As I paid the internet fee for the last post I bought a BonBon and gave it to the hat girl. She acted like had just given her a car. I walked past an electronics stall and saw three micro speakers and thought that they might be a nice addition to my iTouch. A woman and a young woman, presumably the daughter worked the booth. I saw three sets of speakers labeled with three different brands, all of the speakers were the same price. A truly horrible communications non exchange occurred as I attempted to inquire which one was the best. The older woman backed away with my initial question, she was not going to subject herself to talking to me. The young woman tried valiantly to understand my question as the older woman tried her best not to break out laughing. I finally asked her which was her preference and she took one out and showed it to me, then I asked her why. She took out her cell phone and plugged it. Ahhh... they are different connectors for different cell phones, the brand name indicated compatibility not manufacturer. I finally understood why they were so confused. I just said "Loco gringo" and they both broke out laughing and gave me a big smile.
Despite my general aversion to eating Yankee food I stopped by Burger King to get a burger. Three guards armed with shotguns stood by the door. I said "These must be the most valuable damn hamburgers in the world." None of them understood me. A street vendor was hawking oranges, 20 for a dollar. Remembering the BonBon I bought a bag and walked past the police station. I took one out of the bag and underhanded it to one of the cops on the porch. The next cop held out his hand and I threw him one then walked down the sidewalk and threw one to each of the cops in succession. One cop reached over and intercepted one intended for the next guy in line. I wagged my finger at him and threw the cop another one. People started to point and watch. I walked down the street and every time I passed a traffic cop I handed him or her an orange and never broke stride. Not a one of them didn't hold their hand and accept it. Then I strolled back to the bus stop. A while later a guy was waiting for the bus and I asked him if he wanted to go out for an ice cream. As we walked by the police station I threw an imaginary orange, he made an imaginary catch. We walked into the mall and I repeated my universal crazy person gesture to the cell phone woman and they burst out laughing. The guy I was with wondered why people responded so strongly to my strange and apparently arbitrary gestures. We walked by the girl in the hat, now Miss BonBon and she gave me a big wave and a smile. My companion was completely befuddled. I offered no explanation. I just said, "I've been told I have a strange affect on people. It seems natural to me."
When I returned I ran into Kris, who turned out to be my new travelling buddy. At two o'clock we boarded the huge double decker bus. My seat was a full recliner. The bus had WiFi, this was going to be a good trip. The audio for the movies was played softly, if you wanted it loud, you plugged in your headset. These guys had it down. We headed out.
We stopped at a bus transfer station, a lovely hotel. I walked across the street to get some food. Painted on the wall of the store was a notice that they had turtle eggs for sale, I inquired inside, yes they were sea turtle eggs; I felt a wave of nausea but bought two large chicken tamales for a dollar anyway. There was a high level of agitation in the store indicating that my bus was about to leave. The tamales were too hot to carry. I insisted on a bag and they scurried to accommodate. I ran back across the street, there was no great urgency, people were slowly boarding. Unfortunately our new bus was a Mercedes Marco Polo, not nearly as roomy, no reclining seats, no wifi, no headset jacks. The rest of this trip was not going to be nearly as pleasant.
Time?
A woman came down and handed out immigration forms for the crossing from Honduras into Nicaragua. A swedish woman came back to me, all distraught "Jim, we don't have the $26 dollars that we need for the border crossing, nobody told us. Can you lend us some money?" I indicated that I didn't have it either, but that I would change some limpare at the boarder and I would go with them through immigration; she didn't have to have the bus company handle it.
The bus conductor was trying to fill out forms but couldn't see because it was dark. I pulled my trusty flashlight out of my fanny pack, attached the diffuser, set the flashlight on high and illuminated half the bus.
18:54 We exited the bus. Money changers stood by with fists of cash four inches thick ready to exchange money in the dark. Out came my flashlight again and we all calculated our exchange rate able to count the money. Some kids came over trying to sell some tiny little chinese shitty flashlights. "Fuerte?" Strong? "Si, muy fuerte!" "Yes,very strong" I turned one on pointed it at the ground, the light could barely illuminate my boots. I took out my light again and shone mine over the top of theirs; it was like daylight. They let out a gasp and then offered again to sell me a flashlight. I gave the swedes a sufficient amount of Nicaraguan Cordoba and walked them over to immigration. They were quickly processed. The guy looked at my passport for 10 minutes, flipping page after page looking for my entry stamp, I told him it was on page 17. He ignored me and kept looking through the book. What the hell, now? Finally a woman went over to him, flipped to page 17 and pointed to the stamp. He gave me an exit stamp. We all reboarded the bus and headed over to Nicaraguan immigration. The officer had the passports for every other passenger on the bus; they had been delivered by the conductor. He would not process mine until he went through every one of them. Ten minutes later he picked up mine and examined it for at least five minutes. What the hell is going on here? Finally he stamped my passport. He told me I owed $12 which I handed to him. Then he told me I owed the woman at the next window a dollar. She refused to take and told me to pay the first guy. This time he accepted the dollar. This was very weird.
19:50We gathered by the bus waiting to board. Kris was talking about a hike he took and said the guide held the group back. He indicated the guy was "Really old. Over fifty." I said nothing. We all boarded the bus and it just idled for over an hour. Apparently they were missing something. Finally immigration figured that the Swedes had shorted them what amounted to one dollar, which collected, and we left.
We pulled in Managua a little after twelve. The Swedes, Kris, and I huddled at the entrance with Pedro, a new guy. The guide books were consulted and we reached a consensus on our destination. A cabbie said he could take us for $10. We walked to his cab, no way we could all fit with all of our luggage. I said we should just take the station wagon out front. He indicated he would make two trips for the same amount of money. We left Kris and Pedro. Pedro asked us not to pay the guy, wanting to be sure that he would return.
The Swedish woman kept inspecting rooms, they were too small for her taste. Jesus, it's one o'clock what activities are going to be up to in that room? Pedro and Kris showed up. I said I would partner if somebody wanted to save $5 but I would be just as happy to have my own room. Pedro and Kris partnered. Pedro asked the guy at the hotel to go out and buy a six pack. He returned with four warm and two cold beers. Kris a Brit was happy to take two warm beers. We shot the shit, swapping travel stories until we realized it was three in the morning and retired.
My bed had a thin sheet with no top sheet or blanket.
This is getting way too long. To be continued.
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