Beat the system in Nicaragua and smiling in Esteli

Wednesday 15 June 2011

    I didn't want to give up and was convinced, I could get across at another border point, the only problem was to get to the other border, El Espino,  that it was a day of riding in a circle almost and had to pass through Tegucigalpa and you only ended up about 40 miles south west from Los Manos. There was not even a dirt road, so about 8 hours later we ended up in El Espino, the border crossing with Nicaragua. We were out of Honduras in no while and over the bridge was Nicaragua with there Immigration and Customs facilities. We were drilled about why we crossed yesterday in Los Manos and making up a story and explaining them we were refused because of Scotty's title papers, which were not in his name, but in the Company he owns and  had to go to Tegus to get papers fixed up and from there it was shorter to El Espino. I know the guy didn't really believed us, but our story matched up and after receiving all the paperwork we left in the rain, what kept everybody in, waived towards the police at the last checkpoint and continued without stopping and thought to myself "I got you this time"

The mandatory insurance for the bikes , we bought yesterday, was good for 30 days, so we did not had to renew it and had to pay the $ 12.00 tourist tax again

Wall mural in the hotel

After 2 hours in a small drizzle we reached Esteli, a fairly good size city, we obeyed all signs and the speed limit, to avoid getting pulled over close to the border. Checked in the fanciest Hotel so far, with all the good stuff, including chocolate on your pillow case for less as $25.00 a night.

Had a few beers and laughed about our last tricks on the border and wondered if all the other countries would give us the same hassle.