Trip to Nicaragua

So we jumped in the old vw bus the boys had and started aiming to Nicaragua via Honduras. On the road we had to fill air to one of the tyres and the guy in a petrol station blasted it with too much pressure. It took quite a while to get them to pay us a new tyre, but finally they did. In the beginning they blamed us for the accident, because we had let the worker to fill the tyre. Here in Central-America it feels that many locals try to fool gringos as much as possible and apparently they succeed too. You can see the influence of turists from USA, unfortunately. The police stopped us couple of times before the border, propably because Alex was travelling on the roof.

It was exciting to cross the border to Honduras, as the country is pretty unstable nowadays, with coup d´état going on. We didn´t even know if the borders were closed. Everything went fine. The whole way through Honduras had a police check-up almost every 10 km. It took time and patience but they always let us go in the end. 

First stop in Nicaragua was Chinandega. Money, gasoline and food. There´s not much to tell about it except that the pancakes, filled with cheese, we ate there were so delicious. After dinner we tried to buy the rest of them for take away but a local girl got first. Evenly we divide one for us five people. Ever since we have been trying to search for a kind experience of pancake flavor but haven´t found that yet.  

The aim was to get to the coast, Las Penitas, by that evening but getting a bit lost in Leon, home town of Ruben Dario,  led us to the meeting  of Sandinist party. 30 years had passed since the revolution and they were preparing for next days parade by looking film strips and photos from the years of action. Warmly they welcomed us among them. The event was interesting but one by one we dropped to the ocean of dreams. It was time to move on, still aiming to the beach. 

Well, when we were packing ourselves into the van one local dude made a quick visit to say goodbye and snatch a small video camera of the boys´. Shit! Others were too sleepy to react

and Tommi was stuck with the front door so the bad man got away. Alex ran after him but he was gone. Luckily the people around us recognized him as Camilo, known neighborhood thief, and the police shack was just around the corner. How stupid thief can you be?  The cops went with their moto and machine guns for the search, Alex and Mika hung around with he cops and the rest of us fell asleep in the van. By dawn the old mother of Camilo came with the camera apologizing her sons bad behavior. After breakfast we were on the move again. 

El Salvador

El Salvador is a lively small country with almost six million inhabitants. Volcanoes are everywhere and nature is fertile and green. Population is dense and original forests are rare. We didn´t have many expectations about the country, just that there are lot of crimes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. From the beginning we were planning to skip the place and go straight to Nicaragua, but there we were anyway.

Tommi coming back from the afternoon wave

El Tunco is a small coastal village popular among surfers. It´s surrounded by many excellent surf breaks that are easy to reach walking or with a bus. We decided to check the place out. Other surfers have noticed the possibilities of the place too, so the crowds were sometimes unbearable. Generally the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and we met many cool surfers and travellers there. I think the best surf spots around El Tunco were Punta Roca with it´s fast and hollow right hand wave, and El Zonte with good left and righ points. The playa Zunzal was mellow, fat wave, with too many guys surfing it. Water is not very clean in El Salvador. Countless small rivers bring nasty water from many villages to the sea. Cleaning sewage waters seem to be uncommon there. We were living in a cool hostel called Papaya´s. He was a local shaper and a legendary surfer. There was some mad parties in a hostel which it took couple of days to recover afterwards.

Sunset in El Tunco beach

One week around El Tunco flew quickly and it was time to move on, next stop playa Las Flores in El Cuco. There was hardly any information available about the place but those are often the best and less crowded spots, so we were excited to get there. After four different colorful bus rides we jumped off in the crossroads in El Cuco. While the sun was setting we asked locals the best way to get to Las Flores. Only 15 minutes walk does not normally sound too bad, but with 30 extra kilos in the packbag plus 2 surfboards it did. Luckily a passing van offered a ride. We chose a very simple room right in front of the surf break. Other options would have been further away, or a gringo hotel near by with 175 dollars per night.

Colorful back of El Cuco bus

Our little shack

As Mama Cata offered the same rice with beans and chicken meal every day, we built up our own little kitchen in the room.

Las Flores appeared to be very beautiful surfspot. The beach was long and empty and surrounded with volcanoes. The wave was a nice right hand point break with exciting rocky take off area and two sectors, the first fast and barreling and the second a bit mellower. Not too many surfers were trying to catch waves, so it was easy for Iitu too to get good rides.

Las Flores beach

The high tide waves were almost on our toes

Terry, Cristian, Thomas, Alex and Tommi

Cristian, El Argentino, doing artesania with all his fans. All the argentinians we have met on this trip have been making their living by artesania.

Our new hilarious Norwegian friends, Thomas and Alex, showed up after couple of days. They came with a japanese beauty called Mika and with Carma, a volkswagen with grin. With them we had good surf sessions, hangouts and big feasts on the beach. It is such a luxury to be able to buy fresh fish and shrimps straight from the boats. It´s hard to imagine how good and cheap the seafood is here in pacific coast.

Mika and the crab

The fresh fish we bought straight from the boats. Now the men are on break.

We had such a good time together with the Norwegians that they asked us to join them on their ride down south, and we agreed.

On the road... Tommi driving

East coast to the west coast

Scubadiving is fun, but after eight days it started to feel that there is not much more to see, and our bank accounts started to look quite sad for it´s not very cheap hobby after all. We have still long way to go and with that thought it was easy to decide to hit the road again. We both had the same feeling that the Pacific coast is the place to be. El Salvador is a brilliant place to surf and the people are friendly, according to many traveller we have met along the road. We knew nothing about the country furthermore, but next day we started the long trip across Central-America, from the east coast to the west coast, from Ceiba to La Libertad.

In Central-America the transportation is commonly dealt with old school buses from the USA. There are other options as well, but the prices are higher and air condition makes the modern buses horrible freecers. We think that it´s better to use the old buses, as most of the local people do. Travelling with them is always a lively experience. Music is hectic latino sound or reggaetone and it´s usually very loud. Drivers have lost it completely, they drive like madmen and thick black smoke comes from the tailpipe. The buses are covered with religious stickers and painted with psychedelic designs. It seems that the drivers are working with commission, so the faster they drive and the more customers they can get, the more money they earn. There is a big rush. The aide tears new people in and kicks others out while the bus is still moving. Stands do not exist, so the bus picks up people anywhere. Therefor the ride makes progress slowly. Tens of vendors are selling their products in the bus. Some sell incredible health pills, while others sell chicken meals, fruits, tools, drinks or bibles. In Finland it´s hardly allowed even to eat in a bus.

So it took couple of days to get to the El Salvador. The trip was extremely cheap, it costed less than eight dollars. Everything went well, except that I get a food poisoning from the chicken bought in the bus. I never learn it seems, this was a second time that I had bought some random food in a bus and gotten sick. Luckily it only took a day to heal.

I will add some photos of the buses when I find computer good enough.