Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hwys) to León. Managua has hundreds of neighborhoods stretched between these high-
ways, and not even the kamikaze
taxistas
(taxi drivers
)
know them all.
Área Monumental, on the lakefront site of Managua's pre-1972 downtown, is home to
the Museo Nacional, Casa Presidencial (Presidential Palace) and Teatro Rubén Darío. It's
connected by Av Bolívar, a major thoroughfare, to the Plaza Inter shopping mall, Loma de
Tiscapa and Barrio Martha Quezada, with most services for budget travelers. To the south-
west are Barrio Bolonia, with midrange accommodations, and Plaza España, next to Ro-
tonda El Güegüense, with banks, travel agencies and airline offices.
To the southeast is Managua's modern commercial center, a 2km strip of Carretera a
Masaya extending southeast from Metrocentro mall and Rotonda Rubén Darío through the
cluster of glittering restaurants and bars known as Zona Rosa, as well as swanky Los
Robles and Altamira, two of Managua's most exclusive neighborhoods. West of Rotonda
Rubén Darío is Universidad Centro America (UCA), with left-wing bookstores and mi-
crobuses to most major regional cities, including Granada and Masaya.
Rotonda Bello Horizonte, located east of the Área Monumental, is a nightlife district
with a few budget lodging options.
NAVIGATING MANAGUA
As in other Nicaraguan cities and towns, only Managua's major roads are named. Large build-
ings,
rotondas
(traffic circles) and traffic lights serve as de facto points of reference, and loca-
tions are described in terms of their direction and distance, usually in
cuadras
(blocks) from these
points. Many of these reference points no longer exist, and thus addresses may begin with
something like '
de donde fue Sandy's'
(from where Sandy's used to be…).
In Managua, a special system is used for the cardinal points, whereby
al lago
(to the lake)
means 'north' while
a la montaña
(to the mountains) means 'south.'
Arriba
(up) is 'east' toward
the sunrise, while
abajo
(down) is 'west' and toward the sunset. Thus one might hear: '
del anti-
guo Cine Dorado, una cuadra al lago y dos cuadras arriba'
('from the old Cine Dorado, one
block toward the lake and two blocks up'), meaning one block north and two blocks east.
Confused? You get used to it (and you may be consoled to know that the rest of the country
uses the same system, except with the cardinal points named). Listings in this section give the
'address' in Spanish - but we use the cardinal points, N
(norte),
S
(sur),
E
(este)
and O
(oeste)
,
and C for
cuadra
- so you can ask locals for help or just let the cab driver figure it out.
MAPS
Free maps of Managua are widely available at Intur and most hotels, but none of them are
particularly detailed. If you're headed out into wilder Nicaragua, pick up topos and maps
