Have grouped these two posts together because my last two days have been spent on the bus .. well the Tica Bus to be exact, heading south along the Pan American highway through the less salubrious countries of El Salvador, Honduras and into Nicaragua.
The shuttle bus picked me up from my hostel and then dropped me off at the suprisingly pleasant Guatemala City Tica bus terminal, where after some confusion I bought my ticket and then waited four hours for the bus to depart.
The bus was a fairly decent coach, with good size seats, leg room and a working toilet (albeit without lock). The only real thing of note on the first day of this trip was the madness that accompanied us when we got off the bus at the Guatemala / El Salvador border .. there must of been about a dozen guys offering to change our money (El Salvador uses the US dollar .. whereas Guatemala has Quetzales - named after the beautiful yet elusive bird).
Coming into San Salvador (the capital of El Salvador), was quite interesting .. not much in the way of street lighting yet people wandering around everywhere. The accomodation was quite nice at the Tica Hotel (I stayed in San Benito - the first stop in the city and apparently a nicer neighborhood). I would also like to mention that the El Salvador people I met were super nice and friendly.
The next day I was awoken by a knock on the door at 4am, and another at 4:15 when I hadn´t gotten up. I packed up my things and made my way downstairs for a full day of travelling, with the bus picking me up at 5am.
Several of the border crossing were quite surreal .. I didn´t really have a clue what was going on. They even searched through our bags at one point .. not very thorough mind you .. but at least there are pretending to make an effort.
For some reason the bus drivers here have a penchance for 80s Power balads .. Some of the choice tunes on the bus sound system were "Lady in Red", "More than words can say", "Missing you".
Arrived in Managua around 8pm at night .. there was a really cool sight in the centre of the city, with all the fairy lights strung up on palm trees and statues. The actual bus station compound was a lot more basic than the night before .. my room was just a single bed, with a ceiling fan. Went across the street to use the internet .. glad it was only a 30 second walk .. don´t feel that safe around here.
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