Monday night in Managua- no bucket needed!

THE Camino Real with Casino, Managua. A swimming pool, hot water in the shower and a toilet that doesn’t require a bucket flush is definitely a step in the right direction after my last few days.

  Monday morning,the alarm went off at 5am and 10 minutes later the hotel had a pot of coffee, warm bread with butter and jam waiting for my arrival on the dining deck. At 5:30 they paddled me and my gear over to the town dock in the hotel’s small kayak.

  Don Julio was waiting to see me off and helped me load my bags onto the boat when it arrived. Due to complications the night before the 6am fast boat had been taken out of service, so my ride was now the slow boat.

  As a result I just missed the 8am to Managua. Not wanting to wait for the 11:15, I boarded a bus marked as heading for Juigalpa.5 punishing hours late they had me get off the bus 10km south of Juigalpa since the bus was, in fact, heading for El Rama- about 60 km due east. With the first 20km of the trip being potholes linked by rocks sticking up and the next 50 odd being mud gravel and the odd bit of crushed stone, I was more than glad to find myself standing by the side of the road for a while.

  To cut a long story short, I eventually got to Juigalpa where I had lunch, photographed the impressive town square and cathedral, took some shots of the hills northeast of town then tried to hop a bus to Boaco, a town an hour north.

  With no buses coming through town marked for Boaco, I gave up and hopped a bus to Managua, getting out on the airport road by this hotel some 14 hours after I got up.

  After relaxing in the bar for an hour while checking a weeks worth of e-mails, I had a spaghetti dinner, did some laundry and made plans for the next week and a half.

  My hope is that tomorrow I will catch an express bus for Ocotal, the most northerly town of any significance. Based on what I see there, I will slowly make my way back south taking in Somoto, Esteli, Jinotega, Matagalpa and maybe Boaco before heading back through Managua and down, once again to Granada.