Out of Control

            Looking at the narrow colonial streets, terra cotta roofs and mist-covered tips of twin volcanoes in the distance reminds us of how happy we are to have made it to la pura vida de Nicaragua.

            Let us recount for you, if we may, our 72-hour, approximately 800 kilometer, and four bordered journey from Belize to Nicaragua.  From Punta Gorda, Belize, a sleepy Garifuna port town the locals call PG, we traveled one hour by open air boat through a rainstorm to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala. 

Slow to adjust back to Spanish and sopping wet, we were swept up with two kind travelers for a shared taxi to the Honduran border.  With a destination in mind but no real plan of attack, our newfound chaperones aided our pilgrimage from the dock in Puerto Barrios to San Pedro de Sula, Honduras.

            After sharing a cramped hotel room with our fellow travelers, we rose before dawn and from Central America’s largest bus terminal, we embarked on what would become a 13-hour, 600 kilometer journey.  

            After two movies about American firefighters (yes, two) we arrived in Nicaragua’s capital city, Managua, where a sizable portion of the surrounding neighborhood “greeted” us at the terminal with a mind to fill up the local accommodations and taxis.  Like sheep, we were herded to a mom and pop hostel where we sidestepped a crib to get to our room.

We managed to find a living room/comedor serving just what our stomachs had declared crave-worthy after a long journey—vegetarian spaghetti and vegetable curry (apparently favorite Nicaraguan dishes).  We returned to the ant farm which was our accommodation for the night and fell asleep to a dubbed epic starring The Rock—who is also, we can only surmise, a favorite Nicaraguan dish.

            The following morning greeted us with a short taxi ride to a very pushy microbus terminal where hasty drivers shepherded our bags, our wallets and our bodies into a bus before we could finish saying “Si, Granada”!  One short hour later, we arrived in pleasant, friendly and familiar feeling Ciudad de Granada.

Calle la Calzada, Granada

From the Bell Tower of La Merced

            COMING SOON!
Jordan turns 30—what will he do?  AND… Isla de Ometepe, volcanoes and Costa Rica.