WELCOME TO NICARAGUA

A shit day if ever there was one!  A 6.15am start was dictated by a bus that might arrive any time between 6.45 and 7.15.  Given the lack of sleep caused by the traffic thundering up the hill outside my room I was already ragged by the time we started.  In the event the bus eventually left at 8.30 so we spent at least an hour and a half standing with our bags by a main road being harassed by beggars for the whole of the time.  Just before we left, the two most persistent tangled and fell into the road fighting.  The younger punched the older one in the face three times before running off.  Then, as we stowed our bags, Mike had someone attempting to get into his day bag.  (Assault victim in middle in blue top)

So far, so good!  I had a good seat in the middle of the bus and the air conditioning was effective enough for me to wear the fleece that has seen little use recently.  There seemed to be major road construction taking place that would eventually produce a major dual carriage highway but which slowed us down a little.  As the road took us higher and higher pine trees and grasses seemed to replace the more tropical vegetation previously experienced.  Eventually we descended to the sizeable town of Tegucigalpa, where the more familiar Honduran vegetation reasserted itself.  From here things went downhill fast.  New passengers were insisting on claiming the seats as numbered and Andres was forced to redistribute the group.  Having stated that it didn’t matter what seat one had so long as one had a seat I was hardly in a position to complain when I ended up in the back row next to the toilet.  Not only this but I was not at the window so couldn’t see where we were going  but the A/C didn’t work here and my seat only operated in the ‘fully down’ position.  This is where I spent the rest of the journey.  Given that the coach company was trying to make up for lost time there were no meal breaks and the only food seen were some basic maize biscuits that I bought from a seller who was allowed on board.  Major road works slowed us down and, having climbed to great heights, the descent was slowed by the lack of a road in places as it had apparently parted company from the rest of the road some time fairly recently.  The scenery here was breathtakingly beautiful but no photo opportunity was available.

Eventually, we reached the border with Nicaragua.  The good part was that the steward on the coach gathered all our passports, customs declarations and money for entrance/exit payments.    

(Money changing at the border)

The bad part was that on the Nicaraguan side we had to unload our luggage, line up and take it through customs. 

 Here, after much waiting, I was required to open my bags.  Do I look like a smuggler?  The upshot of this was that I left my adaptor plug behind and, having found nothing interesting, I had to repack my bag.  Apparently, Jurgen observed that one passenger put his bags back on the coach without taking them through customs at all!  The journey through Nicaragua proved uneventful.  One hignlight was a clearly active volcano, Momotombo and I managed a photo of this.

There seemed to be large land holdings behind the roadside shacks and, in places, sizeable processing plants were visible.  Palm trees, both coconut and oil were the main plants and sugar cane was everywhere.  Eventually we pulled into Managua and transferred to a private bus to the hotel in Granada.  Five minutes to wash and Andres led us to the major points of interest before arriving at a restaurant which deal with us in an uncharacteristically speedy and effective manner.  Beers were produced promptly, bread was brought to the table, all were given a small salad and then the food ordered arrived.  With some relief most of us were in bed well before midnight.