Advice on Traveling with Cash, Credit/Debit Cards and iphones in Nicaragua

Travel tip 1- Always travel with cash!! You'll want to make an effort to keep small bills with you to pay taxi drivers, street vendors and bus attendants. Use your 500 cordoba bills at grocery stores and restaurants where they are more likely to have change. 

Travel tip 2- Jingling coins!! You'll need a small purse or bag for all the coins. Your pockets will fill up fast! 

Travel tip 3- Practice your rounding skills! Don't be surprised at grocery stores if they round up your total to the next cordoba or at least a multiple of 25. For example if your total is 312.48 they will charge you 312.50 cordobas or sometimes C$313.00. This is because there are only 10 cent, 25 cent and 50 cent coins. Pennies and nickels don't exist in this currency.

Travel tip 4- Credit/Debit cards take a back seat. Cards are accepted at some hotels, supermarkets and nice restaurants. However don't be caught off guard by not traveling with cash as well and make sure you ask if they accept cards before you plan on using one. Most cities have a bank street where all the ATMs are located. Ask for "la calle de bancos." 

Travel tip 5-  Lock your credit/debit cards up and do not travel with them whenever is possible! I suggest leaving your credit/debit cards at your accommodations if you are just traveling for the day and have a private room or a locker. My suggestions is always to bring enough cash with you for the day and only bring a debit card with you if you are going to the ATM to withdraw money. That way you don't need to worry about losing or getting your cards stolen, which is a huge pain in the butt! 

Travel tip 6- Download the app for your bank on your phone. A very useful thing to do before you travel is figure out how to freeze your accounts or alert your bank immediately. If your cards do get stolen, you’ll want to act quickly!

Travel tip 7- If you are traveling with an iphone or a mac you will want to log onto the icloud before leaving and activate “find my iphone” or “find my device."  If you don't register your device, it is impossible to use this helpful program to find your device if it is lost or stolen. 

Travel tip 8- Don't put any of these valuable things in outside pockets. While traveling it's common to want to put things like money and phones in easy to access spots in your bag because you are constantly getting them out and putting them away. Just keep in mind that it's also easy access for others!