Wow. You are right about the economy. Things have a way to improve yet. Tourism is gaining strength, but more significantly there needs to be an eduation of Nicaraguans regarding tourism-- I find that Costa Ricans have much more of a conscience about this. Yet I have seen real progress during the last few years, but Personally, I would like to see more tourism but would hate to see Nicaragua completely overrun by tourists also.
I am curious when you were last in Managua? Most parts of the Pax terminal have had a major makeover and, with the exception of the cramped (and still unrenovated) check-in area for Continental/COPA/TACA/Iberia/Atlantic Airlines/American Airlines, the lay-out and functioning of the airport seems to work well. In all the years I've flown into and out of there-- I have yet to see the gun emplacements (I will be looking for them the next-time though)-- on the otherhand the occupied pillboxes in Guatemala City immediately caught my attention. The old abandonded terminal is an eyesore/ OK, I guess I look at it as a historic building and still used for cargo. Panama City still has it's old terminal used for Cargo. So do many other places. I don't expect that MNMG will ever look like KLAX or KIAH.
Nevertheless, given some 30 years of neglect, things are slowly shaping up. That is cool, in all the times that I've flown into MNMG (both as a pilot and as an airline pax) I've never landed/taken-off on Rwy 27 . . . always turns out to be 09.
As far as the overall poverty situation of the country?
Well, what can I say-- this is the cost of 100 years of poor internal politics, war, dictatorship, corruption and economic embargos. A major portion of the external debt is about to be pardoned and the country will be joining CAFTA shortly, but the road ahead to a possible meaningful improvement is still long and hard. Nicaragua entered the 21st Century in worse shape than it did the 20th Century. I'll admit I'm not an optimist on the outlook of that.
