All the guidebooks seem to give you the idea that you won’t miss much if you skip out on the capital of Nicaragua entirely, but I disagree. At least, it warrants about two days of your time.

Sure, there is nothing singularly exciting about it, and it’s not exactly a ‘city’ by your first-world standards. It’s an everyday sort of place devoid of anything to romanticize… in fact, it is exceeding hot and impossible to navigate solely on foot or public bus, but it’s a place where you can spend your day roaming around shopping malls, perusing the shelves of La Colonia supermarket to decide what to cook for dinner, watch plays and listen to live music, visit art galleries and poetry readings… you can even go and have a very decent haircut for $8 at Galería Santo Domingo, have your left-too-long-unshaved legs waxed, see the doctor if you have to, extend your visa at the foreign office (direct your taxi driver to Direccion de Migración y Extranjera), buy a ‘Joy Sport’ (a bastardization of ‘Jan Sport’) backpack for 50 Cordobas (about $3!) at Mercado Ivan Montenegro which looks perfectly good and seemingly hardy (we will see about the latter), chase down your long-overdue package from overseas from post office customs (Los Correos, near El Malecon)… you get the idea. It’s a place you can comfortably run your errands, so long as you know where to look. People fly in from the Corn Islands to see the dentist, that kind of thing.

Sure, everybody talks about how dangerous it is here — not just the guidebooks, but also the locals, an indication that it’s not just over-paranoia and over-precaution on the part of tourists. Sure, some taxi drivers will scare you just to get you into their taxi (especially those at the airport), but in the cities of Central America it’s worth being careful. When I was in Bluefields, a taxi driver told me, “They’ll kill you for 1 Cordoba in Managua, your life is worth nothing there. Bluefields is safer.” The guidebooks hasn’t seemed to agree with the last statement — I have to say Bluefields wasn’t as scary as they’d described, but that’s a story for another day.

Despite the danger factor, a lot can be said about basic instincts. You’d be surprised. And I think one of the tricks is to find someplace secure to stay. And luckily, it’s not difficult to find such a place in the capital of Nicaragua. Managua Backpackers Inn (Colonial Los Robles, 3era etapa, #55, Chaman 75 Varas al Sur), which has been running for about seven months now (so you won’t find it in the guidebooks yet), is a great refuge, perfect to put up fitful nights in Managua. Free wireless internet (and one computer for communal use), use of the kitchen and all its amenities (trust me, it has everything you’ll ever need), free refilling of your water bottles with filtered water, free use of the hammocks that hang around the swimming pool, free use of the cable TV and a venerable stockpile of DVDs… you could make a home right here. For $8 you have a dorm bed in a room with a fan and a shared bathroom (but no hot water). For $11 you have a dorm bed with air-conditioning and a shared bathroom (with hot water!) There are single and double private rooms as well for accordingly higher prices.

Run by the amicable Gregory, who would love it if you would cook your national dish for him, this is a great spot. Just come with one or two recipes from your country and some small change of your national currency (there are various dominations of a fair scale of countries thumbtacked onto a board in the living room), and you’ll be welcomed with open arms. Well, you will be anyway, regardless.

The hostel is also located perfectly, a stone’s throw from several restaurants (Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican), two supermarkets (La Colonia being the largest but there’s a mini market open till 11 p.m. less than a five-minute walk from the hostel), a shopping mall (MetroCentro), and an apparently popular club called El Chaman. Greg will supply you with all the information you’ll need once you get there. You can also pick up from the hostel lots of flyers and programme booklets as to what’s happening around town. There is also a travel agency near the hostel called Aqua Travel (Plaza Colonial Modulo No. 6, contiguo a la Libreria San Jerónimo, Calle Principal Los Robles), walkable.

Location-wise, the hostel is also set apart from what is known as budget backpacker central, Barrio Martha Quezada — which is reportedly not so safe anymore due to increasingly brave knife-wielding teenagers who want to rob you. I don’t know how true that is but if you stay at the Backpackers Inn, you won’t have to worry about that, and you won’t regret it. Plenty of people have had good things to say about it as well. And no, Greg’s not paying me anything to say all this, and no, I don’t work there!

Honestly, my experience at the hostel has been so good I have absolutely no complaints. You see, I’d found myself stuck in Managua for longer than I’d thought I would be because I had to wait for a package to arrive (it’s a long, tedious process). So in the end I think I stayed at least 10 days in Managua.

The only thing I might suggest to Greg is that he think about changing the hostel name to something more homey and less unassuming to reflect the experience of living there. Quite simply, the name doesn’t do it justice. Sure, it attracts the usual backpackers, but it never feels like the typical backpacker hostel — it’s nothing like Big Foot in León or The Black Cat in Antigua, Guatemala. What it feels like is your favourite aunt’s home for the weekend, that’s what it feels like. And despite there being many strangers at once in the same house, the space is arranged such that it never feels intrusive. It’s quite possible to coexist happily with the rest of the guests, whether you’re of the introverted or extroverted kind.

Some recommendations:

You will probably have to take a taxi to a lot of these places, so I’ve provided directions in Spanish where I can. And remember, always negotiate the fare first before you get in, and always bargain. But be nice. And oh, it’s the easiest thing to grab a cab in Managua. They are so many of them they’ll flag you down before you have the chance to raise your hand. You don’t have to find them, they’ll find you.

For live music: La Casa de los Mejía Godoy (from Shell Plaza del Sol, two blocks south / de Shell Plaza del Sol, dos cuadras al sur), owned by the legendary Godoy brothers — Don Carlos who is a legendary musician and songwriter of Nicaraguan folk music, and his brother Luis Enrique who is apparently a world-renowned salsa king — who perform at the club regularly.

For dance lessons: La Academia de Danza (opposite UCA - La Universidad de Centro America along Pista de la Resistencia), including dance styles like folk, modern jazz, ballet and Brazilian.

For markets: Mercado Huembes, also a major bus terminal, open from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also Mercado Ivan Montenegro (night buses to Bluefields leave from here). Also Mercado Oriental, but I hear this one isn’t terribly safe. According to Moon Handbooks someone gets robbed every seven minutes and the advice is that travelers should avoid it. Clearly, I did; but narrowly, because a taxi driver echoed to me a similar warning when I asked to go. Someone who makes it there tell me if it’s true you can buy hand grenades there.

For shopping: MetroCentro (along Carretera Masaya) and Galería Santo Domingo (on Pista Jean Paul Genie, opposite the La Meca Sports Center / frente al boulevard Jean Paul Genie, contiguo a Enoteca), the latter more high-end, and thus also emptier.

For haircuts, facials, mani/pedicures, waxing: Capelli Barberia-Salon Belleza-Spa (located in Galería Santo Domingo). $8 for a haircut, $50 for full-head color, $10 for a mani-/pedicure, $10-15 for waxing (depending on what you’re cleaning up), $25 for facial (not recommended! You could probably do better yourself at home), etc. Walk-in possible, or call (505) 276 5270/5271 to make an appointment.

For doctors: There are various hospitals in Managua, one of them Hospital Metropolitano (on Carretera Masaya). Also a cluster of clinics at Clinica Plaza España (Rotonda El Güegüense, 1 1/2 cuadra abajo).