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Published: March 25th 2011
We headed out this morning without a shower. I still feel clean from the multiple showers a day at PBR. Plus, shared showers are not my fav.
We went on the search for Baleadas. Since today is our last day in Honduras & we've been told there aren't any in Nicaragua we have made that a priority. We sat in a little Comedor & had coffee (cup with saucer, love it!) & a baleada. Not as good as Mayra's on Jewel Cay but I can't imagine any will ever hold up to hers.
Then we began our search for a cigar factory. Danli is supposedly the town in Honduras known for cigars. However, after asking different people & being pointed in different directions & getting several looks like they had no idea what a cigar was, I wasn't so sure we were in the right place. Finally, after walking around in different directions for 45 minutes (while replenishing our needed shower supplies) a group of guys finally told me that we should really catch a cab to get to the factories because it was a healthy walk. I must say that asking for directions in Central America has been
a learning experience. I just don't know how people live somewhere without knowing where things are. Most people don't really travel outside their hometown & they don't ever refer to street names & often they don't seem to have any clue about the things their towns are "known" for. Danli is not a huge town & there were literally (once we found them) about 5 very large cigar factories all located on one street just on the edge of town. I literally asked 10 different people for directions & only the cab driver got us there. Still the most entertaining form of getting directions is that everyone, always & without fail, explains how to get somewhere by pointing & then telling you the number of blocks you need to walk. I've stopped asking for directions by street name (I just get weird looks) & now ask by number of blocks. Absolutely different. A social/cultural experience for sure.
Anywho, we made it to the cigar factory! Woohoo! It was well worth the journey for sure. The cigar factory was sooooo interesting. We walked through & watched the employees breaking up the different tabacco leaves & hand rolling the cigars &
compressing them into perfect tubes. It was super fun. Probably one of my favorite tours so far (& by tour I mean it was just the two of us & the manager who walked in front of us & just sort of stood by while we took pictures & I talked with employees). We made it to the back of the factory where we decided to buy a box of cigars. This is when we realized we didn't bring enough money with us to pay for them. When will we learn this lesson? Seriously getting a little tired of our inability to remember that we need thousands of whatever money we are using for these sorts of adventures. Gesch.
So, we left, caught a cab to our hotel, got money, had him take us back to the factory, wait for us, & take us back to our hotel. Too funny. We are dorks.
On the way back to the hotel (after the many back & forths) I asked the cab driver where we could get the best baleada in town. We needed to leave on a better note than our breakfast baleada. He stopped us at a stand
on the side of the road & said she made the best. We each had one (we bought him one for all his troubles & wait times) & he was right, they were delicioso!
This begins the next funny part of our adventure for the day. We boxed up some things we wanted to send home & put the cigars in the box. We went to the post office (already located that on our adventure around town) & the lady specifically asked if we had cigars in the box. Apparently, it's illegal to send them to the US. Not really a big deal but we had spent good quality time taping the box to send it home. So, back to the hotel, open box, remove cigars, retape with a lot of tape again. Back to the post office, mail box. Too funny. Back to hotel to pack & head out of town. 2 blocks directly down the road from us we waited at the gas station for bus to the Nicaraguan border town of Los Manos.
Of course while waiting for the bus we are approached by a drunk guy who speaks all the phrases he knows in
English to us & then stands there saying words that sound unlike any language we've ever heard. It is a pretty common experience for us. We usually just talk about the person in English right in front of them while they continue to say things like "how are you?", "ok!", "it's a good day," etc. The second most common occurrence at bus stops or while standing around in a town is that someone who speaks some English will want to have a conversation with us just to practice their English. We enjoy this & it's always fun. We met a young guy at the bus stop who spoke pretty decent English & (of course) asked us about our faith, God, church, our views about US society/culture/etc.
Our bus arrived & we were off to the border. Another childrens school bus from the US. They really are not comfortable on the booty. Mine was asleep within minutes it seemed. The bus ride from Danli to Los Manos was quick & simple. The border crossing into Nicaragua was the easiest & quietest yet. Nobody tried to sell us anything. Nobody followed us around talking to us. It was almost too easy.
We bought our first Tona, the Nicaraguan beer & enjoyed it while waiting for the bus. Our first Nicaraguan bus was another old kids school bus from Los Manos to Ocotal. In Ocotal we changed buses & had some little kids help us. It's kinda sad to see so many kids who don't go to school (in all the countries we've been in) but especially when they're working. We got off the bus, one of the kids grabbed my backpack (which is heavy & possibly taller than he was), asked us where we were heading, refused to let me carry my backpack & walked us to our next bus. We gave him some money, but it's still sad. Next bus was a nice big charter bus with reclining seats. It is so hot in this country so far. So so hot! We arrived in Esteli & had some fried chicken in the terminal, learned about the Tsunami/Earthquake/evacuations along the Pacific Coastline (because there was a tv with CNN Espanol) & caught another school bus to Matagalpa. The older guy in front of us was drinking a pint or two of rum & when he finished would just toss the
Tearing tobacco leaves.
To make 400 cigars a day!pint out the window. I just don't get how people don't care about the beauty of their own countryside. Anywho, after 6.5 hours of bus time we arrived in Matagalpa.
We got off the bus at the bus terminal, near the market, & as always one of the sketchier parts of town. (Just like home, bus terminals are not in the best parts of town). We walked a bit & finally were able to hail a cab. The cab driver was really nice & gave us his opinion on the things we should see in Matagalpa. After being dropped off at a hotel in town, which was full, we walked & stopped at 3 different places. 2 were full, 1 was gross, we finally found a decent place with our own bathroom. It's Saturday night & apparently people visit this city on the weekends. Oh well, we ended up at a nice place. The one thing I have immediately noticed about Nicaragua that is different from every other country in C.A. is that there are actually people out & about in the streets at night. It's refreshing to say the least. There is still almost nothing open after 6pm,
except places to eat, but it feels so much more like bustling cities when people aren't afraid to be out after dark. I hope it continues!
We're staying at Hotel Central. The guy who checked us in, Luis, recommended a restaurant down the road for dinner. We went there, had Tona & Cuba Libres, & a good dinner. It was a busy place filled with locals.
Always a good sign. Back to our hotel, a little internet time & off to bed.
So far, loving Nicaragua. Missing baleadas.... 😉
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