Chicken bus from sunrise to sunset--part 2

Trip Start Oct 10, 2001

Trip End Feb 19, 2002

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Flag of Nicaragua Managua, Nicaragua
Saturday, December 15, 2001

We woke up at 6am. We had two choices of transportation out of Tegucigalpa: One, the Tica bus direct to Managua. The other, taking the chicken bus route of long and less travelled road. We took the latter. Mostly I convinced Juliette my right leg was more mobile and the price was much cheaper, and the road was more adventurous, which is the main reason we travel. If this were a week vacation to Cancun and all we cared about was party and site-seeing, then it would been another story.

We took a taxi to the outskirt of Tegucigalpa to a bus stop on the hill overlooking the city. The sun was just beginning to sneak out of its pajamas, the view was magnificent. We took the first bus to the city of Danli. The bus was what we remembered before, crowded and loud speakers blasting latin music. We exchanged to another bus in Danli, where the bus was full of school teenagers going to school in the morning. After about an hour, after almost everyone had gotten off the bus, we arrived in a small town, where we had to change to a third bus to the Nicaraguan border. We waited impatiently for 30min when a very old bus arrived and took us and few other passenger to the border.

The crossing was smooth, we paid our dues and had our passports stamped. The crossing at Las Manos (Nicaragua) was little delayed. Me and Juliette exchanged some money and had a short break at the border rest stop/restaurant/convenient store. The scenery was very beautiful, we were surrounded by rolling green hills dotted with mixed vegetation of palm trees and banana trees. Both sides of Honduras and Nicaragua were exactly alike, it was as if only political different separate the two countries while life and earth just seemed to blend together like a family.

We took the border bus to the town of Ocotal. We exchanged to a more modern bus following the advice of a local whose words seem more trustworthy than the Lonely Planet Guide. The ride was another stunningly beautiful trip, I cannot believe my eyes today, the country changed, landscape changed, people changed, buses changed, yet, the definition of beautiful remain the same. There was little girl, no older than 4 or 5 sitting on the seat in front of us travelling with her parents. She kept peeking back to look at me and Juliette, probably curious about of different facial features. In a stupid way of teasing her, I made a scary face, which surprised and scared her. She quickly hid into her mother's arms and started to cry. I felt bad, while Juliette punched me on the arm and said I was a terrible person who made the little happy Nicaraguan girl cry. I admitted my stupid action, which was probably not a cool thing to do.

We arrived in Managua (capital of Nicaragua) after sunset. We were lost as usual. We had some chicken for dinner and took a taxi to the hotel zone near the center of the city. We checked into a small hotel, it was the cheapest in town. I took a refreshing cold shower and relaxed. Another tired day, but in the moment of exhaustion, the memory of today was pure beauty, I was overconfident with happiness.