Isle del Tigre and crossing into Nicaragua

So that unexpected night in Nacaome, Honduras was a plast. Beacuse it took us an extra day to try to get to Isle del Tigre, my friends Paddo and Gaz decided they didn't have time to spare and had to move on for a three week deadline to get to Panama City. So that morning we all got up really early...6 am...guess who wasn't happy about that. Got on a bus to Jicaro Galan in hopes of finding Gaz and Paddo a Tica bus to get them into Nicaragua. The celebrity status continued as we walked to the buses. A short bus ride and off we get. The bus that Matt and I need is there and we should just hope on, but we are super extra nice people and we decided to help our friends who speak very little spanish find the bus. So guy says the Tica bus doesn't stop here, people get nervous....meaning Gaz and Paddo...and off in the distance i see a bus that looks like it could be a Tica bus, turns out it's King Quality...off we run down the street to where it went and Gaz and Paddo talk their way onto the bus. We say our sad goodbyes to our friends and then off we head to our own bus.

Isle del Tigre is in the Bay of Fronseco. This bay connects El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua by water.

So bus from Jicaro Galan to San Lorenzo and the another one to Coyolito where we catch a boat ride over to Playa Burro on Isle del Tigre. We find a place to stay for $15 dollars a night for the both of us and we settle in. Shows and lunch were a must!!! Then off for a nice walk around the island. We walked and walked and walked and then finally asked a group of ladies we pasted how much farther til we get to the main town. They told us we should take a tuk tuk and they hailed on as they were speaking. Off we go in the tuk tuk through the town and to the first spot to swim in the bay. It's the main peir which we should have been able to reach from La Union the previous day because there was immigration there, but oh well. We walk to the end of the pier/dock and hope in the water, which is pretty warm. A couple local kids start jumpong off the pier into the water. Matt decided to do a little showing off and did a swan dive off the pier. So this one kid decided to show off my climbing up to a higher part of the pier and jumped off from the sitting position. So off Matt went to show off and climbed up and did another swan dive but he stood from that spot. I would have climbed up there, but being over a foot shorter than the rest...i just couldn't reach :( The other kid climbed up and was too scared to jump off. Matt started telling the kid...Donde esta tus huevos??? Yeah..good times...even the other locals were giving the kid grief. Swim time over and back to Playa Burro. That night the power went out and we had dinner by candle light...I know how romantic!!! The fried fish was over fried, but i'll forgive them for that seeing as they were also cooking by candel light. Played some cards and went to bed. Super hot in the room, but had to close the door for the night. As soon as we turned out the lights, the fan started working...hurray for power!!!!!

Next morning decided to check out another spot to eat and hang out at and decided to head to Playa Grande. Had a super late breaky...or should I say slightly early lunch of fish. Walked on the beach a little and then went for a swim. We ended up swimming between 2 large groups of kids. Within minutes the kids from both sides had converged on us...it was like they had never seen a gringo before. We would look at them and they would back away and then we turned out backs and did it all over again. Matt started squiting them with water and they would scream and swim away...super fun. We taught them out to squirt the water with their hands, had chicken fights with them and Matt tossed them in the water. This little kid named Carlitos was a little monkey, climbing all over Matt. He was definitely the weakest in the bunch and seemed more like the outcast, so Matt had him on his shoulders and all the little girls were on mine. The kid won a bunch of chicken fights and was super happy. We played with them for a good hour and a half and then all of a sudden they started jumping out of the water and running and said good bye. It was great fun with the kids and then back we went to our side of the island. More cards that night...I taught Matt how to play Rummy and he is now addicted to trying to beat me. Not going to happen any time soon.

Next morning we decided before we left we would hike up to the top of the dormant Volcano we were on. The hike sucked!!! Straight up hill, nothing really pretty to see on the way up and super hot!!! We decided to keep hiking only for the satisfaction of making it to the top. The view was beautiful and we could see all three countries from one spot, but it was a little hazy. Back down the mountain, order lunch, pack our bags while waiting for lunch, chow some food and hope on a ferry back to Coyolito.

No on a bus headed back to San Lorenzo, another bus to the border crossing at Guasale. The bus drops us off and then we are bonbarded with people trying to take us across the border. One guy says he'll do it on a bike and we are sold. We sat in a little cart in the front of the bike with our bags underneath us and the surfboard on our laps. Good fun, the guy was nice. Paid our $7 each to get into Nicaragua and still didn't get a stamp or anything and then the guy dropped us off and we got on a Collectivo to Chinandega. So now I've border crossed by boat, by foot, by bus, by tuk tuk and by bike. What's next....hope there's a horse crossing in my future!!!

Having tons of fun!!! Wish you all could be here with me!!! Hugs and kisses for all!

---

Part of trip: El Salvador

---