Las Manos, Nicaragua to Managua, Nicaragua

The border crossing into Nicaragua at Las Manos is located at the top of a very steep and long pass. This means pain leaving Honduras, smooth sailing entering Nicaragua. We passed more than eighty semis parked on the side of the road (I counted them) and we were thankful that it was a Sunday and the commercial border crossing was processing extra slow, keeping the traffic to a minimum for us. After an uneventful crossing we hit the pavement in Nicaragua and instantly we decided we liked it here. We were starting the country up in the mountains with nice cool weather, the road was new and in very good shape, there was very little traffic, and the first twenty to twenty five kilometers were all downhill! Having gone without bathing for several days and now riding down a canyon criss-crossing a ribbon of river we decided to take advantage. Leah didn't feel comfortable bathing in the river under a bridge but Isai and I had no second thoughts about it. After bathing Isai decided that the best way to dry his now wet boxers was to ride in them. Not wanting to have it be obvious to everyone that that was what he was doing he donned some other attire including his leg covers and a bandanna to cover his buttonless fly. This provided Leah and I will a pretty good laugh. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, the most remarkable aspect being the heat. We passed through some Nicaraguan tobacco country and some buildings where they were drying the leaves and the tobacco odor was unmistakable. Somebody told us that a lot of Cuban cigars are filled with Nicaraguan tobacco, I couldn't tell you if that's true or not.

That night we set up camp right next to the Pan-American highway in Palacaguina. We stopped there for some water and got to talking to Francisco and his family that told us that if we camped right in front of their house, under the street lamp, no one would bother us. As we set up camp they gathered 'round to watch, something we are getting quite used to at this point. The next part of the entertainment was the cooking show as we showed them how to cook pasta on our little stove. They added to our little feast by giving us some tomatoes, onions, and chili pepper oil for our pasta and some corn tamales to complement the meal. When the pasta was ready we gave them a sample and they seemed very impressed. Leah, Isai and I ate, they watched and we all talked. We settled in for the night, a little worried about being in plain sight of the highway and anyone who might be curious about our tents, but the only events out of the ordinary were the group of cows that walked by, almost stepping on Isai, and the people that arrived at the bus stop at 4am and sat talking loudly for what seemed like forever until the bus finally came and took them away. In the morning we rolled down the highway toward Esteli. The landscape was dry, hot and consisted of mostly of rolling hills.

On our way out of Esteli we encountered three civil engineering students riding our same direction and we rode and talked with them until they reached their destination. We told them we were planning to stay the night in Sebaco and Carlos told us that Raphael's family lived there. Carlos offered up Raphael's parents house for us to stay at by saying, "Hey Raphael! They can stay at your house right?" Raphael agreed reservedly and drew us a map and told us that he would call his family and let them know we were coming. We took the map, said goodbye and started down the 23 km long and very gradual descent toward Sebaco unsure if we would take up Raphael's (or more like Carlos's) offer.

Just before arriving in Sebaco, Leah and I had our first "fender bender". It started when we passed someone on a squeaky bike. Then he put on the gas and passed us back (nothing out of the ordinary). Then while he was in front he passed the ice cream man riding his tricycle. Not wanting to be bested, the ice cream man put on his game face and passed squeaky-bike-man. That put me close behind squeaky-bike-man and Leah close behind me. All of sudden the ice cream man saw a potential sale and slammed on his brakes. This in-turn caused a chain reaction in which everyone ended up stopping suddenly and Leah bumping into the back of me. It was nothing serious, but provided us with some entertainment and tire tread marks on the back of a pannier.

When we arrived in Sebaco and started trying to follow Raphael's map we realized that we didn't really understand it, furthermore we also realized that we didn't know Raphael's last name or even his parents' names either. All we knew was what was on the map, they had a blue house, and there was a small store, we weren't sure if it was across the street, or in their house. Following the map's directions we got to what we thought must be the right street and area and found a store and asked if they knew of Raphael. We had to describe what he looked like, that he was a student, etc. They told us to ask across the street in the blue house. It turns out that it was the right house! It also turns out that Raphael had not called. His family was confronted by these three dirty bike tourists saying that they had met their son/brother and he had offered them a place to sleep. Real smooth. Needless to say it was quite awkward for some time while thy told us to sit down in the yard while they called Raphael to figure this whole mess out. We of course said we'd leave to find another place to camp, but they insisted that we stay. They got a hold of Raphael and straightened everything out, I'm sure not without reprimanding him first. We still felt a bit awkward but it wore off as we sat and talked with Raphael's sister who spoke very good English and was eager for some people to practice with.

We left very early in the morning hoping, but not expecting, to get to Managua that day. It was the 14th of April and we wanted to be in Managua with my good friend from Seattle University, Enrique, for my birthday the next day. The ride out of Sebaco in the early morning was cool and we had a tailwind helping us to really cruise. The entire ride to Managua went very smoothly as a lot of it seemed to be downhill. We stopped for my favorite kind of break at a roadside fruit stand and enjoyed some pineapple and watermelon. Eventually we could see Lake Managua and we knew we were within a stones throw of Managua and would arrive there the same day. Riding into Managua was reminiscent of riding into any big city, lots of traffic, people, exhaust fumes, and confusion. Stopping numerous times for directions toward Enrique's we eventually pulled up into the parking lot of Galerias Santo Domingo, the mall right around the corner from Enrique's house. It was 1pm, we had jut ridden 108 km, and we were ready for some lunch! Enrique pulled into the parking lot honking, flashing his lights and whistling out the window. He didn't hesitate to hug his stinking friends before he escorted us to his house. It felt great to be in the presence of a familiar face and good friend.