Toot, Toot -- in the land of bushorns and beans...

I guess Canada is in the other half of countries-- the ones that don´t believe in frequent us of car and bus horns. It is probably because automobiles don´t do much road sharing with other vehicles at home. I know I am travelling when I hear the constant tooting of horns. No one seems to mind the noise here.

We have been spending a lot of time on buses because Charles is insistent we get to the far end of our journey licketysplit and then (maybe) spend more time on the return trip. We were up and headed for the bus by 7.30 this morning. We decided to get a start on the day and eat in Managua. Ha Ha. We ended up at one bus terminal in the middle of nowhere and ran away quickly to avoid the taxi drivers. Up and over the pedestrian bridge and onto a local bus which took us to the next dusty bus terminal in the middle of nowhere. It was at least in a market so I grabbed a banana (5 cents) to tide me over and we jumped on a bus for Esteli. We arrived here by noon when we finally got our breakfast. I think we will try to do this most of the time...except maybe eat something first. I have a horror of arriving late in places, born of bitter experience. Charles thinks this is because I am a girl but it is more that I have slept in cars and on floors of terminals of various descriptions in the past and I am way too old to do that anymore. It is also just too darn difficult to navigate in the dark when you don´t know where you are or understand anyone.

I don´t mind spending several hours a day on buses (yet). I find the scenery endlessly fascinating. We seem to be getting mostly mercedes benz buses for between cities and school buses for shorter distances. Nothing is very expensive. We went for 2 hours today on a relatively comfortable bus for only $3 each. So far it has been no real sweat finding our way around and where to catch the buses. Thank goodness for the guidebook with its maps though. I don´t know how Charles usually does it without the book.

We are firmly in the land of rice and beans. Every meal has them as a base. You should hear our room first thing in the morning. You can imagine what I am talking about I am sure. Today we have a room with cable TV. Heather could be watching all her usual shows right now. Charles could be watching Arsenal football and I could be watching Law and Order...but we are in a cybercafe instead. Off to Honduras tomorrow.....