San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua: 406 kms (17110 kms)

It´s my birthday and it´s not often you get to spend it somewhere like Nicaragua. So we´re taking a day off for some on-the-road admin and to have a small celebration in how young I am. We´ve also covered 900 kms in the last three days passing through El Salvador, Honduras and much of Nicaragua and my bottom needs a rest. My Airhawk luxury seat failed a few weeks ago and appears irrepairable, which is going to have an adverse effect upon the shape and texture of my bottom come Christmas. Anyway, we now intend on hitting the Costa Rican border early tomorrow morning as we´ve discovered over the last few days that the early bird gets the worm. We showed up at the chaotic Honduran border crossing at a time we thought was early (late morning) and were promptly spat out the other side 3.5 hours later. In contrast the Nicaraguan border, which I was lead to believe would be a game of wits, was a breeze and we got through in 1.5 hours. Both border crossings are rain-forest depleting for the photocopying of necessary documentation and have bled us dry of many dollars. And all for the privilige of a few days riding. Given the state of both countries I can´t see this money being invested in the local infrastructure but oh, look at that lovely house with swimming pool close to the border crossing owned by the Chief Customs Officer! Riding in Honduras was a challenge as it was characterised by random police stops and crater-like roads. The scenery at one particular point was breathtaking and made the journey worth the effort (see above). At this same vantage point Matt got chatting with some nice local lads (he has an amazing afinity to talk to just about everyone in each country we visit, and at length!) which nicely encapsulated a wonderful Honduran experience. The photo above shows Matt cracking his Leonardo de Caprio joke, in Spanish! At least they found it funny! Nicaragua has similarly been amazing. Wonderful scenery, nice roads and very friendly people. However, we made a lunching faux pa yesterday when we stopped on the banks of Lake Nicaragua. Managua can only be described as the Nicaraguan equivalant of Great Yarmouth, the only exception being that they were pumping out obscene levels of Nicaraguan dance music! But there are far worse places to chill than Nicaragua and San Juan del Sur. If you fancy a visit though, I´d get here now as it looks like it could get gringoed pretty quickly and go the same way as a lot of places in Central America!