This morning was pretty rough on Carol, who was suffering from severe dehydration after a night of dry heaving from some bad Chinese food. Or too much Chinese food on an empty stomach, because of the delays at the border. So Carol bought some more water in the morning, enough to at least throw up. We road to Choluteca to get some biscuits, fruit juice and pull some money out of the ATM for the border crossing into Nicaragua. The crossing we decided on, Guasaute, was off the Pan-American highway so road conditions were pretty bad. The border scene was like riding into a wild west town with so many horses and horse drawn carts. Nicaragua appears to be quite an agrarian country with lots of farming equipment on the road, and horses with mounted riders lining the sides of the highways.
We rode as far as Chinandega, because neither of us felt to well, and found a hotel with secure parking. Both of us had long naps, trying to recover from the prior night's food problems. Carol and I met a dozen Lutherans from Lethbridge, who were down here on a mission to help build an extension on an existing school. They have been down here for ten days and were planning on heading out the next day. They had said after Haiti, Nicaragua is the poorest nation in Central America. Their lack of wealth didn't show in their roads. No major potholes to report and sections in need of repair had crews on them. We made good time on the way to Costa Rica, passing volcano after volcano. Once again we ran into a problem finding the road south out of Managua, and so some random kid peddled on the highway for about a mile, slowing down traffic as we followed until he showed us the turn-off. I gave him a couple of dollars for his effort. Now as we are trying to make up some time, I pass thru a school zone and a cop hits me with the radar gun. No problem, so I continue down the road. Carol, not having as much experience as myself tends to fall behind in the twisties. We had had a conversation a couple days prior about her falling behind, so now was one of those days when she tried to catch up. Turns out she passed a truck on a solid line (done by everybody in Central America) in the same school zone, but she got busted. I am waiting what seemed to be 15 minutes before she and the traffic cop showed up with a fifty dollar ticket that needed to be paid back in Managua. Once again some negotiating was involved, and the cop took 22 dollars on our behalf to be paid by him back in Managua. Guilty as charged and we avoided having to backtrack.
Did you ever meet someone for the first time and feel you are being hustled? We stopped in Diriamba for a quick bite to eat and met up with a local who could speak English well. He went on and on about his good fortune in meeting us and wanted us to meet his family. Soon we are over at his Mom's restaurant for a round of introductions. Good food, nice family. Unfortunately, my gut instinct was correct, when as we are leaving, he tries to hit me up for twenty dollars. What could have been a nice bonding experience now was ruined because we appeared as walking dollar signs.
Next stop was Rivas for the night. We saw a local" battle of the marching bands" at the town square. There was also a carnival/midway thing going on a the square. Carol and I decided on Hawaiian pizza for supper. Bad choice. Crust was way undercooked and only the toppings were edible. After a brief discussion with the manager it was determined that this wasn't "TRADITIONAL" pizza. No S**T. Tomorrow Costa Rica.