My plans to travel to Nicaragua are imploding spectacularly. I have made so many, many mistakes that the only thing I can be sure of is that this will most certainly be a learning experience. A horribly disappointing learning experience.
I’m sure you all know about the civil unrest in Nicaragua right now. In late April there were violent riots against the president, after he announced a plan to basically dismantle the country’s social security. At least 40 people have died. The protests continue, despite the president walking back his original plan. It seems the people of Nicaragua, especially the young people, will not be appeased.
I had been taking a “wait and see” approach to the situation, as far as it concerned my travel plans. I was hoping the protests would die down after Ortega abandoned his very unpopular plan. And while there haven’t been any more protest-related deaths (that I know of), the demonstrations, and general civil unrest, continue intermittently.
Over the weekend I finally decided to change the destination on my tickets, and I picked a new place for us to visit. But after 3 hours on the phone, first with the booking site I used and then with the airline itself, I was left with the daunting realization that it would cost $1000 to change my flights, even though the new ticket prices were basically the same. Change fees x three + additional cost of new tickets is a bitch.
So now I’m not sure what to do. I can’t really afford to spend another $1000 for the flights (on top of the $1700 I already spent) and still afford to actually stay in a foreign country for two weeks. At least not without liquidating some stocks or maintaining a credit card balance until we see some of the savings we’ll get once my son stops being in day care. The other destinations I could fly to are also more expensive, so that will add up after two weeks. I am personally not sure sure I’m ready to spend $5-6K on this trip, which is much more than the $3.5K I was planning on spending. Especially since I’ll be going somewhere I’m not as interested in visiting (at least not at this particular time, in this particular way).
So… I guess I have a couple of options. I can:
(1) wait and see if the political climate in Nicaragua stabilizes, and then make a judgement call about whether or not it seems safe enough for us to travel there, which would result in us either…
… going
… or not going and leaving our tickets open to travel at a later date (this doesn’t cost as much), but that would have to happen before I BOUGHT them, which was in March, so they couldn’t be used next summer, which means we probably wouldn’t be able to use them and we’d have to eat the cost of the tickets.
(2) wait and see if the political climate deteriorates and check again about changing my tickets (evidently if I had called the week OF the riots, instead of three weeks after, they would have waived the change fees).
(3) bite the bullet and spend the $1000 to change the tickets and the additional cost of staying in a more expensive country.
So yeah, none of them are great options. It doesn’t help that it’s hard to know what things are like for tourists in Nicaragua right now. The State Department has changed the travel advisory to a level 3: reconsider travel, but that is the travel advisory for many Central American countries, including Guatemala, which I would be open to traveling to. And the state department / embassy is always going to be very cautious in their rating of the situation. We would also be in more touristy places, that are close enough to Managua so that getting there is relatively simple, but far away enough to distance ourselves from the urban area (I want to go to beaches and lakes that look pretty close on a map).
It doesn’t help that as we get closer to renting our place, my husband has made it clear that he really hates the idea of AirBnBing it. For one thing, we have our cat to consider. Before we thought he could stay at his parents’ house with the cat while I was away with the kids, and that they wouldn’t be there, but now they will be there (my SIL quit her job so she won’t be needing child care – more on this later), so that complicates things some, as they aren’t super excited about living with our cat, even for a couple weeks. We could also board the cat, which would eat into our profit but still make renting the place worth while. Finally we could let the people staying at our place take care of the cat. People do this, but I’m not sure our cat would be amenable to the situation as she is pretty much an asshole. My husband seems to think that I’m a monster for considering any of these situations. I seem to think that she is a cat, and while yes, she may be a little upset for a bit, she’ll eventually get over it.
There is clearly more about the situation he doesn’t like, but he hasn’t been able to articulate it yet. My father always hated renting out their place – for him it was a point of pride. He had lost his job during the recession in 2008, and never got another one. Renting out their house was just a reminder of why they had to make money that way – because he wasn’t making money himself. I don’t think my husband feels similarly about our financial situation (by which I mean, I don’t think he sees us AirBnBing the house as a commentary on his own failings in the earnings department). He has made a couple of statements that suggest he doesn’t like the idea of strangers in his living space, but he hasn’t come out and said it. So maybe that is it? But there is probably more.
So yeah, there is a lot going on surrounding this summer’s travel plans, and none of it is positive. I have to admit that I’m wondering if traveling like this in the summers is something I can actually manage. I wonder if it isn’t time for me to dismantle my dream of speaking, and ensuring my kids speak, really fluent Spanish, and all the shit that goes with that dream. Sometimes it just feels too hard, and I’m tired of fighting all the fights that go with it. I mean, what if the end game is I finally get where I want to be in 10 years, and then what? I can speak Spanish well for a couple decades before I die? What if my kids don’t give two shits about speaking Spanish and never use it again? I don’t know, sometimes my biggest dream feels like way more hassle than its worth.
I guess at this point, I just have to wait and see.
What would you do if you had non-refundable tickets to Nicaragua for late July / early August that cost $1000 to change?
Hello! I was thinking about you when I heard Nicaragua on the news. I think you may be just fine to go, based on the sporadic news stories I’ve heard. You’re not going to be in Managua and maybe you could even avoid Granada too and spend ALL your time outside of cities. The last story I heard was basically saying that the protests are no longer violent… not that you’d want to come across one anyway but I think you could steer clear. Ometepe comes to find mind as a place that would feel super safe regardless of what is going on.
Like you said, travel warning levels for Guatemala are similar. There’s always a risk and you can plan the details to minimize the risks as much as possible but you never know.
My parents have spent many a summer worrying about me as I’ve traveled/lived in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Chile…. I’ve had zero safety problems those places and then it turned out that on my seemingly peaceful block I was living across the street (for years!) from a very violent offender who was all over the national news. It was scary to learn but a good reminder that you just never really know… (I realize that solo travel is different from travel with kids but wanted to throw out that anecdote anyway.)
As the mother of kids who only speak English, I want to say that I am AMAZED by what you’ve done to make your kids fluent in Spanish and that they are damn lucky that you care so much about this. I PROMISE you that they will never regret knowing the language and being comfortable with it. They WILL use it throughout their lives – it’s Spanish for crying out loud. We ALL need to know it. They may not ever sit back and think about everything you’ve done to contribute to this important part of their education (kids are selfish, after all), but they certainly won’t go through life not using this gift you’ve given them. Quite the contrary.
I agree completely with Courtney. I think “wait and see” is the best approach. Things may die down, and if you stay away from the big cities, you are unlikely to run into protests. I really applaud you for all this planning and moving forward toward your goals for you and the kids, especially with the lack of support of your husband. As for the cat—yeah, she will be fine.
Do you have trip insurance? I’m not sure it would cover unrest, but…(wecrecently wer in Europe where 3 of us got very ill and the insurance was very helpful). That’s a hard one. I would err on safety.
As to the cat…I wouldn’t trust strangers to not accidentally let it out. And boarding is really hard on cats…I haven’t boarded a cat in over 25 years bc my cat back then would get so traumatized at being (in their mind) abandoned…
I hope this all resolved somehow…
We don’t have trip insurance but I don’t think it would cover this. As far as the airline is concerned, it is safe to travel there. My in-laws recently had to cancel a trip to help their sick daughter and trip insurance didn’t apply their. I think it only really helpful when the actual people flying are sick. Having said that, I will probably buy it next time just in case it’s helpful.
As for the cat, the people accidentally letting her out is definitely what we are more afraid of. I just can’t really imagine that people who came to enjoy a vacation are going to make a cat’s care priority. And I don’t think they should have to. Having said that, I don’t think I should have to lose out on the opportunity to make back some of the money we are spending while we’re away because of our cat, who is doesn’t interact with us much anyway, and spends 18 hours of her day sleeping. But maybe that does make me a shitty cat owner.
😂
Not a shitty cat owner!
Wait, some trip insurance covers anything, including any change. It’s more expensive, but it may still be less than the $1000 to change the tickets. I don’t know what the window is for getting trip insurance, but you may still be within the window to get it and it would buy you more time, giving you the option to continue as is or cancel entirely.
The travel insurance that is available through the book service I used (justfly.com) has the following exception: travel restrictions imposed for a certain area by governmental authority. So I’m guessing purchasing that would not help me recoup my money. If you know of other, more comprehensive travel insurance I might be able to buy, please pass that info along!
I’m sorry this is happening but I agree with others, I think you’d probably be fine in safer areas.
My relative is married to a nicaraguan man and they are going to go and live there for a while with their 2 small children and most family members are completely losing it because of this, they think they are insane. However we live in one of the safest countries in the world and these appalled family members have lived extremely sheltered lives even with our country’s standards – I think they cannot see the situation objectively. Nicaragua is these children’s other home country and I’m sure their dad knows how to keep them safe.
Wow. No advice. Only faith you will work through these issues and concerns in ways that are best for your family. Clearly there are many considerations and multiple points of view and problems all rolling into a big mess.
Hugs!
Well, I’m a big old chicken! There is no way I’d go where there are protests or could be protests like that. I am still chilled to the bone remembering our honeymoon. My husband and I got married 5 days after 9/11. Our honeymoon was a long planned cruise to Mexico. Note this meant it was the FIRST cruise to leave from SoCal after 9/11 so not only was security here interesting…..it meant that when we went on our excursion in Ensenada? Our bus was boarded by a bunch of guys with AK47’s. Even my unflappable husband was a little freaked by that one. But, I am not an adventurous soul. It’s probably much safer than I think.
I agree that wait and see is the best approach for your holiday.
I have, however, wondered before why you want your children to speak Spanish, as you don’t (correct me if I’m wrong) have Spanish ancestry.
I say that as someone who has Asian ancestry but is embarrassed to only speak English, who grew up unable to participate in many family gatherings, and who has had to answer the question of whether I speak another language many times in the negative. And yet I’ve decided not to try to make my daughter speak another language (for now, anyway). This is for many different reasons, and I do think she’d appreciate knowing another language as an adult.
I suppose I just want to say… it’s OK to pursue that dream, and also OK to decide you’re not going to pursue it anymore.
You asked why learn Spanish because it does not appear to be part of the family obvious ancestry. Then you talk about embarrassment at only having English yourself and say your child may in the future wish you had made a different choice.
The world is larger than family ancestry. Spanish is extremely common in CA and many other states, it is major within our hemisphere. Today is international, no matter what some wish to be possible; isolationism never works. For you and your child a second language may not be a possible option now. This is true in many parts of CA and our nation……but our educational system isn’t ……
People only ask me if I speak another language because I’m a visibly different ethnicity to white. If I was white, it wouldn’t come up—my husband is, doesn’t get asked that question and is quite happily monolingual and never thinks about it. (Though he’d be supportive if I wanted our child to learn a language.) So I don’t think Noemi’s children will feel any lack if they’re not bilingual, that’s all. Obviously I’m not an isolationist…
I actually teach Spanish as a second language (at a very novice level). I kind of fell into it a long time ago and I’ve enjoyed it and kept doing it ever since. That is one of the main reasons I want to become very fluent, because it would open doors for me professionally. But I also love the language, and enjoy learning it, which is also why I enjoy my job and want to continue my own education. I want my kids to learn it so that we can all speak it, and share the language in other ways, and travel to Spanish speaking countries. But I recognize that learning and speaking Spanish might not be as important to them as it is to me (now or in the future). Also, living in California, it is very useful to speak Spanish, but obviously it’s not necessary to thrive in this state.
I’m a longtime reader so familiar with your situation. I know it’s your profession but that’s maybe the sticking point with me. I think we all hope/expect our children to be like us, be interested in the same kind of things… but what if they’re not? Do you get any feedback from your kids about Spanish?
No advice on the travel situation. I think the others above have covered that very well and have given you a lot to go on.
The cat situation I do have advice on. Cats are creatures of habit and environment. They have their territory and like things not to change. Having strangers, even friendly ones, living in your home changes their environment. Even if the renters are all about the cat, she may not be into them. And then there’s escaping (which I’m living with too). So here’s a seemingly wild suggestion that has actually worked very well for us in the past with Jaxson and Daisy: can you find someone who is cat friendly that can cat sit her for 2 weeks? We did this many times with Jaxson and Daisy when we traveled and it got to the point where they got excited out us going out of town (meant a trip to uncle and aunt’s house, where they got to do all sorts of things we never let them do). Offer money for inconvenience and make sure you stock up on all things cat (plus bring back a nice gift for the pet sitter), but we’ve had a lot of success with this. Plus no worries about renters accidentally letting her out.
All who read/write on this site anchor me in reality when the news spins me into drama and sends my imagination running to dystopian futures. You remind me of the hope for and of your generation and the miracles of the generation you are raising. Thank you for being the gifts you are.
Thank you for voting for the future.