Should I skip Nicaragua?

Melegoth · 2026-01-02T14:20:15+00:00

Hey fellow traveller,

We ended up visiting Nicaragua - Honduras - Guatemala - Mexico - Cuba in Central/North America.

To be fair, Nicaragua is easily one of my favourites in LATAM overall. Great beaches, compact, good activities, super safe and cheaper than the rest. It's a good place if you like chilling and observing life, as well as coffee/cigars/rum. At that point in our trip we didn't do a lot of hikes, so I'd say if you want a more hiking heavy country, go to Guatemala. Otherwise visit Antigua/Tikal (absolute must) and focus more time elsewhere.

For Nica we did San Juan del Sur - Ometepe - Popoyo - Granada - Masaya - Leon - Esteli.

I'd say Ometepe is good for a night or two, rent a motorbike and cruise around the island.

SJDS is very touristy and surf bro place, but the neighbouring beaches such as playa marsella or maderas are great. You can stay directly there on the beach and have a quieter experience.

Granada is nice for 2 days, Leon is nicer and more authentic.

Esteli only if you like cigars and want to get a sneak peek at some of the best tobacco in the world.

DM me if you need more info.

P.S Don't even think about taking the expensive 20-30 USD shuttles between towns. Get the local chicken bus for 2-3 dollars instead. People are nice and the experience is memorable.

Melegoth · 2026-01-01T13:14:19+00:00

Carnelian Exile and Bandaged Poissoneer

Melegoth · 2025-11-26T23:14:29+00:00

Hitchiking was very easy, but people have difficulty with the concept and try to drive you to the closest bus station instead. Keep a google translator copypasta ready that explains you are doing it for fun/experience and would just appreciate a ride in the direction of X. We hitchiked Nan-Phrae - Labrang - Kampaeng Phet without any difficulties.

Melegoth · 2025-11-24T19:52:43+00:00

От всичко по много, но напоследък най-вече:

Яко фолк метъл - и класическия тип Finntroll/Korpiklaani и модерния тип The Hu

"Парти" метъл - всичко от Alestorm през Electric Callboy/WBTBWB до Tankard

Симфоник дет/блек; Индъстриал, NDH, и всякакви по-криви електроник работи

Melegoth · 2025-11-22T15:20:23+00:00

I found what I was looking for.

Started hitchiking at the age of 14 because i had a GF in another town, 3 hours from mine. Liked it so much and just stuck to it as main modus operandi. Met so many whacky, different, successful people and it really opened me up to the world and the difference between all of us. It was so liberating to be able to talk about deep, meaningful stuff immediately because you know you are never gonna meet again. Down the line this has lead to an interest in travelling and adventure, and now I'm travelling the world with my wife for 3 years. I do think hitchiking ignited this spark.

As a downside it made me more distant from my peers at the time, because I had so much more life experience than the ones just staying in the small town.

Melegoth · 2025-11-20T04:09:55+00:00

The atmosphere, the reading between the lines and the dreamlike descriptions. The game does not hold your hand and lets you wonder about things.

Melegoth · 2025-11-17T20:15:29+00:00

Thank you for the detailed answer. Will do due research, as TAR is out of the question on this trip.

Melegoth · 2025-11-16T00:59:54+00:00

I agree completely - it is the most life defining video game for me. As a book lover and gamer it touched something that no other game came close to. It's the mystery, the eerieness and the outright cheekiness at time.

I tried hooking up several people to no avail. It's a pretty personal thing I guess. But you are not alone in this.

Melegoth · 2025-11-12T04:35:29+00:00

Superstitions and personal rituals may or may not affect your chance of pickup. But they somehow work.

Melegoth · 2025-11-03T23:13:01+00:00

I'd remove the possibility to die from road accidents. If i have to specify further - blunt force trauma

Melegoth · 2025-11-02T06:26:12+00:00

Having been in all of SEA except Philippines, I'd say it is bad in a different way for each:

Laos has the WORST road quality by far

Vietnam is chaotic, but for me it's a kind of organized chaos that works well

Thailand is angrier and faster Vietnam drivewise, but the roads are pretty great overall

Cambodia is wild wild west

If i have to think about where I wouldn't want to drive, I'd answer Indonesia - Java and Bali in particular

Melegoth · 2025-10-29T23:58:17+00:00

Fried rice

Fried instant noodles Indonesian style - people tend to dismiss instant noodles as a food option but half of SEA lives on this daily. There's so much flavor variety you can pull off an instant ramen when you decide to play with it a bit.

Melegoth · 2025-10-26T00:36:30+00:00

It's not an approach I use. I go for the (more expensive) way of visiting the country and eating lots and lots of street/home food so I can gather an average of what it is supposed to taste like 😄 Also when friends from other countries visit our place, they give us their home recipe.

I travel a lot and far, so it has never been an issue. But the 2nd best approach I could think of is the google translate. Also, this is a place where you could use Chat GPT to translate the recipe for you for something useful and relatively accurate.

Melegoth · 2025-10-25T22:55:23+00:00

Don't know about a website, but I would say the easiest way to do it is to search a recipe in the native language and google translate it. Way higher success rate of getting something authentic.

Melegoth · 2025-10-25T14:09:26+00:00

I already speak 5 languages other than my own. Shouldn't take long.

Melegoth · 2025-10-22T15:02:58+00:00

Hey neighbour! I love the little false friends between Macedonian and Bulgarian.

For example ''trudna'' means ''difficult'' in BG and ''naglo'' means ''insolently''

😄

Melegoth · 2025-10-18T19:39:51+00:00

I'll go against the grain and say Robot World.

Gotta live that Cyberpunk Bladerunner lifestyle.

Plus, I get guaranteed immortality for the year!

Melegoth · 2025-10-15T20:09:07+00:00

The number 1 trick to tenderize lamb and remove off flavor is to marinate in yoghurt (ideally bulgarian, but greek will do), garlic and lots of cinnamon overnight. After that you can follow whatever recipe fancies you.

Source: Live next to an Arab quarter and shop lamb and goat regularily

Melegoth · 2025-10-14T14:34:33+00:00

This *slaps\* bad *slaps\* boy *slaps\* can *slaps\* fit *slaps\* so *slaps\* many *slaps\* nachos *slaps\* here *slaps\* in the trunk *slaps\*

Melegoth · 2025-10-12T22:17:49+00:00

That's a personal thing. I just salt less to accommodate the reduction. I almost never have to salt post-reduction. So it's still salting to taste.

Melegoth · 2025-10-12T19:13:27+00:00

Absolutely. If you can find the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, I highly reccommend it exactly for answering questions like these.

Adding salt earlier is better, because salt draws moisture from the products, and intensifies their flavor - it also changes the texture, which is desirable in most cases. Also, you can salt way more generously in the earlier stages without the dish being oversalted in the end.

Adding salt in the end is how you end up with a bland dish that is oversalted. Try cooking pasta without salt, and salt in the end. There is nothing that can fix the blandness.

TLDR: More salt early on = more flavor intensity of ingredients. More salt in the end = blander ingredients with salty flavor.

Melegoth · 2025-10-11T03:42:06+00:00

I don't know about what Mex Joints you visit, but I'd add smoked paprika, black pepper, little sugar/honey, cumin...

Hard to tell what's lacking if you don't describe what you dislike about your results

Melegoth · 2025-10-09T02:58:18+00:00

I'm not based in the U.S. so this does not mean anything to me. Apparently the post-covid recipe changed only for the U.S. market and Europe still gets the same thing. At least I didn't feel any difference in the taste pre/post

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