Today was an incredibly long day. Woke up at 3:30 am and was at the bus station around 4:20 am. Sadly the line up for the bus was moving incredibly slowly, even though there was only about 10 people. And to add to the adventure there was only one man working and he was operating at full speed. Unfortunately for those of us who arrived “late” those who reserved their bus tickets needed to “check in”. This meant that those of us who still needed a ticket were pushed to the back and had to wait. I got my ticket at exactly 5:01 am and although it was unnecessary to sprint for the bus, it was a nerve wracking moment waiting for a ticket and thinking I may miss that bus! However my travel buddy and I ended up with the final two proper tickets and made it just in time for the bus.
The bus ride itself was fairly uninteresting, other than the sleep I tried to catch up on and the incredible views of the passing country. Our first stop was at 9:20 am in Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras. We spent a grand total of 20 minutes in Tegucigalpa before heading South again. Our border crossing was equally smooth and all we had to do was go through the Nicaraguan customs, which really wasn’t an issue. Plus it was nice to get off the bus again and stretch our legs.
I will say that I think I fell in love with Nicaragua at first sight. Something about this land and this place is completely magical. Granted I could also just be sleep deprived. Either way, I was immediately put at ease here. The disappointment however was that we arrived in Managua too late to take the last bus to Rivas. Instead I spent an hour of my precious time debating with my fellow travelers about whether we thought we should try to negotiate with a taxi (who originally wanted $100 US to get from Managua to Rivas). We also looked at some of the “hostels” nearby, which I’m not going to lie were fairly ghetto.
We finally found a taxi driver who agreed to take me and Janice to Rivas as well as two other Canadians we met on our bus to Granada. Janice and I paid $20 each to get to Rivas, which considering the hour was likely a unbelievable price. We made a quick stop at a gas station for some food, which included two apples for me and hot dogs for everyone else. I was incredibly happy to eat something fresh after the other meals I had had today.
During our drive we shared our opinions on places we had traveled too and our lives. The two guys happened to be from Vancouver and had traveled to India last year. Perhaps the most entertaining conversation was when they revealed that the interesting part about traveling to India is that you will see people literally shit on the street. He said that when he first landed he was walking down a street in Delhi when this man pulled his pants and went to his business. This guy started to stare and almost laugh when apparently the guy turned to look at him and gave him a stare of “what are you looking at?” Which admittedly is not typically something that Canadians are used too, yet is the sort of travel story that is hilarious for its absurdity.
Our driver, Orlando, didn’t quite know Rivas and he ended up inadvertently driving us to San Jorge. San Jorge is the jumping point for Isla de Ometepe and we were very fortunate to get a ride all the way there. We stayed at Hotel California and the man who worked there offered us a room at the price for only one person.
Janice and I got situated and ended up watching some of Return of the King before we fell asleep.
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