Yesterday, it took me all day using 5 buses to get to Esteli´ Nicaragua but Wow, what a cool little town. Nicaraguans, in general, seem a lot more friendly than Hondurans, however, they could use some spanish lessons from the Guatemalans! They eliminate the letter S in their words and it really throws me off ... especially when they speak 100 miles an hour. The border crossing up at Los Manos was really easy and the border officials were the friendliest so far, being sure to speak slow enough for the Gringo.

On the bus to Esteli´, I bought a bag of cookies from one of the vendors that frequently board any and all buses. I guess I was expecting something more like mom´s christmas cookies but what I got I immediately named the "anti-cookie". It was everything a cookie should be ... except it had NO sugar and tasted more like a dog biscuit. And that´s exactly where they went .. to the stray dogs of the community. This, however, created a new set of problems by making a dozen new unwanted friends that followed me everywhere.

Food here is slightly different. In Guatemala, I mostly ate chicken, beans, and rice. My diet in Honduras altered a bit with rice, beans and chicken. Here in Nicaragua, however, it seems to be beans, chicken and rice. I´m so thankful for the variety. Thank god for beer!!!!

Found a scorpion hanging out on my backpack this morning when I woke up. Time to start checking shoes and everything before using them. I´ll have to do pictures later.