3 countries, 1 day, 7 vehicles

Well we made it, even if it did take six hours and all those vehicles. We started across the street at the bus station at 7;20 am and got the bus out to El Amatillo right away, as usual. However, in the town of Santa Rosa de Lima, we were moved to another bus, although the money guy on the first bus paid the money guy on the second bus so we could travel on. Very honest - what would we have known.

In El Amatillo there were human vultures at the bus awaiting us. The driver waited until everyone was off the bus before he opened the baggage compartment, at which point we were swarmed with touts wanting us to take their tuk-tuks. We finally settled on one who gave us a price - the first said just a tip, yeah right - and then he drove us the two blocks to the immigration office. He waited there while we paid a little money to the El Salvador to get out, then went off with the tuk tuk driver, past the Honduran office and onto the minibus stop where we climbed in while our bags were tied on top.

The ride across Honduras took two hours, and it was very hot along the way. The travel thermometer read 38 at one point. At least the van windows were open. We both got the jump seats, which meant we were a little uncomfortable. But we weren´t being discriminated against, they were the last seats left which meant the bus got to leave.

In Guasale on the Honduran-Nicaragua border we got a pedi cab. A little guy sat on his bike seat in back and pedalled us sitting like queens in the front on a wicker seat as he took us first to the border crossing, where we got to pay more money to get into Nicaragua, then he pedalled us over the dirt road to the town of Guasale about 2 kilometers away where he dropped us off at the next minibus stop where again we left quite quickly as the seats were now full -but we got better seats.

Along the way into Chinandega we saw a smoking volcano called San Cristobal. We also saw sugar cane fields, - Nicaragua is famous for its rum made from the cane: Flor de Caña. There were cattle, sheep and pigs too. And I saw a cane truck with five trailers - just like a train, but on it´s own road thank heaven. The first km of the road were under construction so we didn´t make good time. All the bridges were being redone as well as the roads. It was a pleasure to make it to the real pavement. The last vehicle we got was a taxi in Chinandega to take us to our hotel. The most expensive part of the trip - the pedicab ride. Geordie felt guilty about the kid cycling us so gave him 12 dollars and a bag of Quesitos - Central American cheezies.

We managed to cahnge money at the border too, and when we got to Chinandega we found a bank that took Cirrus so we have Cordobas now and can have dinner. Too bad there are so few restaurants. We walked blocks and blocks and saw no place that could honestly call itself a restaurant. The closest was a place on the street that was frying potatoes and had some fried chicken ready. Well there was a place which uses steam tables, but it is recommened to eat there when the food is fresher - closer to mealtimes, and it was already after 2 pm when we made it.

So now we have to figure out where to have dinner. That should be fun. There are two restaurants listed on our guide, so we will have to look for them.

Oh, remember that I told you this was the safest place in Central America? Well as we were walking down the street, there were two women ahead of us. Suddenly a young man ran up to one of them, then grabbed her necklace from around her neck then ran off, while she reached up to her neck, yelled Puta - whore - and yelled. Then several people made after him while he jumped on his getaway vehicle - his friend was waiting in the street with a bike with those pegs that stick out for a passenger to stand on on the back wheel. We don´t know whether they caught him because we didn´t wait to find out. So much for safety. But hey, no one drew a gun. The place feels much safer than San Miguel did last night, though.

Think Chinandega will only merit one night. We are off to Leon tomorrow for a couple of days and then will head off looking for a nice beach place soon that we can hang out at again to watch the surfers.