Talanga, Honduras to Managua, Nicaragua

After more than two weeks in Talanga I said my goodbyes and started south again. It felt good to have accomplished the two main goals of my trip – to see my sister in Jamaica and my people in Talanga. Now it was time to see some more of Central America and finally get to South America.

From Talanga I took the back road towards Nicaragua. Otherwise I would have had to go to Teguc to get to Nicaragua. So the first leg of my trip was hitch-hiking along a dusty dirt road to get to the highway to Nicaragua. At the highway I then hitched to a city called Danli. In Danli I made a quick pit stop to pick some cigar for myself and my buddy Dan. here you can get good quality cigars from the factory for about a buck a piece. While I was there I took some photos of the factory.





































From the factory I hitched a little further then caught a bus to the next city, El Paraiso. On the bus I met a woman, Natasha, who was also heading to the border so we figured it out together. It was a good thing that I met her since I blew most of the money I had on cigars and I wouldn't have had enough to pay the 10 dollars in border fees to cross into Nicaragua. I love it how things just work out. So we caught a taxi to the border and crossed in time to make the last bus to Ocotal where we each found an inexpensive room to stay for the night.

Ocotal was a pretty town in the highlands of Nicaragua. Natasha and I took a look around the next day then hitched south to Esteli where we parted ways. I was heading to Managua to meet my friend Sierra from the Peace Corps and Natasha was going to Leon. I continued on and met up with Sierra later that afternoon in Managua.





















It was good to see Sierra again and fun to meet up with her on the day of the annual Oktoberfest at the German School. Sierra teaches in the American School and has a lot of friends teaching at the German School, so we went to their quasi-German Oktoberfest. It was fun, but if there wasn't bratwurst and sauerkraut it would have been hard to recognize the German theme.

I didn't take many photos of Managua while I was there. Sierra and I mostly hung out, walked around her neighborhood, and made dinner. Managua is the capital of Nicaragua but not such a great city. We had fun and I was able to take care of a few things while I was there.

















Tobacco leaves