No Solution Today

Friday, January 18, 2013—San Carlos

I’m trying to solve the money problem.  As you know if you read the entry posted last night, I found an Internet café.  I logged onto the USAA website, and it said that it was temporarily down.  I thought that possibly the same problem could be the reason I wasn’t able to get money.  I looked online for ways to contact them, but they only give phone numbers and have an interactive on-line e-mail system.  That e-mail system was down, too.  I had hoped they would have an e-mail address where I could write them directly.  If they have one, it isn’t listed on the site.  My phone only works via wifi when out of the country, and this is such a remote place that the hotels don’t have wifi.  (Electricity and water are not guaranteed during the night; the water was off when I went to bed.)

I wrote my sister an e-mail while at the cyber café.  She is listed on my account at USAA, so I am hoping she can call them and get things settled today.  In the meantime, I went this morning to try the ATM again in case the temporary internet outage was the only problem yesterday.  The ATM still would not work.  I tried for an amount of money that was half of what I had previously requested.  Still, it said that my bank had denied the request.  When I tried to make a request for an even lower amount, the ATM would no longer let me use my card. (Note:  I just read an e-mail from my sister.  She said that USAA told her it must have been a problem with the ATM and that I would have to wait until I got to another.  That´s a problem, as you will read below.)

Therefore, I must change my travel plans, because El Castillo does not have a bank and because the boats from here in San Carlo to the next location, Ometepe Island, run only on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays (maybe).  Even on Ometepe, I may not be able to use the ATM.  It says in my guidebook that the only ATM on the island is a VISA only one, and the USAA debit card is a Mastercard.  There´s hope, though, because the bank is the same bank that has the ATM here which supposedly accepts MasterCard even though mine wouldn´t work.  I have enough money to get me to Ometepe and to stay for a while, but I will have to leave there earlier than planned if there isn’t a MasterCard ATM available now.  (The guidebook was printed 3 years ago, so the data is about 4 years old.)

How frustrating it is.  I have LOTS of time to be in Nicaragua, but I am having to move faster than planned because of needing cash.  I had informed the bank that I would be in Nicaragua and would be making ATM withdrawals.  So I had done everything in advance that should have been necessary.  This will require me to consider alternative plans in the future.  Previously, I had used a credit card from my credit union which I prepaid so that there would not be any immediate interest charges.  However, they now use a outside company to handle their cards, and prepayment is no longer an option.  That’s what led me to the USAA debit card.  If the fault turns out to really be that of USAA, it´s a shame, since it is a bank that serves primarily the military with thousands of its cardholders outside the US in remote places around the world, and this shouldn’t be happening.

Anyway, I bought a ticket for Ometepe when the office opened at 10:00 this morning.  The boat leaves at 14:00 and won’t arrive until midnight and will be at a dock away from the small town of Altagracia.  There should be shared taxis there to take us into town.  I am hoping a hotel will have a room for me.  Then tomorrow, I will have to take the bus to another town to try to use the ATM.  If it doesn’t accept MasterCard, I will have to start planning how long I can stay before I must leave the island to get to another bank.

On the way back from the cyber café last night, I stopped where a woman was cooking on the street. I ate grilled pork, tortilla, and gallo pinto (beans and rice) off a plate balanced on my lap.  The pork was generally tender, but there were some tougher parts.  It tasted very good as a change from what I have been eating.  I’m so tired of beans and rice, though.