Daily Speculations The Web Site of Victor Niederhoffer & Laurel Kenner Dedicated to the scientific method, free markets, deflating ballyhoo, creating value, and laughter;  a forum for us to use our meager abilities to make the world of specinvestments a better place.

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21-Feb-2006
Life in Nicaragua, from Pitt T. Maner III

Working down here for the past month as an environmental geologist has been a fascinating experience. My current hotel in Managua, the pyramidal Crowne Plaza, evidently was the home to Howard Hughes back in the early 70s before the massive 1972 earthquake centered around the nearby Tiscapa fault leveled the city (but not this hotel). HH evidently left after the earthquake and never returned.

Nearby the active volcano Masaya is home to parrots (chocoyos) that are able to survive and nest inside the walls of the crater despite the constant emissions of toxic sulfurous fumes laden with heavy metals and a witches brew of chemical compounds. The ultimate natural defense against less hearty predators--the inhospitable niche.

Momotombo, Telica, Ometepe, and Mombacho are names of some of the many volcanos that line up in a north-south orientation inland from the Pacific coast above the subducted Cocos Plate. They are ever changing in color and appearance from the rising and setting sun and clouds.

An estimated 50% of the population has electricity and there are projects in the works to tap into hydrothermal energy east of Leon to satisfy energy needs.

I have been told the average age is around 16. And there are quite a few more females to males here. Transportation in cities outside of Managua is often by crowded yellow , used Blue Bird buses bought from American schools, horseback, horse and wagon, bicycle taxis, or in some cases a family of 4 on one bike (baby in mother's arms sitting on crossbar, while dad peddles and older son rides on rear wheel bolts). Yet internet cafes are big, big in Chinandega, Leon, Granada, and other places outside Managua. It is a strange mix of old and new. A lot of youthful energy and entrepreneurship here with overtones of past and present corruption and political instability. An average wage here might be $6-10 for 10 hours of work--and that is for a college-educated person. An office can be rented for $50 a month in a nice section of Managua. There are so many opportunities to help people here if one can create the right balance and avoid exploitation. With a population of 5 million people you feel changes could happen extremely quickly with a little outside investment.

The people here have an amazing ability to fabricate things by hand. A metal workshop in Chinandega was able to look at a plate and "manhole" cover for a 2 inch monitoring well and copy it within one day. Custom-made boots can be made in a matter of days. In Costa Rica, Nicaraguans are considered lazy but my experience so far has been quite the opposite---up early and home late, working Saturday, and cleaning clothes and taking care of business at home on Sunday.

Well and then there is the real estate booms in the colonial city of Grenada (not quite San Miguel de Allende but looking pretty good as investors buy up and restore old properties) and the surfer heaven of San Juan del Sur. Prices have tripled in recent years. There are always concerns about titles, volcanic activity, politics, and squatters set up to extort money from property owners but God it is a tempting paradise of mango trees, avocadoes, papayas, and exotic fruits and delicious seafood. There evidently is bolsa of some sorts here with high yielding bonds but a dinner conversation with a former broker did not provide much in the way of details other than the fact that the country is governed by "old men" who need to get out of the way of progress.

Nicaragua is a land of poets and writers. Ruben Dario and Alfonso Cortes and many others. There is beautiful "primitive" artwork (actually rather impressionistic in a pointillism style with motifs of nature and cultural events) influenced by the Solentiname area. The are is highly decorative and prices are reasonable for the amount of work and effort.

So there are many things to see and do here--and it is a geologist's dream place. And it is now an extremely popular destination for Americans as they dip their toes back in the Nica waters and memories of past wars and dictators fade from the young people's memories.