Rice and Beans in Central America
A few years ago I spent one semester as a foreign student in Madrid. The experience inspired me to travel more and after graduating I moved to Manchester. I had an ambitious plan to stay for a few months in each major European city. It was in Manchester that I realized all the European cities looked similar and it became more appealing to experience cultures around the world rather than just Europe.
So how did I come up with Nicaragua and Costa Rica? During my stay in Madrid I picked up two little hobbies of learning Spanish and dancing Salsa, so I chose Latin America for the first experience-cultures-around-the-world trip. South or North America? Well, how about a compromise — Central America? Still many countries. I had a few friends from Nicaragua and they recommended me their country for its safety and low prices. I didn't know anyone from its neighbor Costa Rica, but as it's more popular among digital nomads, I included it too.
I arrived in Managua (capital of Nicaragua) in September. It was my first time outside of Europe. A Nicaraguan friend picked me up at the airport and drove me to the apartment he had found for me. It was in a good neighborhood near the city center. The only drawback was the internet connection. It wasn't reliable and the wifi signal didn't reach inside the apartment. Soon I discovered that the signal was good enough on the terrace where I set up my office.
I was already used to working from home. The only thing I hadn’t experienced were 8 hours of time zone difference. When I was starting the day, my colleagues were already finishing it. Not a big deal. I could call them in the morning and they were still in the office. Back home we used to have a scrum daily in the mornings. With time zone difference we had our scrum dailies “offline”. Everyone would post what they did and what they were up to into the daily slack channel so that everyone else could read it whenever they wanted.
By the way, I had a pleasure to enjoy this kind of view from my office.
My days weren't just about work. I had Salsa classes or went out in the evenings. And you can guess it — I spoke Spanish a lot (almost forgetting Slovak and English). I used weekends to explore Nicaragua beyond its capital city— volcano in Masaya, colonial cities of Granada and León, coffee plantations near Matagalpa, beaches in Pochomil and San Juan del Sur.
After two months in Nicaragua I moved to Costa Rica. I rented a room in a friend's family house and spent some time with their family. We hanged out together in the evenings and made a few trips on the weekends mostly to the beaches of the Pacific — Sámara, Jacó and Playa Hermosa. Later I went to Manuel Antonio National Park and Quepos with another friend. I was planning to see the Caribbean and Panama City, but my plans were changed by Hurricane Otto.
In Costa Rica I worked from the Impactico coworking space. It was close to my place and its social entrepreneurship culture looked interesting. I felt much more comfortable in the coworking than in the apartment back in Managua because of good Internet connection, ergonomic chairs and its community. On the other hand, I couldn't enjoy that beautiful view over a park as I did in Managua.
Nicaragua and Costa Rica are both beautiful countries definitely worth visiting. They speak the same language, have almost the same cuisine and I also find the people very similar (in contrast to Europeans). Costa Rica is twice more expensive, but almost everyone could speak English (it’s probably better in touristic areas like San Juan del Sur, but in Managua this was an issue for many foreigners). Costa Rica is more developed, but I found all I needed in Nicaragua too.
After my stay in Central America, there are some things I’ve come to appreciate about my home country Slovakia.
- Internet is faster and more reliable in Slovakia. I could do my work, but still wasn't happy about slow connection in Nicaragua and lags in Costa Rica. However, I used to have 250 MBit/s in Bratislava (capital of Slovakia), so I might be spoiled.
- Infrastructure for pedestrians and public transport is much better. I was sometimes risking my life trying to get around on foot. It's difficult without a car in Central America, so everyone has one. And guess what? — Traffic jams every day.
- It’s safer to walk at night in the streets of Slovakia for white people, because no one sees them as rich foreigners. Foreigners might get triple-charged, but muggings are very rare.
- There are communities of developers, entrepreneurs, language learners, whoever in Bratislava and they meet up. I didn't find many regular meetups neither in Managua nor San José.
I really enjoyed staying in Central America. Now I’m going to spend some time in Slovakia. I’m considering using Bratislava as a base and taking shorter trips to explore the world. Maybe one month in Thailand?
