Tegucigalpa to Managua

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After Roatan we headed south to the capital, Tegucigalpa. Nothing really special here, just somewhere for us to get a direct bus to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. One of the good things here was that we got to go to the cinema, a rare treat; the films were in English and only cost 75p!

Once again, we took the easy option of getting the first class bus, just to avoid the hassle of 4 busses and the grief of another border crossing! It cost $20 for a 7 hour journey, had we done it the hard way it could have cost $8, and probably taken twice the time, always worth the extra cost!

We weren’t expecting much from Managua as it’s just a jump off point for other places. We heard that it was a dodgy place and we had to make sure we had our wits about us and not take our eyes off our bags. We stayed around the corner from the bus station, at the Hospedaje El Molinito, dingy, hot and overpriced. The owner advised us not to walk anywhere and only travel by taxis as the area isn’t safe for tourists, a nice welcome to the country! Because it was a new country we had to go to the bank for some local money, we got a taxi to the local shopping centre, went to the bank, grabbed some fast food and went back to our room. That was all we saw of Managua as the next morning we caught a bus to Leon in the north.

We didn’t like the feeling of not being able to do what we wanted, at first we thought the owner was just being overly cautious and wanted to give some business to the local taxi owners. Our minds changed when we saw some of the areas the taxi drove through, very dodgy, I wouldn’t have liked to walk through them. so were very thankful.

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Photos

Cute kid selling smiles for money!
Managua might of not been the best place but the kids were still cute!