A Nicaraguan night story

Well, after a very hot and tiring journey of 2 days, we made it alright to Granada, Nicaragua. Alright is maybe a little exaggerated, because Lara, Eddie and especially myself had our share of classic travel troubles on this one. First of all, I was smart enough to put my travel alarm to 4.45 PM instead of AM, so we nearly missed our ferry to the main land from Roatan! And evenmore, in the rush to get all my stuff in less than 5 min (I used to think I was good at it, but now I think again!), I left my MP3 player in the dorm where I was staying... I found out in the taxi, but it was already too late to get back. So after moving lakes and volcanoes arriving in Tegucigalpa (the Honduras' capital - never go there unless you REALLY have to, it's nothing but misery and crime) to get a phone that was working, I eventually got in touch with the hotel, and no kidding, they had found it and were keeping a hold onto it! They're even prepared to mail it home to Belgium! Well, if it ever gets there, I'll change my mind about Central American efficiency and work ethics for sure! Anyways, I say this on a slight ironic and etnocentric tone, because the rest of the journey was quite something totally 'Latino flavored' as well. Like I said, Tegucigalpa wasn't much, not even for the crooks, but most for the overfriendliness of the hotel staff at the San Pedro hostal : Eddie, Lara and me held points on how many smiles we could score with the ladies, I won with 3 (mind you, all in the morning!). I think they had vinegar for breakfast. Somehow, it reminded me a lot of Roatan hotel people, do they even bother? It almost seems they don't like business, or they got bored with it a very long time ago. Maybe it's because I am travelling with two very outspoken 'no nonsense' Aussies, but at times I also just get fed up with too many slow and inefficient people around here. Sometimes it's just surrealistic : a place promisingly called Todo de pollo in Tegus didn't have any chicken, just ice cream! So then, just desperate, we ended up in a Chinese restaurant, which turned out to have yummie 'huuuge poorrtions' (dixit Eddie). Other annoyances are usually hanging around like mosquitos when you cross borders : a classic hassle trick of most bus 'guides' is to come round for the passports and tell you that you have to pay X $ at the border. Try it yourself, pass with your own passport to get your stamps, and you will find out they more or less overcharge a whole bus of 50 people about 5$ per person! Easy money! And the thing is, when they find out you found out, they get into all kind of excuses and apologies. Like they charge that extra money for 'quick service'. Pathetic. Oh well! Luckily, there's always a way around these things, a beer and laugh usually does it. And all the other good travel experiences and smiles you get outweigh by far the annoying ones. But it's a FACT : not soccer but CORRUPTION is sport number 1 around here.Anyways, like I said, there are so many other very good things here, that work very well, such as the Internet for example : at the Bearded Monkey, where I am staying, you can call to Europe over the Internet for no more than 20 eurocent a minute! On a perfect line. The food is often yummie. Busses are good as well, have been eversince Mexico. And then Nicaragua! Surprising beauty of the rich colonial town of Granada (founded by the Spanish in 1524), much like other 'old' cities such as Antigua, San Cristobal or Campeche. Nice and hot! And blessed with a great heritage of the Sandinistas, namely free health care for everyone! Something I was confronted with the first night I was here, after falling out my 2m high bunk bed (I was dreaming I was going to be crushed by a huge bus so I jumped away - must be those fricking malaria pills), hitting my head against a locker and busting my back pretty bad on the hard tile floor. Apparently, I was out of it all for a minute or two, and by the time the others in the dorm had woken up and put the light on, I was moaning in foetus position, covered in blood. It all looked a lot worse than it actually was, because by the time they got me into the ambulance and to the hospital, I sort of knew I didn't have anything serious. In the end, they cleaned out my head wound (which didn't need any stitching) and took 2 X-rays of my back (with a brand new SIEMENS machine), and the Cuban doctor told me I was fine. Just take it easy and rest, and that was it. And I even didn't have to pay anything! Viva la Revolucion! The American and Israeli girl who were with me (the Israeli girl gave me first aid, she just got out of two years of military service, so she has seen worse) were even more astonished than I was. So, for the moment, I am walking around like a 80 year old, living on a strict backpacker's diet of hammock rest, pool, scrabble, NBA basketball on satellite TV, rental movies, painkillers, lovely Latinas serving me food, beer and internet. Life could be worse hehe. My next move will be when my back is a full 100% again, I don't want to go moaning when Leen gets to Costa Rica in another 10 days. Hopefully, by the weekend, I will be able to get my backpack on again, and head down to Isla de Ometepe, the nature pearl of Nicaragua. And then after that some more beach with Eddie, maybe surf some if my back is up to it. Take care!