Brief description of the city
Managua, is the Capital City of Nicaragua. The city was destroyed on the earthquake of 1972 and still the old center has not been rebuilt. A new center has emerged full of commerce and night life. It is relatively safe city. The city has a few tall buildings and concrete cobbled streets. Has been growing so there is no way of walking the city and in several places there is no side walks. It has the Managua lake on the north and hills on the South. The climate is warm all year round. In rainy season usually we got heavy rain for a couple of hours and the rest of the day can be enjoyed.
Major local airports and their distance from lodging and venue.
The major air port is Agusto Cesar Sandino and it code is MGA. It is located about 12 km East of the city center, this will be also more o least the distance to the hotel. The distance can be traveled on about 20 minutes or 40 minutes in rush hours (form 7 to 9 am or from 4 to 6 pm).
Most hotels offer suttle, although some times payment is required for this service. Most time there is need to book those services.
There are car rentals and taxis availables at the airport, as in any international airport.
Outline of local mass transit.
Public transportation does not meet the city demand, and buses usually circulate over their capacity. There has been a renovation on several bus cooperatives, but you can expect to see plenty of old yellow scholl buses decomitioned from use in the US serving rutes in Managua.
There is plenty of cabs and the fares are not that expensive, usually the equivalent to two or three dollars per ride within the city. There are no fare meters, so be prepare to be overcharged as tourist and also bargain over the price is expected. People usually call their destination and negotiate the price before taking the taxi.
Most people think that in Managua streets has no name, the problem is that nobody use them. Managua address are based on refrence to land marks, some of them long gone and only known to locals. Both, Hotel and Conference Venue are well known landmarks. Just saying the name taxi drivers will know the address (if not, better look for another driver that know the city!)
Probably will be a good idea to hire a van.
Detailed description of proposed venue and estimated costs including room capacity and configuration.
The proposed Venue is Universidad Centroamericana, it is a catholic university administered by the Jesuit order. It is one of the best universities on the country and it is the only university with a FOSS comunity GUL-UCA. Among the private universities UCA is the biggest, having several conference rooms. It has several labs, one of them has already installed Fedora. The initial talks points that the infraestructure of the university will be free of charge: Conference room, classrooms, internet, extra furniture (for registration and swag tables), audio and video equipment. The staff usually is very helpful. We can not count on the university to provide anything else. Like alimentation or transportation will be out of the question, but I think they are already giving a big help opening all the campus to us.
Description of proposed lodging and estimated costs along with a written agreement from lodging specifying rates
Hotel Mansión Teodolinda is located in a residential area, close to banks, embassies and shops, which makes a quiet place but very accesible to several activities. It has some mid size conference facilities, that can be used for after hours activities like hacking or common room. There are several bed and breakfast in the souronding area that can be arranged in case there is need for more rooms. The hotel is located about 3 km North-West of the University.
The hotel has 5 gallon dispenser of purified water on the corridors free of charge. Half litter bottle of water are for sale on the restaurant. Interten is complimentary for the guests. Rates include full breakfast. Taxes are not included. NIcaragua has 15% sales tax that will be added to all tranactions. Addtional there is a Hospitality tax that is 2% charged only to room rates.
| Room | Regular price | Fudcon price |
|---|---|---|
| Single | USD 60 | USD 45 |
| Double | USD 65 | USD 50 |
| Triple | USD 70 | USD 55 |
Estimated travel costs
Flights
Conecting cities: Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Guatemala, San Salvador, Panama
Buses
San Jose, Tegucigalpa, San Salvador
Brief description of on the ground resources and their experience with FUDcon/other large events.
The local FOSS community has been awarded as best event for Software Freedom Day in 2007 and 2008. UCA has hosted SFD on 2008 and 2009. In 2009 there was an Central America Free Software Gathering. Anothe different event more complex on logistic was Librebus in 2011. In 2012 Nicaragua will host DEBConf.
Local Fedora contributors (alphabetically) German Ruíz, Joel Dávila, Lila Gutierrez, Neville A. Cross, Walter Danilo Vargas and Yader Velasquez have been working on organizing large events like FLISOL, Document Freedom Day, Software Freedom Day mentiones above, but also have helped on Fedora release party events.
Notation of internet connectivity options for both hotel and conference venue.
Hotel
Every single room has an ethernet jack and there is coverage for wireless internet in the hotel. There is one ethernet jack in every meeting room and they have coverage for wireless internet. The hotel capacity at the moment it is 1.5Mbps, but it can be expanded during this event. The hotel is accomodating on guest need, to increase the number of access points, and provide network switches on the meeting rooms.
Conference venue
Universidad Centroamericana has launched a wireless network across campus with a captive portal for authentication. They named their network RiUCA. There some spots out of the coverage. Conference halls have their own access points. Past experience has shown that in technical events, the current setup is overwhelmed.
On the go
Prices and services checked on 2012-01-20 3G modems can be adquired for about USD 40.00 and the air time cost about USD 2.00 for 12 hours, USD 0.65 for 1 hour and USD 0.44 for half hour. Prepaid services requiere to send an sms to activate the service. Wimax service sell modem for about USD 83.00 and the air time is USD 4.00 for 24 hours and USD 33.00 for one month. Prepaid service requiere activation using the company software suit that only runs on windows.
Outline of proximate restaurant locations.
Hotel
The hotel has a restaurant serving from 6am to 9pm. If you are old enought you can order local rum and beers and enjoy those by the pool. Nicaraguan rum is really good, and beers are also great. If you are not old enough or not into alcohol, you should try a milk shake.
There is a food court on Plaza Inter Shoping Mall less than half kilometer nort east. In front of the Shopping Mall there is one restaurant offering nacional cousine for lunch and dinner, during night the performe live show with national music. There are one bar one block North (cheap beers), and another half block east (eclectic). There is a Lounge half block North (gay friendly). THere is a Irish Pub about three block west (has the largest selection on imported beers).
Conference Venue
UCA has small cafeterias within the campus where sandwiches and hoddog can be purchased, there is a small buffet place where more formal meal can be obtained. There is one cooffe place where elaborate coffee can be obtained. There are Pizza Hut and Macdonald's less that hal kilometer East. Metrocentro Shopping mall has a food court and is located less than 1 km East. There are one sea food restarant and two sport bars that serve lunch less than half kilometer South.
Deadlines for event reservation, etc.
Pros and Cons of the proposed location.
Pros
- Centrally locad in Central America. People can travel by bus.
- Venue will be free
Cons
- Bad transportation within the city
- Expensive air fares
- Internet may not meet expectatives at venue.