Jinotega, Nicaragua, April 7th

Wow! We are in Nicaragua, in a little town in the highlands, about 100 miles north of Granada. Since this is Semana Santa (Easter week), we have been trying to stay away from the populated areas to avoid high prices and scads of people. We are staying in a lovely, fantastic, what a surprise! little boutique hotel with terrific staff and a gourmet restaurant. We decided to give ourselves two nights here, since we were all suffering from too much travelling and too many border crossings. We will probably leave tomorrow for Granada.

To back up...we left Xela four days later than planned because Tommy came down with bronchitis. The hotel found a doctor, who made a hotel call and proscribed antibiotics and four days of bed rest. We left on Thursday, March 30th. Tommy, who had been imaging maneuvering the car out of the garage (for two weeks), had no trouble at all. As we drove south out of Xela, we saw the lush harvest gardens which supply organic produce to the USA, and nonorganic produce to the rest of Central America.

We chose to drive on CA 2 (not CA1, the Pan American Highway), which parallels the Pacific coast line. This road is in much better condition than CA 1, but we still endured tremendous traffic jams (for no apparent reason). Our last night in Guatemala, we camped in a water park (how about that Greg and KG!), which was set up for RVs and camper vans with electricity and water. They just forgot to tell us that the park and restaurant closed at 6pm, so we had a lovely dinner of crackers that night! (Once the park closes, the gates are locked and you are there for the night.)

The next day, we crossed into El Salvador. The crossing, even though we hired someone to help us, took much longer than expected (about 2 hours) so we were a bit late finding a place for the night. We ended up in a town called Acajutla, which is on the Pacific Ocean but could only find one hotel with secure parking, our primary concern. Although right on the ocean, this hotel was a true shit hole, so we slept in the van and were careful not to use any of the facilities. Repulsive. This next morning we were encouraged to leave by 9am, so that the hotel could rent out its rooms to beach goers.

With such an early start, we decided to take the guidebook recommended Ruta das Flores, a road going up into the mountains. It was beautiful and cool, and so lovely that we stayed in a little hotel in the middle of a coffee plantation. We had our own cabana, complete with hammocks on the porch. It rained during the night...our first rain since we left California! What a terrific little stop!

Our third night in El Salvador was in Zacatecoluca, a rather miserable, though lively, market town. In order for us to pull through the driveway into the parking area, the owner had to move his taxi and open the rubber curtain across the driveway. The van and TwoBaby were great curiosities to the owner´s kids. The local bank was also the internet cafe. This was located right on the main square, which was surrounded with market stalls selling food and everything else imaginable. Our hotel had cable TV, so Tommy watched the final game of the NCAA tournament (sorry about your team, Greg!).

The next day we stopped at Playa El Cuco, where we had planned to stay at a beach resort. Unfortunately for us, the resort had doubled its prices due to Semana Santa so we continued down the road til we found a small sign for quartos. The rooms were disgusting so we talked the owner into letting us camp in the van, under palm trees, about 100 yards from the ocean. It was magical, complete with ceviche for lunch and fresh fish for dinner, both prepared by the owner´s wife. Again, we were the curiosity of the day to the local kids and chickens and turkeys, which were wandering around the property. The property itself was huge, with palm trees and three medium sized dwellings, disgusting as they were. And it was right on the ocean. We asked the price of such a property, and were told it would be about $250,000US. Not that we want to live there!

On Wednesday, 4 April, we crossed from El Salvador into Honduras at El Amatillo. This border crossing, no matter which way you are going, has the worst reputation in Central America. It is hot, it is slow, it is expensive, it is absolutely horrible. We hired a guy with a Michigan shirt to help us, but even so it took us almost 3 hours and $100US to get into Honduras. The guy with the Michigan shirt had lived in the US for about twelve years before he was deported (we were too chicken to ask him what he did).

About 60 miles from the border, we found a brand new motel (two weeks old!), complete with huge swimming pool, a bar and a restaurant. We had to stop. The people here were extraordinarily helpful and friendly. This was the first place with satellite TV (previously TVs had been cable), and it was amazing how many US channels were available (not that there was much interesting to see). During the night we lost electricity and the TV, due to a terrific rain storm, complete with thunder and lightning. Fortunately, the electricity came back on after about 20 minutes, so we didn´t suffer in the heat and humidity. During our 24 hours, or so, in Honduras we were stopped by four security/border patrols, and one which asked to see our emergency triangles. Oops...no where to be found in the van! (The question is, how can you sell a $25,000 van and not include triangles). The cop said we would have to return to Choluteca (about 60 miles westward) to pay the fine. We must have looked so pathetic that he finally let us go (no bribes). We stopped the first possible place and bought the two required triangles.

And then on Thursday, we crossed the border into Nicaragua. Our guide, Carlos, ran around, getting all our papers signed and bribes paid (yes, we are not too proud to pay the border bribes!), so the whole process only took about an hour. We headed eastwards, towards Esteli, which sounded great in the guidebook. It wasn´t so great, but we needed a place to stay since it was getting late in the day. We rejected the best local hotel, and went to the best restaurant, which was on a hill, overlooking the town. We talked the restaurant owner into letting us camp near his restaurant. This area was patrolled by his security guard, so we felt safe and were happy to get to our van after a good dinner. The guard said something about us having to leave early in the morning but we told him we were leaving at 9am. WRONG! At 5 am, he pounded on our doors, saying we had to leave because his boss would be coming soon. Arguing didn´t help...he had the gun (he didn´t point it at us, we just knew we was in the position of power). Obviously, I need more Spanish lessons to find out where our communication with the restaurant owner went wrong.

So, we were up early with no real plan. We head up into the highlands to the "City of Mists", Jinotega, which is about 100 miles north of Granada, and found this terrific hotel which allowed us to check in at 9am in the morning! Also staying at this hotel, is a youngish Texan, who is developing a first world style subdivision (urbanization) near here. The houses are much cheaper than Panama and Costa Rica, and he said that sales were great. Could be bullshit, but maybe not. It is lovely up here, and the Nicaraguans we have met have been so nice and friendly with lots of smiles. Yesterday we went for a drive to the lake and were stopped by the cops, who asked to see our papers. Oh shit! This was the one time we didn´t have them with us because we had unburdened ourselves of all that stuff and left them (inadvertently) at the hotel. After lots of explaining, the cop smiled and let us go on. Lucky, weren´t we.

We wanted to tell you about "Auto Hotels", which we have seen all through Central America but mostly after we left Guatemala. At first we thought that these were like North American motels. However, after looking a bit more closely and reading about these auto hotels, we realize that they are not motels as we know them. Picture a cinderblock courtyard, with about 10 to 20 one car garage type openings. There is a curtain across each opening. Apparently, you drive into this garage opening, the curtain is closed and you and your honey have the privacy to do whatever you want. Some of these places look quite desparate, and some look very fancy, and they all charge by the hour.

So many of the people we have met have been deported from the US, after living and working there for years. One gets a whole different feeling about "illegal immigration" into the US after travelling in these parts. So many of these immigrants are the main financial support for their families. In fact, 15% of El Salvador´s GNP is due to funds sent by the immigrants. That was one reason that El Salvador now uses the US dollar as its currency.

Time to go....talk to you soon!