a situation in which you are not comfortable.
Overall, people here are the same as they are everywhere. Don't
think the laws of human nature don't apply here, just because
you don't know the language and the weather is nice. If you are
a good judge of character at home, you probably will be here,
too. If your not, we can't help you.


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SAVING MONEY IN
NICARAGUA