Queso in Juigalpa

Submitted by fyl on 24 March, 2006 - 15:40.

The "excuse to go to Jugalpa was to buy cheese. We asked around and the consensus was that you get cheese at "Restaurante 724". Huh? Well, we went there for breakfast. It remindeded me of being in Burger King and went downhill (if that is possible) from there.

The plastic sign that says Pepsi and starts listing the food was next. Starting on the left you see Combos, Hamburgesa ... and Hot Dog, ... We order a typical breakfast with coffee. Ana asks the disgusting question, real coffee or Presto. It's like they enthusiastically answered Presto. I canceled my breakfast order.

Ana gets her breakfast and orange juice. It has packaged white-flour biscuits instead of tortillas. The muchacho says there are no tortillas but then shows up with a couple from yesterday. Yuck. C$40. Ana quickly realizes that I am not going to be buying cheese there if there is an alternative.

We now walk around town looking for real coffee. We are not successful but one woman tells us about an alternative for buying cheese. We head in that direction and don't find it. But, we ask the next person and he tells us about Esquina del Queso (http://www.nicaliving.com/node/3835) so we head there.

This looks right. We go to the door and half the livingroom is covered with watermelons. There are 3 or 4 people there, one eating a tamale with, of course, cheese on it. We start with a good joke. Ana asks how much the cheese costs. He says C$22 a pound then corrects himself to C$20. I ask him if it is C$20 for her but C$22 for Gringos. He says no, same for all and as the only Gringo we have seen there was me, I believe the answer.

Anyway, he says he only has white cheese and two kinds of smoked today but will have others tomorrow. Not an option. He brings us samples carefully cut with his Swiss Army Knife. It is really good. I liked it all but one of the types of smoked was about as close to cheese with smoked salmon in it as you could get without the salmon.

I go get my little "car fridge" so we can see what we can get in it. The answer is 6 lbs but he admits that most of the packages are a bit more than a pound. Thus, we are talking $1/lb. Ana mentions our plight with Cafe Presto. He says he has real coffee and offers to make us some. Great. Then he points out there are fresh tortillas being made on the corner across the street. C$1 later I come back with tortillas. He breaks out plates and Ana and I have a maybe C$3 breakfast of tortilla, cheese and free coffee.

Second photo is at http://www.nicaliving.com/node/3836. If you are in Juigalpa looking for cheese I highly recommend looking for these people. They were great and so was their cheese.

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I love it! coffee lovers unite!

Submitted by NYnorm on 24 March, 2006 - 19:21.

are those their business faces? (I got-to go milk the cows!!)

at least the little girls happy, her smile lites up the place.

fascinating story! May fyl and Ana live long and prosper! #-d8-)

In Nicaragua when a name is sort like Ana, they usually add the middle name to it. Mi mama se llama, Ana Maria.

Wow

Submitted by se_vnt3 on 24 March, 2006 - 16:23.

I'm still trying to absorb that family's hospitality. I've never encountered people like that, I thought they only really existed in movies because in movies they always get hurt, that was a blessing for you fyl. I just may begin venturing outside of my doorway now that I see blessings are existant in Nicaragua. Thank you.

Other end of the spectrum

Submitted by fyl on 25 March, 2006 - 07:08.

I just read this (Linux-related) article that offers a slightly different look a hospitality. I guess it is a good comparison piece. See Tuttle hospitality.

Wonder if he can empty his Windows trash bin

Submitted by zenpilgrim on 25 March, 2006 - 09:35.

My fav comment was:

"I am computer literate! I have 22 years in computer systems engineering and operation."

You would think that 22 years of experience for Ratheon would have made him somewhat computer literate but obviously not. I think the FBI wouldhave loved dealing with this guy.

Real People

Submitted by fyl on 25 March, 2006 - 06:39.

There are even real people in the U.S., they are just hard to find. And in any big city, real people generally do get hurt. In Costa Rica I met real people that lived in rural areas but it seemed like anyone who lived in an area of more than 1000 people watched too much TV and wanted to be just like the people on TV.

My experiences here with the people are why I moved here and why I stay here. I feel the most important thing this web site offers is these sorts of interactions.

Now, in the case of Jugalpa, it is a big city. It feels about the same size as Esteli. But it seems very Gringo-free and even though there is cable TV, maybe the locals manage to watch things that don't convince them being just like people in Los Angeles, Washington DC or New York is cool.

In any case, for anyone interested in Nicaragua and even a little knowledge of Spanish, get outside, take a bus somewhere (and as long as it is out of the Managua/Masaya/Granada area I don't think it matters) and meet Nicaragua. It is likely you will be pleasantly surprised.

After my experience with El Viejo, Chinandega

Submitted by se_vnt3 on 26 March, 2006 - 10:20.

I will agree that outside of Managua/Masaya/Granada it doesn't matter where in Nicaragua you go outside and take a bus. My only beef is that my experiences in the U.S. were quite the opposite; major cities were for major productivity as opposed to Nicaragua where you can get more done in a sleepy town(including some relaxation :-)). If how Nicaragua runs its major cities is any indication of how Nicaragua intends to evolve, I'll be looking to move to the mountains somewhere.

get outta here (Managua)!!

Submitted by no longer registered on 24 March, 2006 - 21:08.

You really need to get outta MGA. One of the reasons I am HERE rather than GringoLandia (Costa Rica reference this time) is because of what I found out-and-about in Nicaragua.

I can cite several examples of the same type of hospitality and genuine human warmth in my own little (ex) pueblo of Boaco (great cheese there too!). Just a simple trip to the mercado, about a 10 minute walk arriba/abajo, takes at least 30 because everyone wants to ask about my wife, about my baby, about the casa del infierno, etc etc.

One of my favorite stories: headed to the ferreteria for some implement of construction. My wife's ex-husband's mother stops me, invites me in to chat, provides cafe con leche, queque, stories of my step-daughter's early years along with a photo album. Spent almost 2 hours with her. The kicker: we'd never met, she only knew that I was there and wanted to be sociable to the "new gringo" in town...

I am not in Nicaragua for business, to make a quick killing on real estate, to live surrounded by gringos who only talk about either how evil the US is or how awful the Nicas are or both. I am here because the people of Nicaragua are some of the most incredibly human human beings I have encountered in some 30+ years of travel around the globe.

To sum up, get outta here and get into the country. MGA is just another big Latin city...

YMMV

Adventures

Submitted by VidaVerde on 24 March, 2006 - 16:59.

Fyl seems to have lots of these types of experiences, because he loves to explore and adventure. Sometimes they are not so good, like the time he broke down between Matagalpa and and Pan American Hwy, but they are always ADVENTURES!!!!

And now with his pretty esposa, they seem to be getting into more fun ones than not.

Fyl and Miskito Alan seem to be almost single handedly changing the shape of Nicaragua into an adventurer's world destination!

-Carl

Really

Submitted by se_vnt3 on 24 March, 2006 - 17:19.

I agree with you that Fyl and Miskito Alan seem to be almost single handedly changing the shape of Nicaragua into an adventurer's world destination - like true Pioneers.