Nicaragua

5 July

We left the border early, at 6:30 am, because Norm had made arrangements (think paid off some guys) to get us going before the truck traffic started rolling. 

The roads in Nicaragua are wonderful, compared to what we’ve seen to date.  According to Norm, about 6 years ago foreign investment came in and helped Nicaragua rebuild post-1980’s civil war.  Nicaragua is predominantly an agricultural country, but it is working hard to improve its infrastructure to attract global tourism.  Nicaragua also produces a lot of clothing for export, which explains why there are Japanese and Korean companies helping.

We stopped in Sebaco for vegetables.  I bought about $1 USD worth: one carrot, one cucumber and one delicious huge avocado.  All of us bought avocados and they were all good and big, for about 30 cents.  I fixed a really great salad for supper, which was topped with Roger’s grilled chicken that I had frozen the last time he had the grill out.

We ended up at Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya.  Unfortunately the wind was blowing the wrong way, so we could only see sulfur steam in the caldera.  Had the wind been blowing differently, we could have seen hot magna.  The trail up to the crosses was closed, so the caldera was a double ‘oh well…’

We camped in the Museum parking lot in the park.  It was a nice night temperature-wise, with a steady breeze considering that we’re getting to some of the hotter climates of the trip.