Road Trip
I had the most hilarious road trip yesterday. I went to Matagalpa, but this time my friends Carlos and Edwin (yes he´s Nicaraguan) offered to give me a ride. I was quite happy at the offer because taking the bus for 6 hours in one day is no fun and its also really hot and sweaty and dusty and dirty...you get the idea.
So Carlos said he would pick me up at 10 am, sharp. At 11:30 they arrive, complete with Carlos´s mom and an unidentified little girl. The car is a beater, and it really needs a muffler. Which means that I couldn´t understand anything that anyone was saying to me. But I did realize that we were on the road to Managua and not Matagalpa...turns out Carlos and company had errands to run there. No worries, we did the errands and then back to Masaya at 1 pm. We dropped off Carlos´s mom and the little girl...at 1:30ish we left again for Matagalpa.
Now, I want you to picture this car. I have no idea what year it was made or any details like that. What I do know is that the motor was putting out so much heat that my feet and legs got really hot. Windows down of course because there is no AC and its hot hot hot here, and radio blasting to overcome the noise of the unmuffled car. We saw a roadside stand and Carlos pulled over to buy watermelon. Blissful. It is also important to note that I was wearing white pants. Luckily, Carlos had an extra hankerchief to keep me from getting watermelon juice all over myself. So we continued along the highway listening to 70s music.
At a little more than halfway, the highway gets really really bad. Potholes are everywhere, and basically you just bump along for an hour or so. The views are incredible by the way. As we were going up one of the hills, a car came up next to us like they were going to pass us and handed Carlos the hubcap that had just fallen off. Nice.
As we arrived in Matagalpa the boys were asking how to get to San Ramon. ¨Pass the last gas station, take a right.¨ Interesting...how are we to know what is the last gas station? Anyway, we´re going along and all the sudden Carlos pulls over without explination. Edwin and I ask him whats up and he says that the clutch isn´t working...so luckily we were near a mechanic and asked for help. He directed us across the street to what I will call the car graveyard.
This car graveyard was every stereotype you could ever have of mechanics...men covered in grease taking cars apart and building them back together. There was a strong smell of oil and grease, and occasionally gasoline when they would try to start one of the cars. One of these nice gentleman told us that we needed a different pipe or something for the clutch, so we waited an hour and a half for the clutch to be fixed. Finally it was fixed and we continued on to San Ramon where I visited the participants, all is well there, and we began our trip back to Masaya.
Our return trip quickly stopped when we ran out of gas in Matagalpa. Luckily we were close to a gas station so Edwin went to get some gas. Carlos and I watched some locals play soccer while we waited. After filling the tank with 30 cordobas of gas, we continued along to a real gas station, put in more gas, and decided to stop to eat, since we hadn´t eaten all day. Tip Top is the national chicken fast food place...and I have to say its actually good. You all know that I don´t like fast food, but its really good there...the chicken is real. Bellies full we returned to the highway.
Going back down the mountain we lost 2 more hubcaps. That would be 3 out of 4 possible hubcaps lost on the highway. Since it was night we couldn´t see the other two, so I´m sure someone was pleased to find hubcaps today. It was pretty impressive because you can see Managua and Masaya from the mountains, city lights shining in the darkness.
Edwin and I were trying to keep Carlos entertained as he was getting tired of all the driving (did I mention no power steering). Carlos pulled over again...no gas. Impossible! Actually no...the car just EATS gas so there we were, arriving to a tiny town with no store lights on, and no gas. So I got in the drivers seat and the boys pushed the car along until we found someone who told us where we could buy some gas. We bought the gas and continued along our way.
We arrived at the entrance to Masaya and we all cheered. I have to say that even though there were quite a few hitches, I really had a good time and laughed at all of our problems. So there you have it...road trippin in Nicaragua.
So Carlos said he would pick me up at 10 am, sharp. At 11:30 they arrive, complete with Carlos´s mom and an unidentified little girl. The car is a beater, and it really needs a muffler. Which means that I couldn´t understand anything that anyone was saying to me. But I did realize that we were on the road to Managua and not Matagalpa...turns out Carlos and company had errands to run there. No worries, we did the errands and then back to Masaya at 1 pm. We dropped off Carlos´s mom and the little girl...at 1:30ish we left again for Matagalpa.
Now, I want you to picture this car. I have no idea what year it was made or any details like that. What I do know is that the motor was putting out so much heat that my feet and legs got really hot. Windows down of course because there is no AC and its hot hot hot here, and radio blasting to overcome the noise of the unmuffled car. We saw a roadside stand and Carlos pulled over to buy watermelon. Blissful. It is also important to note that I was wearing white pants. Luckily, Carlos had an extra hankerchief to keep me from getting watermelon juice all over myself. So we continued along the highway listening to 70s music.
At a little more than halfway, the highway gets really really bad. Potholes are everywhere, and basically you just bump along for an hour or so. The views are incredible by the way. As we were going up one of the hills, a car came up next to us like they were going to pass us and handed Carlos the hubcap that had just fallen off. Nice.
As we arrived in Matagalpa the boys were asking how to get to San Ramon. ¨Pass the last gas station, take a right.¨ Interesting...how are we to know what is the last gas station? Anyway, we´re going along and all the sudden Carlos pulls over without explination. Edwin and I ask him whats up and he says that the clutch isn´t working...so luckily we were near a mechanic and asked for help. He directed us across the street to what I will call the car graveyard.
This car graveyard was every stereotype you could ever have of mechanics...men covered in grease taking cars apart and building them back together. There was a strong smell of oil and grease, and occasionally gasoline when they would try to start one of the cars. One of these nice gentleman told us that we needed a different pipe or something for the clutch, so we waited an hour and a half for the clutch to be fixed. Finally it was fixed and we continued on to San Ramon where I visited the participants, all is well there, and we began our trip back to Masaya.
Our return trip quickly stopped when we ran out of gas in Matagalpa. Luckily we were close to a gas station so Edwin went to get some gas. Carlos and I watched some locals play soccer while we waited. After filling the tank with 30 cordobas of gas, we continued along to a real gas station, put in more gas, and decided to stop to eat, since we hadn´t eaten all day. Tip Top is the national chicken fast food place...and I have to say its actually good. You all know that I don´t like fast food, but its really good there...the chicken is real. Bellies full we returned to the highway.
Going back down the mountain we lost 2 more hubcaps. That would be 3 out of 4 possible hubcaps lost on the highway. Since it was night we couldn´t see the other two, so I´m sure someone was pleased to find hubcaps today. It was pretty impressive because you can see Managua and Masaya from the mountains, city lights shining in the darkness.
Edwin and I were trying to keep Carlos entertained as he was getting tired of all the driving (did I mention no power steering). Carlos pulled over again...no gas. Impossible! Actually no...the car just EATS gas so there we were, arriving to a tiny town with no store lights on, and no gas. So I got in the drivers seat and the boys pushed the car along until we found someone who told us where we could buy some gas. We bought the gas and continued along our way.
We arrived at the entrance to Masaya and we all cheered. I have to say that even though there were quite a few hitches, I really had a good time and laughed at all of our problems. So there you have it...road trippin in Nicaragua.
posted by Jessie at 12:30 PM
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