San Juan to León

Saturday, January 26, 2013

You know when you have those days that you just want to skip because it's just not a good day? That is how Saturday was for me...

Two and a half hours of sleep wasn't the smartest choice we have made on this trip, and seemed even worse when the alarm went off! We slowly, but surely, got out of bed, grabbed our things, and headed for the bus, which was thankfully right outside Nina's door!

Like Zombies, we loaded up and onto the bus for Managua and waited for take off. I tried to sleep the best I could in an upright and squished bus seat bumping and rolling through the country side. The only time we really had to wake up and be functioning was when the guy came around collecting money for tickets and luggage. We had been told boarding the bus that it would only be seventeen cordobas (about sixty cents or so) to put our backpack up top, and now he was saying fifty. Niki and I were so tired and cranky that we questioned it of course, but then just paid it because we didn't even have the energy to argue.

As we approached Managua, the girls told me to get ready because our stop was coming up. This time we had paid for our bags above the bus ahead of time so there was no confusion. Getting off the bus, the guys started throwing down our bags to a guy on the ground who then proceeded to throw them right into a taxi trunk, of course all while three other men are in our faces rambling "Taxi, taxi, taxi!" Ugh! It was only 9 am and we were running on two hours of sleep....I was so close to throwing some elbows and screaming "ESPERA!" (Wait!) Haha.

Once we figured out taxis, (even though we really had no choice in the matter), we piled in and headed to another bus station. On the way there, the three Spanish speaking girls confirmed over and over that the 100 cordobas was in total and not an individual price. "Si, si, si!" the taxi driver assured us with a smiling face. It came up in conversation amongst us girls about them charging as much as they did for putting our bags up top on the last bus. Nicki and Erin put up a fight and he was fine with them just paying seventeen like we had originally been told. I was so irritated at the fact that they screwed Niki and I over like that. It's so annoying that they can just verbally raise prices like that on us. My aggravation was on the rise again.

We unloaded at the loud and chaotic station and slipped and slid on the rain soaked and muddy street to get our things. As the driver helped us get our bags onto our backs he was telling us the total was four hundred cordobas, which was 100 per girl. Now extremely irritated, we refused. The girls had confirmed with him over and over in the car that it was one hundred cordobas "en total" (in total) and he kept telling us yes. Now, on a rainy and muddy street, he was demanding four out of us. It's like some of these dudes just wait until you are at the most stressed an chaotic point of your day's journey to hit you with an outrageous price in hopes that you will just hand it over to shut them up. That was not the case for Niki James! Haha! Once we got all of our things, she handed him one hundred cordobas and we walked off as he continued to talk.

We had to cross in front of his taxi while he waited for foot traffic to clear and when Niki and I were still in front of his hood, he gassed it forward, attempting to bump Niki with his headlight. She yells something at him through the windshield, gives him both her middle fingers and we continue into the crowd.

Stomping through verbal advertising and people all over, we made it to another bus. Loading onto that bus, we looked like tired and angry wrecks. The back of our legs were covered with black mud from our flip flops flinging it up on us, accompanied by the irritated scowls on our faces.

Our bus trip from Managua to León, was better. I tried to use it as a meditation and cool down segment for myself because I was so annoyed by the mornings occurances so far. I'm pretty sure it took a couple of hours before we reached León and were back on the streets. I was confused as to why we were always being dropped off a little bit outside of town and was convinced that they purposely do it so we have to pay for a taxi. I know that probably isn't true, but by that point, we were so used to being screwed on prices, that I was starting to think that was the case.

This time, instead of paying for a taxi, we decided to walk to our hostel, because the locals that we asked always made it sound like it wasn't far. Long story short, after walking for almost an hour with our heavy backpacks, we made it to a hostel. León was a lot like Granada with its colonial-like appearance.

We checked in at a hostel we were told about by an American guy that stopped us on our walk there. He was the owner of the hostel and lured us in with his comment about loft dorms with an open breeze and no walls as well as the two free drink tokens we get at check-in.

It was about one thirty and we hadn't eaten anything since the granola bar on the first bus, so we ordered some quick food from the hostel's restaurant. I mustered up the last bit of energy I had to chew my food and walk up the stairs to crash on my bunk. The plastic mattress wrapper crinkled under my bright blue sheets as I climbed in and a slight breeze came through our dorm.

At home, I am not a napper, but it was much needed that day. I was tired, crabby, stressed, and most of all, really starting to miss home! I shot my mom a quick message on Skype to let her know we made it, put my earbuds in, turned on some music and started to drift off to sleep. One song came on that allowed some suppressed tears from the day to roll from my eyes as I thought about home and my journey and how far I've come in the past two years. Traveling makes you think about EVERYTHING! Super emotional and tired, I fell fast asleep and didn't wake up for over four hours.

I woke to the sound of conversations and laughter downstairs, gathering for the six o'clock barbecue we had purchased with our one night stay. Super hot and sweaty from the hot dorm, I looked at the other bunks and my friends had already headed down so I figured I should probably follow suit.

Like a little kid that had just woken up from a long nap, I sat at the picnic table with the girls, rubbed my sleepy eyes and slowly woke up. Hostel staff came around with spicy Doritos and guacamole for an appetizer while we journaled, blogged and read.

The girls chit chatted with some other travelers while I moved to the hammock to continue working on my blog which was over a week behind now. Rain made "tink tink tink" noises on the metal roof above us and made small little rings in the courtyard pool. At about eight o'clock, our food was finally ready and totally worth the wait. The hostel had slowly grilled a few beer can chickens and made pasta salad to accompany it. Dinner also included a free rum and Coke. San Juan del Sur had gotten the best of me, so I ordered one and told them to hold the rum :)

After dinner, I took a quick and yes, very cold shower, and got right into my pajamas. Pajamas that night consisted of the tank top and shorts I'd be wearing on the bus the next day so that I didn't have to do much in the morning except brush my teeth. It was kind of nice to do a one night stay like this, because I barely even had to break into my backpack.

I climbed into bed and logged back into Skype. My mom was awesome and had gone over to Nana and Grandpa's that day to help them get into Skype so I saw that Grandpa's status was finally set as "online". Feeling very homesick from our stressful day, I was so excited to call them! I've never lived more than ten minutes from my Nana and Grandpa and usually talk to them everyday, so two and a half weeks felt like an eternity. It felt so good to hear my Grandpa's voice inside my headphones laughing and greeting me with, "Samantha Bailey!" My bad day, was instantly turned around as I talked with him and Nana. My conversation was cut short due to an unexpected disconnection, but I was thankful for the thirty minutes I got to talk with them.

I got to Skype with my mom for a bit after that too. I got to see my beebee Alice through webcam and teared up the most with her. It's crazy how much I miss her! Leaving for this trip, I had prepared myself for missing her, but it's crazy how much that pup weighs on my mind! Makes a few tears fall even writing about it. Mom and dad were just hanging on the couch when I Skyped them, so Alice was passed out next to her papa. She picked up her head when I called her name and I got to see my baby's little eyes sparkle from the glow of the screen. I cannot WAIT to squeeze her and cover her with kisses when I get home!

I finished up my conversation with my mom, set my alarm for the morning and dozed back off to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would be way better.

Photos:
No photos for today because I was so grumpy and didn't really hope to remember any of that day :)