Nicaragua

Steven Froelich is at ease here – getting high, staying high, ingratiating himself into the lives of a motley collection of expats and locals… and extricating himself in haste when they become too intense for him. The coke is of variable quality, the rum is plentiful and his newfound comrades are anything but dull. When you’re every kind of addict, planning a trip comes down to one question: where can I secure vast quantities of my preferred substances at reasonable cost? To Nicaragua, then! Steven Froelich is at ease here – getting high, staying high, ingratiating himself into the lives of a motley collection of expats and locals…and extricating himself in haste when they become too intense for him. The coke is of variable quality, the rum is plentiful and his newfound comrades are anything but dull, from the intense, problematic American Jed to Ernesto and Carla, local and US-naturalised Nicaraguans in an occasional relationship. Froelich is frank about his fathomless addictions, as he careens from paranoia to crude offensiveness to joyful fellow-feeling. And from the cities and coastal hangouts to the islands and the rainforested interior, Nicaragua comes into focus even through the haze.