Crossing borders

Hola Amigos,
Another freaking fabulous day in Central America. Today I am writing from San Salvador!
We celebrated our last night with amazing pizza, beers and margaritas. We left Nicaragua at 3:30am on Thursday the 10th. We bussed to the border at Guasale, 2 and a half hours, and watched the last Nica sunrise from the bus which was breathtaking. The border was easy so early in the morning with not too many touts trying to tell you that you need their help. It cost 2 dollars US to leave Nicaragua, and 3 dollars US to enter Honduras. It was a little frusterating since we were low on cash and there were no banks anywhere. At least there were moneychangers around. The border officials were great, which they always are. We walked across the space between Nicaragua and Honduras which we dubbed "The line on the map." The young boys at the Honduran entrance were incredibly intriuged by my tattoos. They were young and giggly (and had guns) and let us by without a fuss. We then took a minibus for 27 lempiras ($1.50) to Choluteca, the largest town in the south of Honduras. We got on another bus (41 lempiras) to the border El Amatillo, at El Salvador, I met Walter, 39 year old Honduran fellow on the bus and we shared chips and he bought me some water. It was hard to converse as my spanish isnt very good, neither was his english. The El Salvadorian border was a breeze, with officials in actual uniforms helping you along. No cost to exit Honduras or enter El Salv. We needed to get to the first town possible with what little money we had left so we took a bus to Santa Rosa. El Salvador uses US currency, and the bus cost a dollar. We were all frantic to find a bank and after walking to about 5, we were all a little bitchy that we couldnt find an ATM. We finally found one that worked for us, and Greg decided to go across the street to the Scotiabank, which ended up eating his card. I really felt for him since he was trying to be so positive all day. We tried to explain in spanglish to the teller about the card but it was of no use as the security guard said they would need a technician to open the machine. Bon Voyage Coastcapital bank card.

We got some food in us and REALLY had to pee after 7 hours of travelling. We discovered there were no working public toilets in the town (it had no plumbing), which was fine for the boys but us ladies were suffering badly. We walked by a hardware store and I desperatley asked the lady working if she knew of a bathroom. She led me to the back of the store to use hers. YES! RELIEF! I tried to give her 25 cents but she laughed and said no way. She motioned for us to stay a few minutes and pointed to the sky. About 30 seconds later the thunder and lightning came for about 25 minutes. The rain was so hard the streets looked like rivers. She pulled some chairs out on to the covered deck in front of her store and we sat and enjoyed the rain. After a frantic day of travel it was very relaxing to just sit.

We got on the next bus, bus number 5 of the day. It was a beautiful old greyhound bus and we were the first ones on it. The fellow told us it was $1.25 which we thought must be a mistake since it was playing movies and had air-con and was nicer than any bus back home. Slowly we got going to San Miguel and the bus started to fill up. It really did only cost $1.25. We met a fellow, Carlos on the bus, who told us we werent going to get to our destination that night. He told us he knew of a good place to sleep that was cheap and safe. We then shared some cashews and I fell asleep. We arrived and checked into our hotel but were all wayyy too tired to do anything. We watched a couple movies and fell asleep around 9pm.

This morning we woke up and Carlos showed us the Mercado where we ate good cheap breakfasts. We decided to spend the day in San Salvador since we were tired of busses. Carlos told us it was a good idea and asked if we had heard about the Earthquake tsunami in Japan. We hadnt but turned on the CNN bulletin after breakfast and noticed they were speaking to the Presidents of Chile, Ecuador, and El Salvador. They said to expect a 2m rise in water levels between the next 24-48 hours so I guess the subconcious decision to stay in the city overnight was a blessing. We caught the bus, 2.5 hours to San Salvador (5$) and then into a cab to the Blvd de los Heroes, the safe university district of San Salv. We got to a nice little place called La Estrancia and the woman, Doña Ana, opened the gate and said "Welcome home!" It definetly felt like the right place to be. Hot water, free water, TV, cheap dorm beds (although more expensive than Nicaragua).
We went to this little burger van called Mayaburguer, recommended by my amiga, Madison, which was amazing. A big mac replica only better for $1.75. El Salvador is definetley fast food CRAZY. You can stand in one place on the street and count 2 Burger Kings, 2 Pizza Huts, 2 Mister Donuts, a Wendys and thats only the american fast food. Theres even more than you could imagine. We then walked to the biggest mall in Central America, but just for window shopping, we didnt spend anything.

We are now back at the hostel waiting to hear more news on CNN. My heart goes out to all the people stranded on the rooftops, as this image is becoming more and more frequent but never hurts your heart any less. We might go to the beach tomorrow, as we dont want to live in fear but would rather be safe than sorry. My sinus infection seems to be worsening. I have had a headache in the front of my head for over a week now which only worsens in air conditioning (which is everywhere). I think I will go see a doctor. I just dont want to take the time out of my vacay :(

Tonight we will go find cheap Guiness since the beer in El Salvador is just OK. I am craving something dark and delicious. Anyways, I hope everyone is feeling extra love and extra grateful for their family and friends today.  I know I will be celebrating life in this beautiful city tonight, wish you all could be here! XO
(No new pictures to post, busses are boring.)

Last day in Nicaragua-Ash Wednesday

Hola Amigos,
Today is Ash Wednesday in Nicaragua, the celebration of the beginning of Lent. Everyone is in church and you can hear them singing from the streets. We are back in Leon because we were going to go Volcano boarding for our last day in Nicaragua. Unfortunately the tour was booked so it looks like we will have to stay one more day, and go tomorrow (bummer). Sigh. I dont care if we ever leave. We ate cotton candy for 25 cents and im about to have a nice cold coca cola. We are staying at a beautiful hostel called the Lazy Turtle. 
They have this amazing honour system in which you dont pay anything until you leave. The bar is self serve, and you just write it down on your sheet and pay later. We took the bus this morning from Las Penitas. David, the owner of our favorite restaurant, made us Borscht for breakfast as sort of a going away gift, which was amazing. Im still feeling a little sinus headache, day 6 of it now. Not much else to report. Posted a couple pictures from the last few days. I am finding this place ridiculously hard to leave. I think Nicaragua is definetley a place I can see myself volunteering in the future or teaching english. If ever you want a true cultural travel experience but don´t have much money, this is the place to be. I am just so in love. The Nicas are true honourable people with hearts of gold. I have never felt more safe, even in my own country. Everyone is just so laid back and everything gets done. It makes me sad to think of the pace in which us North Americans live our lives. Always rushing, road raging, never having time for strangers, working too hard. I guess Nicaragua knows something we don´t.

Buildings in Leon

Sol Y Mar, Our B&B in Las Penitas

Sunday, locals day at the beach

Borscht!

a band we listened to at a beach fire

Goodbye Corn island!!

Our guard dog, Muchacha

Ridiculously beautiful sunsets every night

Siesta for Greg

Our $4 whole fried fish dinner, beer included

Leon-Las Penitas

Buenos dias, Chicos!
Back on the Pacific and LOVIN IT!!
We left the Corn Islands early Friday morning. The trip wasnt bad but I had a terrible cold and flying makes my ears feel like they are bleeding. Not to mention no sleep because Priya insisted on partying RIGHT outside the room until 5am and we had to be at the airport at 7am. It was a short 1.5 hour flight with a stop in Bluefields to pick up some more passengers. We landed in Managua and got a shared taxi to the bus station. We got on a microbus to Leon and it was bad as I was falling asleep which was causing me to have bad nausea. Luckily I was fine, and we arrived in Leon around noon. We checked into the Bigfoot hostel, which is pretty ok. I slept the afternoon away while Greg and Priya explored, waking up only for a huge $2 burger in the Parque Central. We had an early night as I am trying to get rid of this cold as fast as I can. Being sick when you are travelling just feels like you are wasting time.

I woke up around 7am for a pineapple smoothie and went back to bed until 10am when I couldnt sleep anymore. Greg and I went and explored the town and met this really great local named Jerry. We talked for a few hours, mostly about Canada, and had a traditional nicaraguan lunch with him. We then went for massages across from the hostel with the Seeing Hands Blind Massage. They actually teach blind Nicas the technique of massage, and then employ them to keep them off the streets. It was very cheap ($10 for half hour full body) and very relaxing. We then sat in the pool at the hostel with a couple beers. Another fellow, Kyle, also from Victoria (!!) had just checked in so we sat with him from a while at the bar. After a couple hours of walking around looking for something other than fried chicken and rice and beans to eat, Greg, Priya and Kyle made delicious guacamole and salsa. It was a nice change because it feels like Im always the one that cooks. I called it quits early, and Greg and Kyle went next door to ViaVia, the other hostel for a few more beers.

Yesterday morning we all shared a taxi (sans Priya, she wants to wait for the Swedes in Leon) to the coast, a beach called Las Penitas. It isn't really a town so much as a road with a couple restaurants and stores. The hostel was full but we saw a Bed and Breakfast with a Canadian flag. Turns out it was run by two Nicaraguan-Canadians, $25 bucks for 3 people with breakfast, in their beautiful family home right on the beach. It is a welcome change from the noise of the hostels and so homey. There are great Canadians at the B&B, so lots of good conversation. Our room has a salmon pillow!! We went to the store for supplies and got a 6 pack of ginger ale, 4L of water, 2 ice creams and a 2-6 of rum for $15! Yesterday was locals day off so everyone went to the beach, and it was awesome to watch the Nicas play in the waves together. We had two sunsets yesterday, one in our hand and one on the beach. While we were having our own little happy hour, Eric a fellow we had met a couple weeks ago on Ometepe (who went to Panama to get his dream girl) WALKED BY ON THE BEACH! It was pretty awesome to see him so we went for another happy hour at the hostel. We went for tacos for dinner and ended up meeting the owner of the place who is also Canadian and it was awesome to talk with him for a couple hours about life in Nicaragua. We decided to go back to the house for the rest of the rum, some good conversation and the sound of the waves. We went to bed around midnight and woke up to a fabulous traditional Nicaraguan breakfast.

Greg and Kyle are surfing right now as I write this, but Im still only feeling about 70%. We will probably have the amazing tacos again for lunch and a nice fried fish for dinner which is apparently the best on the Pacific for only $3. We might stay an extra day, then its back to Leon for Volcano boarding to celebrate our last day in Nicaragua. I will be so sad to leave but we have to move on. Nicaragua has been so good to us, the people so friendly and just such a beautiful country. I wish I could post a few pictures but this computer is strange, so maybe Ill add a few in the next post. Off to El Salvador Wednesday of Thursday! Love and miss you all! I truly do wish you were here!! XO