Nicaraguans love their cell phones; on the bus, on their bike, on their horse or walking down the street. Billboards advertising cell phone providers "Claro" and "Movistar" speckle the landscape and in cities the largest edifices are its towers. Their adverstisments grace baseball stadiums, movie theatres and everywhere people gather. In Granada there are more cell phone recharge sites than there are coffee shops in Seattle. From our balcony we have a wonderful view of the cathedrals and Volcan Mombacho in the distance--only broken by the Claro tower.
Interestingly, Nicaraguans do not have monthly plans as we do, they simply go to stores on every half block and recharge their cell phone with a certain number of minutes. In every barrio and even the smallest pueblos you can recharge your phone. Movistar seems to win the battle as it frequently provides promotions for doubling your minutes or texting.
It is fascinating that for many Nicaraguans they have never had land lines--so cell technology has brought them into the communications world. It seems Nicaragua has skipped an entire generation of technology and has embraced the era of mobile technology and mp3's that blare North American music through their earbuds. Even familias pobre (poor) have cell phones. They may not have water or electricity everyday, but they do have their cell phone.
Posted by Ingelise
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