Things are Booming
in La Nueva Managua
Managua Renaissance: New Hotels,
Malls, More
PICTURE
a city of 1 million people. Now, level its downtown area and
leave expanses of vacant lots in its place for a quarter-century.
That's Managua, arguably the world's
most unusual capital city.
The Dec. 23, 1972 earthquake that destroyed some 250-city blocks
in Managua's center left 6,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands
homeless. Thanks to government corruption, the aid that poured
in after the 7.4 magnitude quake never reached its intended destination.
Subsequent war and economic problems did nothing to help rebuild
Managua. The result is an enormously sprawling city, with no
real downtown to hold it together.
 Managua isn't everyone's cup of tea. In true developing-nation
style, the real, authentic Nicaragua is to be found in the hinterlands.
But also is in true developing-country style, most services are
concentrated in the capital, and visitors will likely need to
pass through Managua sometime during their stay.
And Nicaragua's good transportation
network means that everything in the Leon-Granada corridor is
accessible as a day trip from the capital, making Managua a good
base from which to explore the western half of the country.
The elections of 1996 ushered in Arnoldo
Aleman to head a conservative city government, the Alcadia
de Managua. Aleman and Company saw the city's future to
the south of the old center and set out to create a boomtown
about two km. away, touting it as La Nueva Managua
(the New Managua).
Their new focus of attention centered
on a newly built cathedral - the old cathedral lay in ruins after
the earthquake and the huge Metrocentro shopping mall. The area
continues to spawn new hotels, stores, strip malls, car dealerships
and restaurants - signs of affluence, and signs of affluent Nicaraguans
returning after the Sandinista years.
 
The
capital is experiencing a hotel boom, with several going up in
this affluent area. During the war years, visitors had little
choice: either they stayed in the famous pyramid-shaped Intercontinental
or they opted for decidedly downscale budget lodgings. Now Camino
Real, Princess and Best Western have come to town; Holiday Inn
and Hampton Inn are on the way. Pleasant, comfortable mid-priced
inns dot the landscape. And many of the budget hospedajes near
the city center have cleaned up their acts.
It's also not all rice and beans in
Managua anymore, either. Italian is king among the new breed
of restaurants, and French, Peruvian, Chinese, Mexican and U.S.
add to the ethnic mix. (And it was boUnd to happen. Three McDonald's
opened last year.)
After years of neglect, the old Managua
is experiencing a renaissance these days. Blue-and-yellow billboards
sprout everywhere quoting President Aleman - Obras.. No Palabras
(Works, not words) - announcing a new government project. Not
to be outdone, the city government and the private sector trumpet
their own projects.
And visitors who come to Managua every
few months notice the signs don't stay up long. The projects
are completed quickly.
A new telecommunications building and
Foreign Ministry are in the works. A new presidential palace,
built with aid from the government of Taiwan, flanks the old
cathedral ruins and is close to completion. Workers are busy
constructing a fountain on the Plaza de la Republica. Just to
the west, the John Paul II Plaza of Faith will open early this
year.
 
The newly built Plaza Inter shopping
mall lies just north of the Hotel Intercontinental.
Not all is brand-new. The long -abandoned
cathedral ruins have been partially restored and are now a museum.
Next door, the National Palace, one of the few buildings left
untouched in the earthquake is now the renovated National Museum.
Even the hotly debated dispute about
the nearby tomb of Sandinista founder Carlos Fonseca has been
resolved. The city government and the Sandinistas have reached
an accord allowing an eternal flame to burn at the burial site.
The
city has gussied up its Malecon, or lakefront walk on the shore
of Lake Managua (Xolotlan). And old standbys the Olof Palme Convention
Center and the Ruben Dario Theatre have been center-city magnets
for years.
The overall effect - monumental buildings
with vast distance between them - looks much like the Mall in
Washington, D.C. The hustling, bustling downtown that once was
will never come back.
But no longer does central Managua look
like Ground Zero after a nuclear war attack. The construction
is bringing people back to the center city, to what one taxi
driver smiled and called, "La Nueva Nueva Managua."
Reprinted from The Tico
Times SPECIAL NICARAGUA SUPPLEMENT February 18,
2000.
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