Up at 2am to catch the 330 bus out of La Ceiba. I slept like shit due to my cold but it doesn't really matter when you're only sleeping for 5 hrs anyways. The bus actually left at 315, not sure how that works. We were on a bus that's a step down from Hedman Alas but in no way a chicken bus. I took my cold pills and passed out for most of the uneventful trip.
We had to transfer in Tegucigalpa, the capitcal of Honduras, and let me tell you that place is a shithole. We got out of the bus to the chaos in the streets. Then Andy noticed our bus driver was openly carrying a hand pistol in the streets, then notice another dude had a pistol on him. We needed to get the fuck out of there. We jumped in a cab and headed for King Quality, the only bus leaving for Managua, Nicaragua in the afternoon. We got there and they told us the bus was sold out. Holy shit, what the hell do we do now? There aren't other buses to Nicaragua in the pm and we can't stay in this city. Lizze told us 9 people were killed in one day and I can see that happening. I was concerned, I had exhausted my Spanish and they spoke no English. After several incoherent sentences, the lady handed me a card w/ the name of another busline to Nicaragua. Success! I can understand enough of their directions for us to walk out in the ghetto and we were off.
We turn the corner and see the buses. We have luck! As we near the bus I'm asking "a Managua" and they are saying "si, si" so we get in a bus and have no idea where it's going. At this point it doesn't matter because we need to get out of this city. I keep asking him wher we are going and I don't really understand him because the place he is saying sounds like 3 other places on the map. At this point I'm pretty sure we are heading in the right direction. They handed out barf bags, oh this is going to be an interesting ride. We eneded up in Choluteca where we transfered to a minibus to Guasaule. Our minibus had to stop twice along the way to put water in the radiator. I didn't think we were going to make it. I was getting nervous again because I knew the border closed at a certain time and I had no idea what we'd do if this minibus broke down in the middle of nowhere. It's going on 4 and we've only eaten two small bags of combos. I didn't care I just wanted to get out of this country.
Loney Planet didn't have good things to say about Guasaule and they were right. We were immediately bounced on by dudes wanting to exchange our money. The minibus guy put our bags in a bicycle tuk tuk. I said no I can walk, they showed me their official badge and said it was free. OK, this is a weird way to be taken to the border. I was in one and Andy was in the other. I got to the immigration office first and waited for Andy for a while. I was concerned because my driver said he was w/ the officer. Holy shit what is he getting into now. It turns out the police stopped Andy and made him take everything out of his bag. The officer wasn't treating Andy very well, but he let him pass.
We were stamped out of the country after the dude told me we had to pay. I knew we didn't and they we left us alone. Back in the bicycle tuk tuk and they took us across the bridge to the Nicaragua side. Along the way I asked if many people from the US come this way and he said never. Go figure. We paid our $12 each to get into the country and all was well. Andy and I decided we would be nice and tip our drivers since he worked so hard. When they dropped us off they wanted $20 each! WTF! They are insane and no way in hell were they getting that. Andy wasn't having it either, we gave them a tip and put in on the ground and we walked away. Apparently it was free to the immigration but not the rest of the way. Assholes.
Back in the minibus for Chinandega and then another one for Leon. We were so happy to be in Nicaragua, too many stressful moments in Honduras. It's amazing how the atmosphere changed once we crossed the border too. There was no trash on the side of the road, no potholes, people we out being social. Yes I'm glad to be here. Back in the bicycle tuk tuk to get to out hostel. The dude doesn't know where ours is so we end up at Lazybones. Not bad, they have a pool I'm not getting in. We've had a rough day so we sign up for the private room. We dropped our bags and headed out for food. It's now 7:15pm, we've been traveling for 16 hours w/o food and little water because I had to hold my pee since 10am. I wonder why I have kidney issues. Leon is amazing. It's fun, people are out, I don't feel like someone is going to pull out a gun on me, I can relax here. Funny how things work out sometimes. It's been a long day, I'm ready to retire.
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