The night bus to Nicarauga was much better than I expected. We even had a police escort right to the Nicaraguan boarder as in previous years there had been muggings on the way - the company we travelled with "Gekko" had been mugged 3 times! (Hence the police escort). It was a shuttle bus but it was quite comfortable and the seats could recline plus it wasn't as cold with blasting AC from the usual night buses. In addition, the driver helped us out a the borders taking our passports and getting them all checked out for us - our names were already on the list so it avoided queuing times too. I managed to sleep through the night and kept awake during the day by snacking and taking in the beautiful scenery.

The borders were an interesting experience, El Salvador deserted at 4am, Honduras with armed police and Nicaragua with an old man in a cap waving us through. We stopped at petrol stations and Burger King (how cultural) and the journey was over before we knew it. We also had the added luck of having a girl from Nicaragua on the bus explaining everything to us like currencies and arrival time, she even worked in the partner hostel of "Bigfoot" where we were staying in Leon and showed us where it was. Kirby and Shane stayed in dorms for $8 with AC and myself and Dave stayed in a private room for $12 each (with no AC!) We booked in for the Pacaya volcano boarding the next day at 9am for $29 and went out to the neighbouring hostel "Via Via" for a delicious steak for $6 (well worth the money for boiled potatoes!) The 2 revellers had drinks in the lobby and we went to bed.