Tuesday 7th August
Up at 5:30am (ouch), just a cheese sandwich for breakfast because the kitchen hadn't opened yet, and on the bus by half past six. Thankfully it was our private air conditioned mini bus, and I managed to sleep for a while. We had a long drive to the coast, where we got our passports stamped (bye bye El Salvador) and boarded a boat that would be our means of entry into Nicaragua.
Augusto had already warned us that the border crossing into Nicaragua can sometimes be difficult, and had photocopied our passports and sent papers ahead several days ago to try and ease the process. Unfortunately a Canadian woman and three Belgians who were also on our little boat had managed to make a few mistakes, so we got so far out into the water and then had to turn back SEVERAL times so that someone could wade back and forth in the water with their passports trying to get missing stamps and sorting out various problems. We also had to go back once or twice for some unknown reasons, too. Sometimes, we just had to sit in the water off shore and wait - no one was sure what for.
Once we finally got going on the boat, we got quite wet. The wind was really strong and we were splashed quite a lot by the waves, so I spent most of the journey with my eyes shut unfortunately. Our backpacks were already safely secured under a large tarpaulin, but we were also given bin liners to put our smaller bags and valuables into. We had a good laugh as the Belgian man attempted to WEAR his, making a hole for his head in the top and fashioning a kind of black straight jacket. Haha.
We were apparently about two hours late when we stopped at a small island for lunch, but for some reason the people there claimed not to know anything of our reservation and had no food prepared, so we moved straight on without eating. More time on the boat, until we arrived at a small beach. We then had to wait until the Nicaraguan border control decided we could get out, and because of the lack of a pier we had to wade to shore. It felt like we were refugees in some weird film scene, emerging from the water with our bags held high. (Thankfully someone else brought our backpacks to shore - I don't think I could've lifted it above my head.) It was the strangest entry into a country I think I'll ever have.
More waiting, then finally our passports were stamped, we paid our entry fees, and next was the bag inspection. Augusto had warned us that sometimes they have made people take literally everything out of their bags, but was hoping that this time they might just ask one of us to do this. Instead, they had each of us stand by our bags, open them, had a little poke around and then said "okay".
We got onto our new bus - just benches in the back so were riding sideways, sadly without air con - and off we went again. Shortly after this we hit a chicken; seeing it spinning as we continued down the road wasn't a nice sight. Cue lots of "why did the chicken cross the road" jokes...
We stopped briefly at a petrol station and bought a few snacks, on the understanding that we would eat when we arrived in Leon. This was at about 4:30pm. Little did we know that ahead lay blocked roads due to some kind of protest involving the sugar cane farmers. We hit a traffic jam, and were at a standstill for the next five hours. Dear me. I read until it got dark, played a few games with Natasha and chatted, but all in all it was pretty dull. We finally arrived at the hotel at about 10pm, hungry but all too tired to go out to a restaurant to eat, so we all went straight off to bed. I felt quite ill once up in our room, but I expect that's just from not eating.
All in all, not the best day, but at least we're in Nicaragua now!
Monday 6th August
A free day by the pool? Yes please.
It was so nice to know that today was purely for relaxing. It almost felt like a "regular" holiday - nice for a day or two in between things, but personally I couldn't do this every day for two weeks.
Breakfast was included at this hotel, and I chose french toast. It was beautiful, and came with as much maple syrup as I wanted. YUM. Freshly squeezed orange juice and green tea, too. I made use of the free wifi to Skype Philip and then everyone in Scotland too, which was really nice.
After that it was bikini time, and I fell into a cycle of reading and dozing on my sun lounger and having a dip in the pool every now and then to cool off.
Eventually, after three hours or so we were all feeling quite hungry, so we got lunch at the hotel. The eating area is right next to the pool under cover, and I was a little bothered by the wasps and flies (they seem to target me particularly!) but I managed to have a sandwich, a few chips and another strawberry drink. I went back on Skype, then had a quick shower before meeting Augusto at 5.
He took us on a walk around the town. There wasn't much to see - mainly cobbled streets and non-descript buildings - but he told us a bit of the history including the recent civil war that killed more than 50% of the population. Part of an aircraft was displayed in the park as a reminder, I think. We went to the main square and I managed to get my El Salvador Christmas decoration and flag patch (our stay here is so brief I didn't think I'd get either) plus a pretty little box.
After that we had pupusas for tea - I had spinach, mushroom and bean-filled ones - before going back to the hotel.
Sunday 5th August
A meagre breakfast of Quaker Oat biscuits and we were on board our mini bus by 8am for a day of driving. Thankfully it's both private and air conditioned, so there's quite a bit of space to spread out and it's relatively cool. I managed to sleep and read to pass the time.
In between driving we had lots of border crossings. Augusto had already explained that due to some problems with the roads it would be better for us to reenter Guatemala and then drive to our destination in El Salvador that way, rather than trying to get there directly from Honduras. This meant more stamps at the Guatemalan border but none for El Salvador, for some reason.
We didn't reach our hotel until about 4pm. Along the way we stopped a few times: once at a basillica, and next at a shopping mall for lunch. (Subway sandwich - not exactly sampling the local cuisine but it was nice all the same.) Our final stop was at the site of a volcano eruption which occurred in 650AD. While tractors were digging they discovered some buildings preserved under layers and layers of ash - it turned out there was a village underneath, a bit like Pompei. There wasn't a great deal to see expect for the structures of the buildings, but it was quite interesting reading about it in the museum. By the time Augusto arranged for a woman to guide us around the excavation sites, though, I think I'd started to react to the caffeine in my drink - I'd bought what I thought was a cold raspberry drink at the shopping mall but it had turned out to be iced raspberry coffee, and I'm not used to coffee - because my mosquito bites were driving me CRAZY. I couldn't concentrate on what the poor woman was saying at all.
Once we were back in the van I dug around in my bag for an antihistimine and then tried to go to sleep. By the time I woke up I felt a lot better, and we were at the hotel in Suchitoto, El Salvador.
I think this hotel is just a rest stop to break up long journeys, really, as there doesn't seem much to do in Suchitoto. The hotel is nice though, and seems popular with the locals. There is a gorgeous view of the lake, and a pool I'm looking forward to using tomorrow.
Once we arrived, some time after 4pm, I didn't really do much except Skype/Facebook etc. and rest in my room until tea. We ate in the hotel at 7, and mine was a little disappointing (bowl of mash with a few mushrooms, brocolli and melted cheese on top) but the drink was nice (strawberries blended with ice). Pretty tired from the journey, we all had an early night.
