Nicaragua

After a harrowing journey through Honduras, Ryan and I made it just shy of the Nicaraguan border on Tuesday night. We stayed in a town who's name I can't remember, in a hotel named 'Hotel'. The guy who ran the place seemed so startled that there were actually customers that wanted to stay in his run down shack that he took us to his finest dwellings! What can I say about that room that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan..., definitely in the running for 'worst place we've stayed' award, and that says a lot. Anyhow, up at 5ish the next morning (mainly because it's hard to sleep with ants crawling on you) and shot across the border and right through to Leon by about noon. So far the locals (nicas) seem much friendlier than the Hondurans and although it's one of the poorest countries in the world, many actually seem to take pride in keeping their property tidy, the same can't exactly be said for most of the other parts we've been to. As luck would have it, we arrived in Leon on the eve of their biggest holiday, so there was a ton of activity and revelry. Firecrackers started at 6pm and went until 6am. Once in a while they would throw in the old air raid sirens that they still have from the war (although I dont know how much of a factor air superiority was for the contras, so maybe they were just warning sirens...). With those going off and a never ending barrage of massive explosions pounding through the city, it was easy to slip into malaria induced dreams of being stuck in the London Blitz. At one point the explosions were so loud and frequent, and the air raid siren so commanding, that I actually DID believe that maybe the city was under attack...some kind of Tet Offensive rip-off where Honduras decided to take advantage of their neighbour's festivities and seize some territory...but once again, much of this was heavily influenced by the malaria medication. This morning we headed out fairly early again, grabbed a colectivo to Managua then another for Grenada. Quite enjoyed the 3 hour trip through lots of cattle ranches. Arrived in Grenada at about 1:30 and grabbed a spot at the Oasis hostel. With the exception of our Sayulita stay, this is definitely the nicest place we've been. It's incredible, free internet, free movies, huge garden thing with hammocks, incredibly clean and a swimming pool (albeit a small one, but still). Ryan and I have agreed this will probably be the spot we hunker down and wait for Mr. Lush to find us. That's all for now!

Pictures! I put these on there mainly so you could compare our living accomodations. The top picture we have a beautiful shot of our shower in Utila. We were rather saddened by the loss of our friend, the rat, he had been with us since the beginning and not until the last day did he show up dead on the shower floor. So far the only suspect for this cowardly act is the giant spider that lived behind the toilet, perhaps some kind of bloody turf war the two were having finally boiled over? Actually, come to think of it, Mike, you're also a suspect, you hated that rat for some ungodly reason but were usually too scared to do anything yourself....
Second picture is our current hostel! Note the ornate railings and masonry work. Although it's twice as expensive as what we're used to paying (a staggering $6/night!), it's well worth the extra dough!