A week and a half to get to Costa Rica. We need to move. I do not believe I mentioned the name of the school in San Pedro. In case you are wondering and would like one on one Spanish classes at a great school, it is called San Pedro Spanish School. We found it on a website called www.guatemala365. This website lists the Spanish schools in Guatemala and ranks them according to people's ratings and allows you to easily research all of your options. I would definitely recommend this school because it is in a beautiful garden on the lake, classes are held under palapas, the family we stayed with was wonderful as was my teacher Clemente.
Paying up to Sunday morning, we left first thing and were out the door at 5:20am to catch the 6am chicken bus to Guatemala City. We contemplated riding to Antigua because we heard it is a beautiful city but agreed upon spending our last bit of time in Nicaragua. Taking a chance and not booking a bus ticket online, we showed up at the Tika Bus station and were lucky to buy seats for the 1pm departure to Managua, Nicaragua. A night stopover in San Salvador, El Salvador, we arrived in Managua at 1:30pm. That was a lot of sitting and my legs swelled like sausages from the hours of not moving. Stopping in San Salvador, everyone needed to get a hotel room for the night and there were two options. One was to stay at a nicer hotel that was a bit more expensive ($24-28/room) or a cheaper hotel ($12/person) in a sketchy neighborhood. We opted for the nicer hotel and were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the area. We were able to walk the streets at night to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat before our 2am wake-up call for our 9 hour ride to Nicaragua. Never easy, the man loading the bus at 2:30am would not load our bikes and said he was not able to do it. ugh! Our broken Spanish was not cutting but with a bit of help from a local woman dropping off her son, we spoke with the attendant inside and he did manage to get our bikes on. Now that would have been a problem.
Crossing borders, there are different requirements and procedures. We just went with the flow and asked our neighbors if they understood the announcement. At one point we blindly handed over our passports to the Tika Bus worker at 5am and did not receive them back until probably 11 after we crossed through Honduras into Nicaragua. Phew. All was fine. Crossing over the border into Nicaragua, all passengers had to unload their bags and gear to be inspected by the border patrol. It was a bit of a pain if you were like us, hauling 8 awkward panniers a few steps at a time. They barely checked the contents of the bags, simply asked what our plans were in Nicaragua. Children around the age of 10 swarmed all passengers hoping for a quarter or two to help carry luggage off the bus and to the search tables. At first I thought it was sad that this was how a child was spending their Sunday, their day off from school. Once back on the bus, I realized it was actually Monday and they must not attend school. The stomach turned to knots at this realization. How do they make a life for themselves without an education? We are so fortunate in life and I am so thankful to have spent time in other countries to put life into perspective as it is so easily taken for granted.
Paying up to Sunday morning, we left first thing and were out the door at 5:20am to catch the 6am chicken bus to Guatemala City. We contemplated riding to Antigua because we heard it is a beautiful city but agreed upon spending our last bit of time in Nicaragua. Taking a chance and not booking a bus ticket online, we showed up at the Tika Bus station and were lucky to buy seats for the 1pm departure to Managua, Nicaragua. A night stopover in San Salvador, El Salvador, we arrived in Managua at 1:30pm. That was a lot of sitting and my legs swelled like sausages from the hours of not moving. Stopping in San Salvador, everyone needed to get a hotel room for the night and there were two options. One was to stay at a nicer hotel that was a bit more expensive ($24-28/room) or a cheaper hotel ($12/person) in a sketchy neighborhood. We opted for the nicer hotel and were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the area. We were able to walk the streets at night to stretch our legs and grab a bite to eat before our 2am wake-up call for our 9 hour ride to Nicaragua. Never easy, the man loading the bus at 2:30am would not load our bikes and said he was not able to do it. ugh! Our broken Spanish was not cutting but with a bit of help from a local woman dropping off her son, we spoke with the attendant inside and he did manage to get our bikes on. Now that would have been a problem.
Crossing borders, there are different requirements and procedures. We just went with the flow and asked our neighbors if they understood the announcement. At one point we blindly handed over our passports to the Tika Bus worker at 5am and did not receive them back until probably 11 after we crossed through Honduras into Nicaragua. Phew. All was fine. Crossing over the border into Nicaragua, all passengers had to unload their bags and gear to be inspected by the border patrol. It was a bit of a pain if you were like us, hauling 8 awkward panniers a few steps at a time. They barely checked the contents of the bags, simply asked what our plans were in Nicaragua. Children around the age of 10 swarmed all passengers hoping for a quarter or two to help carry luggage off the bus and to the search tables. At first I thought it was sad that this was how a child was spending their Sunday, their day off from school. Once back on the bus, I realized it was actually Monday and they must not attend school. The stomach turned to knots at this realization. How do they make a life for themselves without an education? We are so fortunate in life and I am so thankful to have spent time in other countries to put life into perspective as it is so easily taken for granted.
