So there we are speeding through the barren countryside of southern Honduras and we finally reach the border with Nicaragua...it's very dry and desert looking, loads of blackened areas where there have been huge fires and its sooo hot, Tica bus is air conditioned and apparently a symbol of 'exactitude'...i dont know what that is but the driver knew the route pretty well so i reckon that could be it.
An 8 hour journey from Tegucigalpa to Managua and we were at the border within 2...like a scene from Convoy there were hundreds of big rigs queued up to cross the border and we joined them....sorry about the constant mentions of truck and care chase movies but we are living the Reynolds dream.....
Finally we are in Nicaragua and onwards toward Managua, reading our well worn copy of Lonely Planet it informs us that muggings and robberies happen with alarming frequency around the Tica Bus terminal so welcome to Nicaragua...we are welcomed by a huge statue and then its round the corner to the Tica Bus station which has huge metal gates that are opened and the bus backs into only to be sealed inside to protect us from the hundreds of assorted taxi drivers and street sellers and general crowds who see a bus load of tourists as a way to get some money which you cant blame them for...each person on that bus, us included is probably carrying more than most people in Nicaragua actually own....so i would be there too...we exit the bus inside the compound and see the crowd pushing at the door, we decide to brave it...we know we want to get to Leon....which is about 60km away and the bus station for that journey is miles away so we want a cab to get across town....we are litterally mobbed by taxi drivers who are grabbing for our bags...everyone else is waiting inside the bus station...we are surrounded...it looks bad and then our bags are in the back of a taxi, others are trying to get our bags out and there are kids trying to sell us bits of fruit and chewing gum and we are in the cab, everyone can see how ridiculous it all is as the cabbie whisks us away...its all pretty good natured and it didnt seem too dangerous, we were all laughing...even the kids with the sweets....it turns out that the buses end at 4.30 to get to Leon...and we weren't up for sticking around in Managua until tommorrow..."how much to Leon...Cuanto senor??" we talked him down to $38 which was totally exceeding our budget but this was in the name of Reynolds after all and we had JJ Mclure also known as Oscar Guitriez as our driver...we knew it was The Cannonball Run as Oscar had the car locked up into a skid on the wrong side of the road narrowly avoiding a bus within the first five minutes!!! It's all a blur now but we spent a good portion of the journey on the wrong side of the road holding onto our hats and stomachs and passing the huge volcanoes and lake we arrived in Leon in record time....into Via Via which is a nice hostel/cafe/bar and safety.....booked into our first dormitory for about $3 each and into the bar for a stiff drink and thats when i proposed to Siobhan...fortunately she said yes and we celebrated with our bootleg beers......................yaayyy, we are getting married!!!!!!