The journey to Nicaragua is long and windy. Our 1230pm bus was fully booked and left us with no choice but to take the 2pm bus. By the time we reached the border, it was dark. So, after clearing immigration, we stayed at Rivas, a small town near to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
Central America’s hospitality of the people really inspired us throughout our trip there. Although we are total strangers and cannot speak a word of Spanish, they welcomed us nevertheless. In Rivas, where we stayed for a night before arriving at Granada, we were warmly welcomed. The local bus took us to Granada for a nominal fee although the distance is 70km.
We stayed at Hotel Plaza Colon which is exactly opposite La Asuncion (the Cathedral as they call it). The gorgeous architecture of the colonial city is something we look forward to. Besides, Lake Nicaragua is just a few hundred meters away (walking distance). The whole area is well developed and there are many shops and restaurants along the broad boulevard leading to the lake. We had our dinner before going back to the hotel.
The bus station to Managua is just in front of Hotel Plaza Colon, a refurbished building in the colonial city. It took us one and half hour to reach Managua. Even though it is the capital of Nicaragua, Managua is not that impressive but the broad boulevards leading to Lake Managua from the city centre is fully decorated with many figurines and Christmas themed lightings and songs. For Roman Catholics, it is mecca! We spent several hours here before calling it a night!
Honduras
The journey from Managua to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras is quite long. It took us approximately 8 hours and by the time we reached Tegucigalpa, it was dark. We took our dinner and went back to hotel to rest as we were tired from the whole day of sitting in the bus. The place that we stayed in, Hotel Plaza San Martim at Colonia Palmira at a hilltop has a commanding view of the city.
Early next day, I went out to explore the city. One thing that caught my attention was the huge number of security personnel and policeman (fully armed with pistols, plus machine guns) and bullet proof vests on. “Wow! It is really that serious”, I was telling myself when it comes to security here. In San Miguel Cathedral at Central Park, more police officers were detected. However, I must add that the people moved freely.
The Los Dolores Cathedral was impressive, and so is the San Miguel Cathedral. Both are crowded with people although it is a Thursday. From my observation, tourism is not doing well here although the USA is less than five hours away. Coffee is one of their major exports but their prices are not stable.
Comparatively speaking, Malaysia is much better in many ways. In Malaysia, tourism is booming; natural resources like oil and gas are abundant. Export of electric and electronic goods are doing well. Beside we also have timber, palm oil and rubber among others. Malaysians, please thank our lucky star!
El Salvador
We are moving further north today. The one and only bus from Pullmantur departs Tegucipalpa at 530am and expected to arrive at 130pm at San Salvador. El Salvador has seven million people, of which about 10% are pure European stock like other Central American countries, the majority are mestizo – a mixture of European (Spanish) and indigenous people.
We found that El Salvador has the highest minimum wages among Central American countries. The informal sector of the economy is very huge – we found petty traders are everywhere especially around main transport hubs, markets and in front of shops. Agriculture is thriving as it is plentiful and very rich, like goat milk (freshly pressed) is something unique and very warm and tasteful. We found there is a pattern to most Central American countries – each has a huge theatre, one huge Cathedral and a few smaller ones.
There is one gigantic national palace museum (probably the former residence of the most important official of the country) and historically, there would be a small ruling class with small middle class, and the rest being peasants. However, places outside the city centre are the new growth areas and are more modern and have most of the facilities like new hotels, infrastructures, shopping malls etc.
Guatemala
We took an executive coach from San Salvador to Guatemala City, about five hours away. The immigration procedures of both countries are very smooth. Passengers do not even have to get down the bus for customs and immigration checkings, however, I must add that we have all given passport details before purchasing the bus tickets. Guatemala City is located at a very high altitude, 5000ft above sea level. So regardless of the time of the year it is very cold and pleasant.
We took a taxi to the historic centre of the city the following day. Surprisingly, it was very clean, tidy and well organised. The people are decently dressed like middle class citizens. We were at the constitutional square, most of the important institutions of earlier years were there – National Palace (now the Cultural National Palace and museum); the metropolitan Cathedral among others which were all very impressive! We went back to the hotel early to rest.
Later, we were introduced to one of the best Chinese restaurants – P F Chong. Delicious food with pleasing ambience, what a way to end the evening! The drive to Antigua (a UNESCO World Heritage site) was quite short (almost one hour). Our hotel was very close to the Historic Centres of the city. Antigua is a small and very historical city. It is very beautiful. We explored the city, every corner of it and were impressed. The next day, we took a bus to the airport in Guatemala and flew to Houston, Texas en-route to Kuala Lumpur.
