Not all those who wander are lost...

...but if you're wandering in Nicaragua, and you can't speak Spanish, then you are lost. And you want to know why? Becausethe concept of an address is completely different, and in my opinion somewhat insane. When we define an address back home based on a number and a street name. Based on that definition,  not a single address exists in Nicaragua. And outside of the major highways, I have yet to see a street name.

In place of a number and street name, I guess is relativity. Your address is based on the nearest identifiable landmark. For example, at my house in Niquinohomo, the address is "from the Cementary, 1 block east". And thats it. If the cementary only stretched out a block, maybe we'd have something, but instead it stretches out over five blocks, and in reality, isn't even a full block away. So you're forced to go from door to door asking where the person lives. It's makes for some interesting conversation, especially at night when some gringo (me) is shouting through your door, "Do you know where so and so lives". And in some cases, home owners use little know landmarks, or landmarks that don't exist anymore. My favorite being in Managua, 3 blocks south of where the Coca Cola Factory used to be. How am I supposed to know that, or for that matter, which way is south in a strange location?

I've heard of one example of a man in Boaco experimenting with an addres. He recently put the number 335 on his house, to make it stand out from his neighbors, and thus created the social experiment: Will others follow suit? Only time will tell.