Playa Madera, San Juan del Sur

Due to a really bad connection, which made it almost impossible to upload pictures, I'll make quick comments about these ones : We stayed two full days at a hard-to-reach beach. We got there late at night, so we could not see the view, but here is the view once the dorm room is open (true!)

My fat toes sunbathing....

first sunset

Arnaud going for his sunset swim!

Another view from the dorm room.

Last sunset (sunday night).

We had to walk to another beach to get a ride from a pickup to San Juan del Sur, and then to Omotepe island!!

Granada

After our morning visit of Managua, we headed south to Granada. The feeling there is very, very different. Many beautiful old colonial buildings are still present in the center, making it a primary touristic spot in Nicaragua (which is not necessarily a good thing...).

We stayed in a nice hostel, cheap, with hammocks around the swimming pool, and a good party on Wednesday.

And in the lost&found category :

Managua

So we spent a night in Managua... (Just to follow the "dont stay in capitals advice"). Thing is, the bus got late again... There are very few tourists in Managua, but it is very different from Tegucigalpa. There's much more space between buildings, and the feeling of insecurity is much lesser. Revolution is all over the place, as proves the next picture (does that look like christmas spirit to you?)

Just as Tegucigalpa, the last earthquake (1972) has left strong marks. The clock of this chuch is still stuck on the time of the earthquake.

The government is trying as hard as it can apparently. On the 5th, all kids were invited to the capital for partying. Free transportation, free food, free rollercoasters for everyone! ( I would not go on one of the rollercoasters we saw though...)

Extra stop : Tegucigalpa

Today, we tried to make it from Copán to Managua in a day... With a stop in Tegucigalpa. We had not anticipated that the bus from Tegucigalpa to Managua would be full (only 2 seats left, not enough...). So here we are, in Tegucigalpa for 24 hours. The first impressions came from a so-called Charlie :

Welcome to Honduras!

Where are you from?

Do you have 5 dollars?

We'll be on the bus to Managua tomorrow, we want to avoid staying too long here, as there's not much to see and the safety record is not optimal...
Pictures are coming up sooooon....

Ok, that was actually yesterday, but we're safe in Managua now, so no worries :-P

Copán Ruinas, Honduras

After the great New Year´s Eve party that we had in Antigua, it was time to get to the next step of our trip : Honduras !
We had another 6-hour shuttle bus drive to reach the border.

After a great night of sleep in La Manzana Verde hostel, we went for a visit of the famous Copán Ruinas :

This former kingdom-city used to be the so-called "Paris of the Mayas", due to its rich sculptures and culture, until it suddenly collapsed in the 8th century DC...

On the way back we got to see some beautiful macaws (aras en francais) :

After the visit, we spent a great night in Copán Ruinas (new city) with some British, American, Austrian, Australian and Lettonian backpapers that we met on the bus and at the hostel.
Unfortunately, this remote city was not that active at night and we had to wake up at 4am the following day to catch a bus to Tegucigalpa, so we decided to give Pierre a joker birthday night in the next city with a decent night life !