Blogs from Northern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 4

So, 2 days later we finally made it to Leon. We unfortunately got waylaid in San Pedro Sula in Honduras for an extra day as the bus was full, which was annoying as we are getting a little pushed for time and it's not the nicest place in the world to be stuck (don't type it into Google). Leon is a nice town, colonial with a bit of grit and plenty of character. It is in the north of Nicaragua and is next to several volcanoes. One which is currently erupting and one which is the volcano boarding centre of the world. We stayed near the park central in a place called Via Via which had a nice little terrace area and was really well located. On our first night there we ended up meeting the ... read more

Roatan airport is a quiet place where small planes sit beside a short runway. When we are asked to board we walk across to a Czech turbo-prop. Eighteen seats and our little group are the only passengers. Effectively, a private plane to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras! A minibus then takes us to the Nicaraguan border and we change money again, lempira into cordoba. Nicaragua is known for having lots of active volcanoes and soon three volcanoes are spotted to the north. No smoke, no lava, they look totally benign. Leon is our first stop, home of the 1979 Sandinista revolution. A ramshackle museum is staffed by ex-revolutionary soldiers. Photos show Leon at war - rubble, ruins, gunmen and women posing for the camera with automatic weapons. Parallels between the photos and Syria and Ukraine today ... read more

Saturday morning. Up fairly early, pack and have my last divine little breakfast from the lady working the hostel. She's so cute. Like a grandmother. I want to hug her when I leave. This morning we have pancakes and they are amazing. I don't normally say this about pancakes. They aren't my thing. But the street food or the suspect Donne from the night before has left me not feeling so good. So on this morning pancakes are perfect! My ride arrives at 8:20 and I'm off on the next part of my adventure. Peter, an older Dutch man, talks my ear off on th way to the airport. He's been living in Granada for 17 years and is married to a Nicaraguan woman. He's quite interesting. It's an hour long car ride so I won't ... read more

===English version below=== We willen naar het noorden van Nicaragua, naar Matagalpa. Om daar te geraken moeten we via Managua, de hoofdstad. Niet meteen een plaats waar toeristen enthousiast onthaald worden. Zodra de bus ons afzet in de hoofdstad laten ons per taxi overbrengen naar de vertrekplaats van onze Matagalpa bus. Het blijkt Moederdag te zijn in Nicaragua. Iedereen wil op de bus. Wij hebben geluk, we hebben nog net een zitje. Onderweg stoppen we meermaals en net als je denkt dat er niemand meer bij kan proppen ze er nog 10 bij. Vrouwen brengen taart en bloemen mee. Die zullen er leuk uitzien tegen de tijd dat het bij hun moeder is. Als de bus even stopt kan je eten en drinken kopen door je arm uit de bus te laten hangen en straatverkopers reiken ... read more

Arriving in Nicaragua Landing on a black sand beach, hitching up your shorts to wade through the sea carrying your bags into a country feels a bit like sneaking in the back door, especially when the immigration office is a small hut in a tiny village staffed by a very relaxed man in a basketball vest. We had taken the option of the ferry from La Union in El Salvador to Potosi in Nicaragua across the Golfo de Fonseca, cutting out a 12 hour bus journey and two border crossings through Honduras. We had not heard many good things about Honduras and a few people had said that they didn’t feel safe there so we gave it a miss. The boat journey was sold to us by the Tortuga Verde hostel, which promised much ... read more