BW LAS MERCEDES Managua

... 5 feet haha]. Luckily, the cave was big enough...and there wasn't to many creatures down there. We did see lots of little bats though!!<br><br>The next adventure was to hike up this gravel mountain to the top. Some people decided not to do it because they were tired, but I am so glad I did it! It was absolutely breath taking. We looked over 2 lakes, craters, towns, and beautiful clouds. It was also pretty fun practically skiing down the loose gravel ...

... to a quiet spot of the lake. Enjoying the cold fresh and taking some sun, we stayed there until sunset, before we went to another Finka called Zopilote. This Italian run Finka offerd home.made Pizza... which a treat for us. We grapped the chance of a rice-free dinner and enjoyed the pizza under the stairy sky with some other Germans we meet. Walking all the way back home, we fell almost dead into our beds... already knowing that a calm day has to lay ...

After we crossed the border, we saw the wind turbines while we were driving to Granada. They were really neat, humoungus! We drove a long way on a road as straight as an arrow. After we drove for about 2 hours more, we turned off towards Granada. The road to Granada was more twisty and crowded. It had lots of potholes. We arrived at Casa San Fransisco and the sun was just setting as we pulled in. We ate dinner at the hotel and then we went ...

... José, Costa Rica and went to my first and only soccer game Costa Rica against Honduras. Turns out we got really ****** seats but it just so happens that 4 or 5 soccer players from the Costa Rica vs. Italy team in 1990 say by us. My Tico friend got super excited, getting autographs and frantically searched for a camera to no avail. The game was really fun and I still can´t bring myself to watch an entire game on tv. It´s just not the same.

... got stuck in a power cut. Its always interesting trying to find your way around a strange mall in the pitch black! We eventually made it out and went to the shop to buy some rum and coke to take back to the hostel. It seemed that the whole town had been affected by the power cut, but then a bus went past with its lights on!!!! Back at the hostel, the generator was working and so we sat up for ages, playing cards and drinking far too much. Hangover alert for our long drive tomorrow!

Our last day in Nicaragua! We finally leave the hotel in Chinandega, where we stayed 3 nights.<br><br> We first drive to León to take a last good meal at Hospedaje Via Via, a good spagetti bolognese.<br><br>Than to Managua where we find a cheap, but clean hostel, Hotel Santos, 15 US$ for a room.<br><br> For the last time we make a walk to the malecón. We don't make it late. Tomorrow we have to get up early, our plane is leaving at 07.55 am. And tomorrow we also have to return the rental car.

... Revolution and 30 year anniversary of the Nicaraguan revolution. Television and newspapers were filled with comments from Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez regarding the benefits of Socialismo, how the revolution was born in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of Southern Cuba, etc, etc. For me, the benefits are difficult to see, but, then again, I was not here under the repressive dictatorial regimes of the three Somoza's or Batista. These people were. While traveling ...

... decided on staying at to mix it up with other travelling types. Basically a poorman´s version of the lovely Lazybones we stayed in Leon. It was pretty quiet as half the rooms were booked out. Filling the afternoon with walk round the pleasant town and some rubbish food we unusually chose to spend our evening playing cards on our bed and get an early night. Well the cards kept flowing and quickly became quite late, when we started noticing ...

... br> After breakfast and devotions, we left for the flee market. An interpreter went with us. Several children were making flowers out of palm strips in hope of a handout. They kept calling me and my daughter mama. It tore my heart out. Before we left, we invited them to the truck to share the Gospel with them and gave them all a cold bottle of water.<br> After lunch we went to a ...

... tight. The teacher in charge tried to squeeze us in to a good spot to see everything. Once the speeches started, people started to get excited and the crowd swelled. I was unpleasantly reminded of the crowd at Times Square on New Years. You get squeezed so tight that you can´t move your arms and you have to be able to push hard enough into the crowd so that you don´t stumble under everyone´s feet. In New York, when the ball dropped the whole crowd swelled and I ...