Pan-American Moto Adventure: Just a bit more on Nicaragua

I am not going to say Nicaragua was not stressful, but it is important that everybody understands that it was not like what you saw on the news.

We met several people that made it through headed north as we were about to head south and everything indicated that we were going to be safe. We knew what to expect and we knew what it was going to be to get around it. We were lucky to meet two more riders headed south and we rode as a group. We also had an extra day in Honduras just to get everything ready.

Out of respect for the situation, we kept all of the cameras put away and there is not as much to show.

Even though everything was as we expected, it definitely elevates your blood pressure to see it in person. At no time did I feel threatened or unsafe, but the locals certainly did. The issues centered around the places where the protesters and the police were in the same place. That is when the violence really sprung up and you could tell people were scared. Otherwise, it was mostly a traffic flow issue.

Scared or not, the number of tranques throughout the country kept growing. They are serious about their plight. The beef, fortunately, was between the people and the government. Once they knew we were just travelers passing through they were very good about letting us through.

The first few were really intense. Guys wore masks and carried home made guns. They searched us and our bags for weapons, but then they gave us directions and sent us on our way. Later on, the tranques become less formal. At one, about two dozen people came over to check out our bikes and the main guy just fist bumped each of us and barely slowed us down.

As it got late in the day we ran into a nasty one. The tranque itself was easy to get around but the route they made you take was a mud pit. I dropped my bike several time. Many locals were just hanging out watching the parade of people and when I dropped my bike they would run to help me get it back up.

The last tranque we hit was difficult to get around. Word on the street was that there was a lot of violence in the neighboring towns, which meant our travel day was over and we had to find a hotel before it started to get dark. The first place we found was an absolute nightmare so we went back into the town. The next place, obviously empty, refused to take us. Apparently the hotels were afraid to take people in. The next place we checked was closed too. We met a guy on the street who suggested another place and they finally let us in.

Not only did they let us in, they were amazing to us. Wonderful hospitality, wonderful food. The experience was an amazing juxtaposition to the rest of the day. What turned out to be the best part, Ryan, of course, was chatting it up with the people in the lobby and managed to find us an escort for the next day.

The escorts were amazing. One guy met us at the hotel in a truck and he took us through two towns and we managed to avoid all road blocks and take just one unpaved road. He left us to get to the next city on our own where a guy an a motorcycle met us. He took us around Rivas, a real hotspot, and left us basically on the road to the border. The route we took this day was so free and clear of dangers that you would never know what was happening. It was amazing, easy and stress free.

It was beautiful.

6/12, our bikes, ready to roll!

6/12, getting Nicaraguan burritos. (They were empenadas...) Super delicious.

6/12. Jeremey's bike died... at a tranque. We stopped at the first bike shop we could find in a reasonable looking town. Turned into a couple of hour delay but its better than his bike not starting at a tranque again.

6/12, the working bikes hanging out across the street.

6/12, might as well get Ryan's bike worked on while they worked on Jeremy's. Free of charge, no less. I cannot stress enough how good to us the Nicaraguans were.