Managua

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August 2 -

So the sleeping thing did not really work out last night. When I tried to sleep at 9:30, I knew I could only get six hours of sleep at a maximum, but I was still not tired enough so I just laid there for a while. Then the fan was just too loud, so I had to turn it off. Earplugs were out of the question in case I slept through my 3:30am wake up call. Not likely, but just in case. It didn't get too hot, so that was a plus. I slept a bit, but kept waking up. The last time was at 2:15am when I heard two guys talking and their tv on. They must have arrived late. By 2:45 I just decided to get up, work on my blog a bit, repack and watch some tv. Screw those guys if they could hear me. At 4am the taxi came and I was on my way to Ticabus. The bus left there at 5am and throughout the course of 13 hours I went through two border crossings, ate a bunch of cheetos and some goldfish, and tried my hand at peeing in a bus toilet (luckily it was stopped). I slept a little, read a lot and talked to my Hong Kong-born, Nicaraguan-living neighbor minimally. I was worried about arriving because I knew I would need a taxi and that I would most likely pay too much, but also because I had read about these express muggings that happen here where someone in the taxi holds you at knife point and makes you go from bank to bank to get your money out. I was so not looking forward to such an experience. Experience avoided. My taxi driver brought me somewhere, and when I asked if this was near the place I asked, he was like “Oh, I thought you wanted the other rotunda. That one will cost more, it's further away.” Douche. But in the end I didn't pay him more, so it was fine. The guesthouse is ok and I think I will stay here again on my last night before my flight, as it is in a good place from the airport. It even has Olympics on in English from the states. Sweet. I'll have to leave here early then, but I hear the woman packs a nice take-away breakfast, which is sweet. She also gave me a cold bottle of water when I arrived and confirmed that I could walk safely in the dark to a nearby mall for dinner. I can already foresee myself watching a movie there before my flight home (if it's subtitled). I'll even take Spideman. What is with this obsession to keep telling the same stories anyway? I see that there will even be a new Superman, Get some new heroes man. My new here will it seems be the girl from the movie Brave that I'm looking forward to. The only previews I've seen lately that look any good are from the cartoons. Tomorrow, Leon. I just watched Phelps win his 20^th medal. Amazing.

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