El Salvador to Honduras and Nicaragua - San Salvador to Managua

Before the alarm sounded and long before the call came from the front desk, John and I were up and getting ready for our day. There was no coffee in the rooms but there was a refrigerator and microwave and I wisely brought along tea bags. San Salvador is modern but the number of fast-food places that remain open 24-7 are far fewer than what we have in the USA. So, those of us who are addicted to caffeine would not be pleased by the situation this morning. That is, all those not imbibing in tea which I did. I also offered two bags of tea to Don to calm the pounding which may have been caused by lack of java. 

The evening previous, we had visited a supermarket within a block of the Comfort Inn where we had stocked up on treats for the scheduled twelve to thirteen hour bus ride. We had been warned that there would be no stops and absolutely no catering by the TICA bus crew on this leg of our journey. So, we had been warned and took the opportunity to be as prepared as we could be.

We had left word at the front desk that we needed a taxi at 4 a.m. Our driver was there at 4 sharp and we all checked out and headed for the diminutive coach which waited for us in the parking area just outside the door of the motel. Yes, we did get all of our luggage aboard and yes, we ended up holding some of the items in our laps. But, the streets are uneven here in El Salvador and some of our group are portly. This combination caused the pan to scrape, drag, rattle and squeak during our 15-minute passage to the TICA bus depot near the Sheraton. I cannot tell you if the oil in that taxi is still full-up or if some of it leaked out as a result of all of those scrapes. But, that is how it happened. Maybe I should have listened to the front desk person who questioned whether or not we may have needed two vehicles.

On our first leg of the journey we had no assigned seats but selected the first unoccupied ones that caught our eyes. On this leg we were assigned seats according to our choice when we purchased our tickets. John and I were seated together as were Don and Nance. Since the bus turned out to be not full, I later reseated myself back several rows whereby each of us ended up with the seat next to us vacant.

What was scheduled for a 12 or 13 hour bus ride turned out to be just under 14 hours. Our departure time was shortly after 5 a.m. and we reached Managua just before 7 p.m. Of course we had traveled from El Salvador, crossed into and out of Honduras and into Nicaragua. Indeed, we were warned about no stops and no food or water available on our journey. This turned out to be untrue as there were stops from time to time, one of them in an area where there was a restaurant where one could purchase food or water. Our stop at this specific place was long enough to order and to eat as the steward told us our journey would not reconvene until 30 minutes had elapsed. There were other stops, border searches and inspections and passports being stamped and checked.

Aboard this bus there were folks from Mexico, from the USA, from Japan, from Europe and from other countries of Central America. The steward made all announcements in Spanish but gave individual attention in English to some of the folks who were not comfortable with Spanish. There were a few stops along the way just long enough to discharge passengers and others to collect new fares. These were very few and very far between.

Had the bus arrived on time and as scheduled, we had reservations to pick up a rental car and drive about one hour to Granada, Nicaragua for our first night in Nicaragua. However, this was simply not to be as the car rental place was closed by the time we arrived in Managua. Fortunately for us, there was a hotel run by the TICA bus folks with availability adjacent to the terminal. Our room rate was USD56. We got the last room for four with air conditioning and a private bath. Yea!! We contacted the hotel and quickly found our nests and found good rest. Tomorrow we would pick up our rental vehicle and drive to Granada.