53 Days

Back from Costa Rica safe and sound!  We got back into Tegus today around 12:30pm and after 2 full days of traveling we were ecstatic to see the bus station and the busy, dirty city as we hopped off of the bus.

I'll tell you about the first few days and then safe the rest for later.  The trip lasted nine days: 4.5 traveling and 4.5 on vacation.  I'd say this is a pretty unbalanced trip, but it was definitely worth it. 

We'll go one day at a time.  That way, I'll be sure to include all of the details from each day.  Each day was different, but very fun.  I hope you enjoy reading. 

Jess and I managed to pack all of our stuff in one suitcase!

Saturday: Our bus was supposed to leave at 9am, but we ended up sitting around the bus station for a couple hours instead.  So at 10:30am we pulled out of the city and started on our way to Managua, Nicaragua.  The bus we took was pretty nice: bathroom, tv and air conditioning.  Going across the border wasn't too bad in Nicaragua.  The bus company takes everyone's passport and customs form to speed along the process.  We have to take all of our luggage out so that it can be "checked", although once they saw the color of our skin they passed us right along without even looking at our bags.

Kristi was my bus buddy

Not sure what this was for?

We arrived in Managua around 7:00pm starving.  Kristi had reserved us a room for the night at a nearby hostel, but we were unsure of exactly how to get there.  As we walked out of the bus station carrying all of our luggage, a sweet Nicaraguan lady held a piece of paper with "Kristi Kerekes" written on it.  She was there to show us exactly where to go.  We hauled our stuff and followed her for about a 20 second walk to our hostel.  It was on the exact same block as the bus station, which was really nice since we had to leave at 5am on Sunday morning. 

My bed for the night

Kristi posing...the yellow room beside her was the bathroom.

Excited to be off of the bus for a little while!

The hostel ended up being her family's house, and although that area is not particularly safe, I felt very secure staying with their family.  After we got our stuff settled and locked up in our rooms, we headed out to get some dinner.  We walked a couple of blocks and found a little place that served pretty typical Central American food.  Some had fish and rice and beans, but I opted for chicken.  Overall, a good dinner.  Our table was right beside the road, and Matt made a friend who was "patrolling" the street.  We had a little bit of food leftover, and he gobbled it all up. 

After dinner, we were all beat, so we headed back to the hostel, showered up, and hit the sack. Somehow, sleeping on the road is never quite as satisfying as sleeping in a bed.  One day in and halfway to our Caribbean destination!