I'm going to Panama in June and Costa the end of July or beginning of Aug. I haven't been to Nica in over 10 years. I hope they get this worked out, I'd love to go back.

-------------------------
Specializing in sarcasm and condescending rhetoric since 1971.

Guess that means less crowds for the adventurous(or stupid?) ones

A national dialogue is supposed to begin tomorrow, sponsored by the the Catholic bishops.  Violence is continuing.  La Prensa.  

Just got back from Nica. Very sketchy right now. Almost didn't make my flight to Managua due to blocked highways, burning tires, masked protestors.etc. No violence toward foreigners but still... Feel really bad for the locals at the surf destinations. virtually all reservations have been cancelled and businesses are forced to lay off most employees. Me and my friend were the only ones at our resort. It was still pretty crowded at Popoyo but that might be the last of it for a while.

 

Appreciate that you get it, however don't you think if what you say is true, it say's more about how able 'You' think 'everyone' is at evaluating a valid point~ Listen- my poignancy on this is a result of a personal past situation shaping up just like this one. It's bad shit. When a floodsa comin, ya don't just chill- Ya gotta get movin, that means people too

Anyway- we needs waves and more good winds here!     

Um, on top of everything else, Managua's having some flood problems.

 

 

Anyway- we needs waves and more good winds here!     

 

My significant other is there now and was planning to travel from Miramar to Popoyo tomorrow. However, the guy he was going to stay with advised him against traveling that route because apparently some of the roads are blockaded. So yeah, it's dicey right now. Luckily he is flying out of San Pedro Sula and won't have to go near Managua.

I had a long conversation with my friend who has lived there for 15 years.  The deal is the students were not happy about the cuts in social security benefits and the increases in taxes.  It was basically the straw that broke the camel's back. They are tired of a "democracy" that is really a dictatorship and want a change (sound familiar?).  Ortega and his wife have no plans to relinguish power (ever met a dictator who did?).  He changed the term limit laws so that he could keep getting "re-elected" and made his wife the Vice President.  The police are cracking down on the protestors (60 have been killed and many are missing).  In retaliation the protestors have started blocking main roads in an attempt to get back at the government.  Some of these road blocks are demanding money to help fund the "revolution" against Ortega.  Basically its a mess trying to get around down there.  It is messing up supply lines all over the country.  The beaches are for the most part unaffected unless you need to go to town to get supplies or try to fly out.  Many people are heading to back to the US or to Costa Rica until things settle down.  I would say to hold off on any travel plans until things calm down some.  I hope and pray that this resolves itself for the people of Nicaragua.  They don't need another bloody war on top of their extreme poverty.  Unfortunately both sides are losing as it has bascially halted tourism, one of their most profitable resources.

Well its been an interesting trip so far!

We had to reschedule our flight in by 2 days due to a national protest that shut down the roads. Getting on the plane in Ft. Lauderdale there were 4 customs agents just after the gate and before we got in the plane. They asked how much cash we had, where we were going and why so that was kinda strange. That and a TSA agent looked at my boarding pass then looks up and says, "Geeze stay safe out there"

Once in Managua airport it was oddly one of the smoothest experiences I have had. There are now 5 scanners for bags so we literally walked right out and our taxi was waiting. We did'nt see any fires, roadblocks or anything of that nature and the ride was really quick. That being said, it turns out that very same night protestors at the university next to the aiport clashed with police and several were shot but survived.

Unfortunatelty we got absolutely screwed on waves with onshores and basically death closeouts. We had a couple fun Florida esk sessions but not what I came for so pretty bummed on that. This morning there were easy DOH+ freak sets and Eric Geiselman was'nt really able to make anything of it. However, there was some super gnarly guy charging on a body board with 1 leg so that was pretty unreal!

Overall it sounds like the people are willing to almost hurt themselves and the country by blocking the economy and at this point many are clearly willing to fight. In my opinion I really do not forsee any tourists or foreigners being targeted by this unless you go looking for trouble or get involved. The night before we flew in my buddy was on his way out and had videos of cars on fire but they were not bothered at all. Its a shame becauase 60+ people have died, thousands have lost their jobs, millions and millions of dollars of revenue has been lost and tourism has basically stopped (outside of surfers).

 

If you are looking to come I would say its all good but pay close attention to what Ortega is doing because every time there is a meeting or speech the people shut down the roads for about a day. It sounds like they are doing another national protest today as Ortegoa is scheduled to have another meeting/speech of some kind. After speaking with many locals it sounds like the students being shot broke the camels back and the people refuse to back down until Ortega and his wife step down.

 

The man has stolen billions and tarnished everything he did for Nicaragua and its sad to see the people struggling with basically no option but try to fight back by stopping the cash flow. Interesting stuff but as a bunch of surfers its just another day in Nica.

-------------------------

www.youtube.com/npi13productions

www.facebook.com/npiproductions

Thanks for the update. Seems a little sketchy if you have strict time frames for travel though.

5/25/2018
2 killed and 50 wounded

Trump prepares to take action
(disclaimer: unsure of validity of this news source)

Mormons move missionaries
(same with this one)

Washington Post - Ortega's Oppression

Talks suspended Indefinitely

Uh oh........