Hotel Moderno Esteli

... the water, I found all these ugly swellings all over my body; I
guess something in the water disagreed with my skin - ICK blah sensitive skin (p.s. I strongly
dislike dermatology.. a really gross specialty, if you ask me) I
quickly rinsed off with water we had brought on the drip, and luckily it went away quickly...
kind of gave me a fright for a few minutes there though.. my host siblings and I went exploring a ways ...

... coming to Central America. It was full out: terrible headache (more of a hemorrhaging, I'd say), ache-y muscles and worse joints, and a fever that was so high I was seriously concerned. I willed myself out of bed to get some supper, and because I'd have to call off the plans I'd made with Malinda. After a crispy, way-needed green garden salad and still feeling like total ****, Malinda came and I gave him the news. We sat down to have a quick chat (Meghan was there too, a girl ...

... still in one section that serves as a reminder. There are still a lot of support for the Sandinista here. .The factories were closed when I got to town. I found a huge one outside of town during my walk. I went there Monday morning at 7:15 a.m. trying to get in but the guard didnīt let me in. I thought he would get someone to speak English but after an half hour no luck. We tried to communicate but all of my Spanish which isnīt much vanished. Some other ...

... of taking the passenger ferry
there was no way that we weren't going to do it. A few other locals
were catching a free ride on the ferry as well, but the thing about
free rides is that they take a lot longer.

Once finalizing the paperwork with the
shipping company we hopped in the van and drove straight to Tela.
Bryan and Liliana, our friends there, put us up once ...

... with blankets. It was the cats favourite place and also the chickens and various other unidentifiable birds if I made the mistake of leaving the door open. They had pit toilets and a rudimentary shower made from bamboo walls and a tank up a ladder. The flyaway shower curtain didnīt provide much privacy. The family washed in the river as the dad said the shower was just for tourists. It can only be what life in ...

... and only grown up the road in small fincas and locally owned cooperatives. We hang out here for a couple of days and eat, at last, great food for a fraction of the cost in Honduras. We also come across a festival with live bands and folk dancing which is quite entertaining when the power keeps cutting out. But the local boys canīt leave us alone and I eventually end up dancing in the street with one of them, soon there is ...

... country to country without paying money every time you cross a border) is so you don't have to spend so much money. Anyways, we crossed over and made it to our first destination in Nicaragua: a little town called Esteli. Esteli is a small town in the middle of a desert. (Alberta desert, not Egypt desert) So far Nicaragua is all dirt and cowboys and horse-drawn carts. It seems different from the other countries we've been to so ...

... days in Miraflor, a nature reserve just outside the city with 3 ecosystyms, all with complicated names and explanations I can't remember but was pretty cool riding up from the lowlands through middle/earth type woods to the cloudforest at the top. We stayed over, but despite going to bed at 7.30 (well, what else you supposed to do when there's no electricity and the weekends supply of rum is already consumed?) didnt manage to get up at 5 to milk the cows- the place was ...

We traveled just like those foreigners I despise in the US that brag about seeing 5 parks in two days. We left El Salvador which is my favorite so far, entered into Honduras (more on this in a few minutes) and left Hondo entering Nicaragua all in the span of 6 hours or so. The exit of EL Salvador went smoothly. When I got on the ferry in Baja I needed my original title for the bike. When I got down to the Guatemala ...

... had a love of cheese, but I never knew it was such a powerful thing until I was without it. Since I had a tv in my room, I got a take-out pizza and a couple of beers and spent the night feeding my face and watching Chucky 3 in Spanish. "Soy Chucky!!!!!!!!!" It was pretty fun. I kept asking myself-- did they intend for this to be a comedy??

Complementing it`s political history, Esteli has a Gallery of Heroes and Matyrs run by volunteers who are all mothers of ...