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I forgot to tell you the tale of our armed police raid on a bus the other day! Of course it's always a bit daunting when a Brit sees a gun as we are just not exposed to the in the UK but when they are so close to you - scary! So firstly, as were putting our bags on the bus, there was a security guy with a hand-held scanner. The guy in front of me pulled out a revolver (yep, seriously!) and handed it over. My first thoughts were that surely there were going to take it of him and out it in the hold or something but oh no, they checked it was empty of bullets (yeah, what about his pockets and his bag?) and then taped it up and gave it back to him. Great! What happens if he goes a bit whacko halfway through the journey?! Anyway, this was on the 1st bus we went on that had loads of legroom (ample place to duck down if necessary!) but no aircon so it was like a sauna. We were a few hours into the journey when we pulled over outside a petrol station. The young guy who was like the conductor suddenly called out to a police truck which then sped over to the bus and screeched to a halt (it seriously was this dramatic!). The next thing, 4 policemen got on the bus all wielding huge AK47s. Bloody great. They charged to the back of the bus where there was a bit of a commotion (I didn't really want to stare too much as not sure what the penalty for looking on is!) and then 2 guys got off and lay on the ground and were searched. In the meantime, the 4 policemen searched the luggage racks at the back and also under all of the seats where these guys had been sitting. Then the blokes finally got back on the bus (giggling) and off we went again. I can only assume it was suspected drugs but part of me just doesn't want to know what the conductor thought he saw - seemingly something worth getting the police involved for! Yikes!
Something else I forgot to mention was that last week as we were driving from Rio Dulce, we were about 10 minutes out of town when we saw a police cordon by the side of the road. Behind it? Oh, nothing other than the decapitated body of a murder victim! Lovely! Welcome to Central America!
Anyway, onto nicer things! After we left Roatan we headed on a fairly tough bus journey to Tegucigalpa. Considering it's the capital city, there is nothing there apart from slums and windy roads and the taxi drivers clearly go to training school in either Indonesia, Egypt or India. For the first time in a long time (I think the last time was India), I feared for my life while driving. They would do handbrake turns around corners, just fly across junctions without looking and swerve past all of the other traffic - scary! We all agreed to go to a modern western shopping mall in the evening for a mooch around and some dinner which was a good move I think (except we had to take taxis to get there!) so, for my sins, I ended up in TGI Fridays. Back at the hotel, I had a new roommate (engineered by both of us as we weren't happy with our current situation). Another Australian, Leanne.
We left at sparrow's fart on Saturday morning and travelled for about 12 hours before we reached Granada in Nicaragua. This was after a 2 hour hold-up at the Honduran border as one of our group had not received an entry stamp into Guatemala (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua all share some kind of immigration agreement so you only get a stamp when you enter one of those countries and leave the very last one - weird I know!). He had to repeat how and when he had entered Guatemala and Honduras and finally got through by paying a fine (read bribe) of US$150 which is 50% of the average national wage.
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and half the population live in the capital (know where it is? It's Managua). It's a country that has experienced a lot of military dictatorships and, weirdly, it declared war on Germany during WWII (Eh? Never learned that in my history lessons!). Despite its political instability, during the 1960s and 70s, Nicaragua was one of the region's most developed nations until 1972 when a major earthquake destroyed 90% of Managua. The demise began when the president syphoned off relief money to pay for government homes and refused to rebuild Managua (what a nice man). Despite revolutions, coups, huge debts and arguments with most of the world, Nicaragua is now officially a democratic republic but still desperately poor. It's still thought of as a trouble spot but according to most reports, it's now the safest country in Central America!
We arrived in Granada for 3 nights and it was absolutely pouring down so didn't look that great. To add to that misery, I had been slowly getting sick for the last 24 hours - just run down I think, probably spurred on by so much diving. So, armed with pills, tissues and Vicks, I missed dinner, watched a film and had an early night.
Granada is Nicaragua's oldest colonial city, known as the "Great Sultan". It lies on the edge of Lake Nicaragua and, although pretty tiny, is a nice little place! On Sunday I was feeling marginally better so after a lie in, Leanne and I went for breakfast (trying, but failing, to find somewhere that hadn't been hit by football fever - today, of course being the World Cup Final). We then had a wander round the town and went up the bell tower for a view of the city and lake. Fairly lazy day really which is nice to have once in a while in between manic travelling days.
Late afternoon, we took a trip to Masaya Volcano which was described by the Spaniards as the "gates of hell". It has 3 craters, 2 of which haven't erupted in several hundred years but one erupted in 2001. Despite being fairly tame, Masaya continually emits sulphur dioxide so it looks like it is smouldering as the gases come out of the crater in huge plumes of smoke (also smells very eggy!). Still no volcanic experience has beaten Tanna on Vanuatu in terms of danger or amazing view but we walked to the 3 craters which was nice to finally get a bit of exercise after being cooped up in buses for so many days. Apparently the sunset is beautiful up there but as it was really cloudy we saw diddly squat. Next stop was to don our hard hats and torches and head to the bat caves (dinner dinner dinner dinner!! K'Pow!) which are actually lava tubes or tunnels (remember the ones in Galapagos?). Once in about 90m, the smell of guano was horrible (and my nose is blocked so goodness knows what it really smelled like!) and there were hundreds of bats flapping past our ears. The guide made us turn off our lights so it was pitch black. The noise of their screeching and their wings was very eerie and a few times some of us got brushed by a wing or two.
On Monday morning we went out to Las Isletas by kayak. Leanne and I decided to go in a twin one which ended up being much harder work as the boat was much heavier than the single ones. Arms of steel! This area is home to around 350 small islands formed 10,000 years ago by an erupting volcano nearby. It was nice and relaxing (well, apart from the manic paddling!) and felt good to get some exercise. The rest of the day was pretty lazy - leisurely lunch and a siesta! I'm finding it much easier these days to be able to sit and do nothing - as long as I have a book, internet or shops/cafes nearby (ok, ok, I'm getting there, albeit slowly!).
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Michelle Knox Well by comparison Venezuela will be a breeze......so would you recommend this tour? Still not sure if I will do Central America before I return to Aus for Christmas.