Somos chelas.

Things have been going fine. Sarah and I are getting out to explore our surroundings a bit more. Yesterday we walked into Ciudad Sandino (about a 15 min walk)to the mercadito. There we bought really good cacao drink and i bought sandals. They have the style of these sandals, but are made of standard bottoms and canvas like straps. But mine were only $2.
I am really trying to work on my budget, and as unrealistic it is, I have been doing well to stick to it. As of right now, I am allowing myself to spend $10/week. Yikes! That is c$180, and considering I only spend any money on the weekends, I think I can do it. Managua is NOT a big draw for me, as we went in today and we were bored as hell.
A little story about our time in Managua:
We wanted to try out the public bus system. There are no official bus stops, there is no way to really signal you want to get off (you stand and walk to the exit door and damn near jump when you are ready). The most confusing part of our day was the fact that Managua, well all of Nica, does not name their streets. THERE ARE NO STREET NAMES! Before we left the house we got a complete rundown on the different bus systems and parts of town. It was very confusing.
"Oh you want to go to the church? Okay, well after Las Piedracitas just watch for the slight turn in the road and then you are at Batahola. The church is somewhere in there, you can walk into the barrio and ask around." Is Las Piedracitas marked "Las Piedracita"? NO! Gah. There was one place we were told we should stay away from, the Mercardo Oriental. Every 7 minutes someone is robbed and during the Contra War it was said you could get anti-aircraft guns and the like there. One of the JHCers said that if we wanted to walk around Mercado Oriental that we should go with the construction boss Rogelio (he is a big guy) and take off all our jewelry and wear ratty clothes. It is an interesting place, but being chelas, we would be targeted. So we keep that in mind, get on the bus, shortchange the ayudante (bus helper that collects the money) and ride to the end of the line. evidently, our bus went right into the center of Mercado Oriental. Gah! We were fine, realized our mistake and hightailed it out of there. For some reason we gave ourselves a looong time in Managua as mass didn't start until 6p and we got into town at 12"30. We walked around ALOT. Went to the lake front and then walked to a mall. At the mall we had lunch and looked into purchasing cell phones. And by looked I mean we stood near the cell phone place and peered into the shop trying to see prices/ I still want to see if I can just get a SIM card for Nica. Evidently, in Nica all incoming calls are free. So it could work out nicely.