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NY Times Can't Stop Hyping Nicaragua

Remember back when the New York Times declared Bangladsh the new Bangladesh? Seems they're at it again, but the Grey Lady is keeping it in the western hemisphere this time.

Way back in 2002, when not too many people were stopping in Nicaragua on the way to Costa Rica, the Times ran a story on Grenada. It had the requisite references to buying a hammock in Masaya, "Granada's impressive central plaza" and William Walker, the war-loving soldier of fortune who tried to conquer Central America in the 19th century.

The next piece about Granada, two years later, was from a writer who went to rediscover the set of the Ed Harris movie Walker. (He had a part in the film.) It's pretty good, an interesting take on a city that had changed.

But the next Granada article from the Times goes back to the tried-and-true formula of cliches--"Visitors...wandered about the central part of the town, soaking up the evanescent atmosphere of more than a hundred years of solitude"--and tells us nothing new about the place. There are, as before, mentions of Masaya, of Lake Nicaragua and, of course, that scourge William Walker.

Fast-forward to September of this year, and the Times' travel magazine is calling Granada the "Ciudad of Dreams." (Guess who makes an appearance: Yup, Willie Walker.) And, apparently, the thing to do in the city of sueños is hang out in the Parque Central.

So we were excited to see this week's story about Granada: Would it bring anything new to the party? Would it tell us anything we didn't already know? Would it deploy some colorful description of the town's central plaza? Sadly: No, no and yes.

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· Attracted by a Blend of Centuries and Cultures [NYT]
· Travel Media coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: kathyaadams]