Local Cuisine

One of the most interesting things in travelling for me is the possibility of trying different types of food. Unfortunately we are disappointed with the Nicaraguan cuisine. The main ingredients here are: rice, beans and platanos/bananas and the funniest thing is that you eat it three times a day for the main meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Typical breakfast is called here: gallo pinto: which is of course a mixture of rice and beans served with huevos fritos/ revueltos/queso (fried egg/scrambled egg/cheese). For lunch you can get gallo pinto with carne (beef), cerdo (pork) or pollo (chicken) with addition of some salad made of white cabbage and tomatoes and fried platanos. Sometimes rice and beans are served separately;) And dinner gallo pinto again or tortilla with chicken (tacos de pollo). If Nicaraguans don't eat at home or the marketplace they will most likely go for a hamburger or chicken wings to one of the fast-food outlets. So we do not really have much choice unless we cook ourselves or go to one of the gringo's restaurants. However the best value is to eat at the mercados. We found one place called “Angelita” where for 5 euros for 2 persons you eat typical lunch plus you get a fresh-made juice from mango, papaya or watermelon. This meal in comparison to the one we had in Grenada (we paid 18 euros for two steaks, rice and salad and a litre of Tona in one of the gringo's restaurants)was so much nicer and of course for us a better value. One of the things that really appeals to me here is the choice of fruit and fruit smoothies: there are papayas, mangos, watermelons, melons, pineapples and of course bananas everywhere;)This is a fruit heaven!!!It is possible to survive here for 15$ a day if you have cereal for breakfast (with some fruit), some salad for lunch and spaghetti or rice with some additions plus a bottle of beer (15 $ includes the bed as well). When it comes to alcohol there are two types of beer (Tona and Victoria) and two types of rum. The cheapest version of rum costs around 80 cordobas (4 $ )in supermarket but I would say that this is a version for the desperate as it tastes awful (We tried it yesterday-you taste more spirit in it then anything else). But Flor de Cana is a decent quality product and you can get it in versions of four, five, seven and 10 years old starting from about 140 cordobas (7 $) per 750 ml bottle.

It is worth adding as well that people eat here a lot of snacks in the chicken-buses. The bus leaves here when it is full not on time (we stopped asking at the stage at what time do they leave) so by the time it is full there are many sellers who pass through it offering everything you can imagine: fruit, vegetables to ready-made meals (tortillas with chicken in a foil bag), strangely looking sweets from coconuts to drinks in foil bags, pens with some lights so that when here is an electricity shortage you can still write your letters, calculators, toothbrushes, the latest razor machines for men etc..And people buy especially snacks (you actually could do all your shopping in the bus without going to the supermarket). We still have not tried them as we are a bit worried about the possible bad effects of this food on our digestive system...