At the Panama Canal Expansion the journey ends :(
The four amigos
Virugon: Granada’s local cuisine made from crispy pig skin, vinegar, tomatoes and cassava
Granada - Nicaragua
Vaya Con Dios had to conquer the beast- at least one active volcano in Central America. The ascent of Pacaya was rewarding as we felt the steam escaping the fissures and saw the remains of the pyrochlastic flows. Nature was alive beneath our feet. Goodbye Antigua and we headed to La Libertad.
La libertad was supposed to be a ‘must see’ but for Vaya Con Dios, it was a ‘must leave.’ The guards with machetes and empty roads at night signalled that we should have a brief stay.
Deapite the dangers, it was good to know that Dom and Zeca are as attractive to women AND men in Central America as they are to the Philadelphian men and women. Unfortunately, these guys were unwilling to ‘take one for the team’ and get free meals for Mariana and myself. Their girlfriends should be proud.
From the beaches of La Libertad, we moved to the mountains of Perquin. Perquin was a guerilla stronghold and we were fortunate to interview an ex-guerilla and a policeman who grew up during that time. We were moved by the pictures and stories in the museum. One female ex-guerilla was our age!
From Perquin, we began our trek to Nicaragua through Honduras. Welcome to the wonderful world of corruption Central American style! Cops who wanted money for some water :-s Thirteen USDollars and five police stops later, we left Honduras behind.
Nicaragua. At last. In contrast to Honduras, people wanted to help for FREE. One man rode his bicycle ahead of our van for about a kilometre. This restored our faith in mankind.
One great part of being with Vaya Con Dios is that as a team we all compare and contrast what we see in each Central American country. For example, we went to a Catholic Mass in Antigua. After mass, we compared our experiences in Brazil, Venezuela, Australia and Trinidad and Tobago.
This is truly an experiential learning class at Wharton and Lauder.
With some relief, we got out of Honduras and into Nicaragua.
Although only in Honduras for a few hours we were hussled for two bribes by corrupt cops.
The first of our bribes extorted by fat, corrupt, lazy Honduran cops.
Oh the things you see when you forget to bring a .50 cal Browning….
El Salvador-Honduras border crossing. A sign of things to come….
La Libertad. A failed town.