The Last of the Great Moustacians

Ever wonder where all the stylin moustaches of the 70’s and early 80’s went?
Right here…. Nicaragua. No really….all of them. I would guess that 98% of all men over 20 have them and 25% of all women. We’re talking serious burt reynolds that make Frida’s unibrow look penciled in. I can only assume its because they want to stop the sweat beads on the upper lip from dripping down to their mouths. It is sweat scorcher here if you have any sunlight shining on you.

Whenever we stopped we instantly became crowd favorites and approached by whoever was around. here we were at a roadside bank getting some $$ and it turns out that behind the bank serves as a bus station and meeting place for people. before we knew it the place was filled with cars, people, buses, vendors....all screaming, honking, beeping, whistling...etc. it was chaotic. and then this guapo in the wife beater teeshirt comes up with a posse asking all kinds of questions like everyone does. they are curious which is cool. but zoom in close on the pic to the guys pockets....you see two things....his unzipped pants and red underwear hanging out and the butt of his pistol in his right front pocket. this is nicaragua.

typical semi automatic carrying gas station pump attendant.....

The border crossing from Honduras to Nicaragua was a zoo. Instantly before youre off the bike they come running. Money changers, beggars, “official border crossing helpers” insurance guys, hotel guys, whatever. At one time I had a good 10 around me within 2 ft all talking/ yelling over one another. The stress builds quickly, but its reassuring that the police have a station there.Couple hours and I was thru to Nicaragua. Which is a solid contrast from Hondo. Much cleaner, friendly people, lots of opportunity and interest here I think. Still stunning landscape and the temperature rose very quickly. Made our way to Granada pretty quickly until the last 10 miles before reaching the city it started to dump. DUMP! here comes the rain. here is the rain.

I had already taken my rain gear off because I was too hot and it looked clear. As it goes that was a mistake again. Within seconds I was head to toe drenched, couldn’t see a thing and pulled in to a gas station for some cover. Was there for about 30 minutes and experienced the loudest thunder of my life. Bone cracking, ear piercing as if someone stuck a couple m80 firecrackers in your ears and just as they were going off youre spooked by someone creeping up on you. Time after time. It was wild.
Made it into Granada and going to stay here for a day before heading to Costa Rica. favorite thing about Nicaragua are the roads, best in all of central america.....perfectly paved.

smoking volcano on the side of the road near Granada. there are quite a few of active volcanos around here.