Happier Abroad Forum Community

Never been to Brazil. But with Mexico-- I find Mexicans to be similar to Thais- they look pissed and carry wounded pride. Here people have no shamefulness, no pride, they don't brag; they just live. And they also don't look belligerent while Mexicans do, somewhat.

Whoa... of all the times I've been to Mexico nobody has ever come across like that to me. If anything people were always coming up to me, being friendly, and very curious about me.

Lots of stares everywhere I went, especially from las chicas!

manly5000 wrote:Whoa... of all the times I've been to Mexico nobody has ever come across like that to me. If anything people were always coming up to me, being friendly, and very curious about me.

Lots of stares everywhere I went, especially from las chicas!

International personal experiences vary with each person and are ambi-lateral- it's them and it's you. It depends on where you are, what you look like, etc. This is why everything is anecdotal, and anecdotes vary. This is why I get along with some nations and don't get along with others; and it's different with someone else. As in -- totally. Mexicans do not treat me with hostility but there's mistrust and pissed-offedness and raised chins. That is my impression every time I go there.

Anyway, I am back in Atlanta. My impression of the immigration here is that they are much friendlier-- my immigration officer even asked me why I was traveling alone and that I should find a girl to travel with. I was a bit nervous about the Customs because of the Nazi treatment I got in Detroit on two occasions. The secondary inspection here in Atlanta is done is one small room, whereas in DTW, its a giant hall with wide metal counters and gloomy officers that treat people like criminals. Passport officers there can be just as bad.

Here, they did not hold me- they just took the declaration, let me thru, and sent me on my way. I think Atlanta should be the hub of choice, not DTW. F%#@ Detroit; ain't flying thru that f@#^$* place again!

Nicaragua will always be in my back burner plans if I ever decide to take a quick trip that is cheap. I spent about 6 days in Granada and 6 in Leon. It was OK. The memories I have of Granada are the bat cave/volcano I went to that is between Managua and Granada and the constant playing of Donna Summer. She died about 2-3 months after my trip there. Leon is about 30 mins from the modest beach they have there. I caught a cab from the beach back to Leon one night and the local officers had the cab driver transport a thief in the back seat of the car to the Leon police station. Apparently, the law is that cab drivers have to transport criminals. Interesting conversation I had with the cab driver and thief as we road back to town. The guy was handcuffed with his hands behind is back when he got in the car, but managed to contort his body enough to where his hands were in front of him in his lap during the drive back to town. The three of us passed around a bottle of Johnny Walker Red that I had bought at a restaurant on the beach. When we got to about 3-4 blocks away from the police station, we contorted himself again to where his hands were behind his back and the officers picked him up like nothing happened.

Needless to say, I felt safe in Nicaragua.

Mr Ladislav, I like your succinct and efficient and factual reporting. A very, very nice report.

Say, is Nicaragua (with the help of the Chinese) really serious about building a canal there?

Speaking of canal, any thought of visiting Panama?

ladislav wrote:

manly5000 wrote:Whoa... of all the times I've been to Mexico nobody has ever come across like that to me. If anything people were always coming up to me, being friendly, and very curious about me.

Lots of stares everywhere I went, especially from las chicas!

International personal experiences vary with each person and are ambi-lateral- it's them and it's you. It depends on where you are, what you look like, etc. This is why everything is anecdotal, and anecdotes vary. This is why I get along with some nations and don't get along with others; and it's different with someone else. As in -- totally. Mexicans do not treat me with hostility but there's mistrust and pissed-offedness and raised chins. That is my impression every time I go there.

Anyway, I am back in Atlanta. My impression of the immigration here is that they are much friendlier-- my immigration officer even asked me why I was traveling alone and that I should find a girl to travel with. I was a bit nervous about the Customs because of the Nazi treatment I got in Detroit on two occasions. The secondary inspection here in Atlanta is done is one small room, whereas in DTW, its a giant hall with wide metal counters and gloomy officers that treat people like criminals. Passport officers there can be just as bad.

Here, they did not hold me- they just took the declaration, let me thru, and sent me on my way. I think Atlanta should be the hub of choice, not DTW. F%#@ Detroit; ain't flying thru that f@#^$* place again!

I noticed Atlanta TSA is MUCH more polite than in Los Angeles.

Just look at how pretty the nature here is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTSN4O9xBI

And yes, there is a Chinese presence as well as Korean and I've also heard about the canal thing- not confirmed. Nicaragua is the size of England- Panama is much smaller and more narrow. Well, time will show.