Central America

We left the apartment and headed for the TicaBus to get to Managua, Nicaragua. The bus was full. We found three other travellers, an America Chris from Seattle, and two brits, Ally and Ralph. The 5 of us headed to another bus company, but and I knew already that company didn't have a direct bus. We suggested taking a third bus to get to the nearest town to the border, Danli. We took a taxi to get there and caught the bus. CR said I was being cocky with the other three and indeed I didn't get a good first impression of them. But talking with them on the bus, I ended up liking all three a lot.

We took a bus from Danli to the border, Manas Blancas, cleared immigration for Nicaragua, took a bus to Ocotel, and transferred onto a bus to Managua. Within Managua, we taxied from one bus terminal to another and got on a minibus for Granada. Some guy "helped" us with our bags and tried to collect US$1, but we refused. The bus honked and flashed its lights to get us on, but still waited for 10 more minutes after we left. That's Nicaraguan "marketing".

Granada is a beautiful colonial town, reminded me of Cartagena, Colombia. All 5 of us had dinner at a posh Italian restaurant. Chris, Ally, Ralph, and myself got trashed on the local beers, Tona and Victoria (Victoria was the better beer), and half bottles of the local run, Ron Flores de CAna (which cost US$7). Awesome dinner.

CR and I eventually found a room that was pretty cheap. We hunted for bugs and CR got annoyed with me and my drunkeness. I brought it up the next morning and the issue was not resolved, but neither did it fester. While waiting for the bus to leave, I walked around the market and there were lots of fresh fruits and some ugly looking meat. Very vibrant market.

We noticed that night that the places contained in Lonely Planet were more typically full and double priced. Hereagain, I recommend using another book as the primary source to avoid being "Lonely Planet-ized". In this case, local advice found us a great hotel.