The Last Stop

Friday, Feb. 8, 2013--Leon to Managua

I was up earlier than usual this morning and had breakfast and left my hotel by 7:30.  Walking to the bus station, I arrived at 8:57.  At 9:00, I was on a bus that was pulling out for Managua.  Although it was an express bus, it still seemed to stop more than it should have.  But I was not really in a hurry.

As we entered Managua, I couldn't figure out where we were.  None of our turns made sense in terms of where the bus was supposed to terminate.  Suddenly, we passed a baseball stadium which I could locate on my map, and I realized we were much further north and east than I had expected us to go.  A woman was getting off right after that, so I grabbed my things and exited with her.  From looking at the map, I had thought I would need to walk back to the stadium, but she said that the road where we got off was Ave. Bolivar.  That was perfect.  It led directly to the hotel where I had reserved a room and was only half the distance from the hotel as where I had expected the bus terminal to be.

I had no problem walking to the Hotel Mozonte except that it was hot and much of the trip was uphill.  I knew exactly where to turn, and the hotel was just where I expected it to be.  Checking in went well, but the room they showed me had no window and was really inside the lobby.  That's something that I just cannot tolerate.  I want outside light, and I do not want noise from a people area such as a lobby.  Fortunately, the lady told me that I could have another room if I would wait a while.  I sat in a shaded area near the pool and opened my computer expecting to wait maybe 1-2 hours.  Instead, within 15 minutes she had an upstairs room overlooking the pool available.  Upstairs is always quieter, the room had a nice window with outside light, and the view of the pool was an added feature.  I have a nice place to spend my last 6 nights/5 days in Nicaragua.

I stayed inside and started reading a new book during the afternoon.  Then, around 17:00, I went out to find food.  There is a McDonald's nearby, but it is over priced.  Next door to it was a La Colonia supermarket, so I bought some supplies for the room considering that I have a refrigerator.  I got chips, a can of refried beans, some ham, some rolls, a bottle of rum, a bottle of Coke Zero, and a package of coconut cookies.  Back at the hotel, I made a rum and cola and had chips and bean dip.  Then I made a sandwich.  Finally, I ate all the cookies.  With everything else, I have leftovers for another night.

TV here has CNN International, but it does not have my favorite which is BBC News.  However, it has Al Jazeera in English as an alternative.  Tonight, I watched the news and re-watched the film Cast Away.

I have felt safe on this whole trip.  However, the warnings about Managua bother me.  My bet is that there will be no problem here either.  Actually, when I read about the other places I have been on this trip, there have been scary warnings about a lot of the places.  Yet I never felt in danger anywhere.  Today, I just didn't want to go out anywhere.  Tomorrow, I will head out to explore and see how I feel about it all.