My Car in Managua

[catahoula fan]

My Car In Managua by Forrest Colburn

[Richit]

Are we missing a link?

[MizBrown]

My Car In Managua by Forrest Colburn

I borrowed it from a friend -- a good book to read in conjunction with Jaguar Smiles (the writer isn't as enchanted with the FSLN as Rushdie was). Nitty gritty reality of living in Managua with a car.

[Ceviche]

Here's the link to the book http://www.amazon.com/My-Car-Managua.../dp/0292751249

[georgiabulldog]

My wife and I have just finished the book My car in Managua we ordered it from Amazon . com from the link posted on this web site. We found it to be very entertaining , funny and knowledgeable. Thanks for the link.

[vinyljunkie77003]

I borrowed it from a friend -- a good book to read in conjunction with Jaguar Smiles (the writer isn't as enchanted with the FSLN as Rushdie was). Nitty gritty reality of living in Managua with a car.

personally i think owning a car here in Managua makes the living here MUCH less nitty gritty.

[KeyWestPirate]

I borrowed it from a friend -- a good book to read in conjunction with Jaguar Smiles (the writer isn't as enchanted with the FSLN as Rushdie was). Nitty gritty reality of living in Managua with a car.

I'm in too,,, ordered it,,,,,,, . . .and some things never change here. From the book:

" . . . .or how hard it is to get a permit for a car. . . ."

I'm still waiting for plates for the Ford truck that I nationalized in January.
Took me a week just to get the provisional registration. Long lines every morning at Transito.

New plates for my CR plated car took one day at the Registro in Liberia, after the front plate was stolen here in Nicaragua.
You order the plates one day, and the license plate number doesn't change, so they have to make the plates for you.

Traffic around San Jose is much worse than Managua, as the Ticos now all have cars. Motorcycles are relatively rare.
Financing is easily available, and while cars are expensive because of import duties, it's a big status symbol for a Tico to own a NEW car.
They don't buy used because of the loss of face, and the problem of maintenance. Interest rates for new cars run 5%, which speaks to the amount of money available in CR, and the lesser risk.
Try to find an interest rate like that here in Nicaragua.


Costa Rica is 4-laning as much as they can, including the InterAmericano, but a lot of roadway that runs through towns simply cannot be widened.
Pavement is really nice, and roadbed is well prepared.

Lots of bypasses serve to route you around small town traffic. But you kind of have to know where you are going. GPS works well in CR, probably because of all the Gringo residents.
A beltway is slowly being developed around San Jose.

Gringos are still retiring in droves to CR despite the increased cost of living. Half of the prospects for my car were new arrivals looking for a car.


Actually, reading the snippets out of the book from Amazon on- line, I realized that not much has changed here at all

[kwah2249]

The left side sounds very complicated . . . I don't think I could take enough taxi rides to equal up to the cost of having a car in Nica.