How in the heck do we do this? How can we possibly take all day to go 55 kilometers? It just doesn’t make sense.
We didn’t get out of Managua til late – our bikes were at the church at the south side of town but we were staying on the north side. By the time we got transported back to our bikes, got everything packed up, and said our goodbyes to Pastor Adolfo and all the wonderful people at the church, it was around 10:00 in the morning.
50 km to go – normal cyclists would arrive in Grenada by 1:00 or 2:00 at the latest. But then – we never claimed to be normal cyclists…
So how in the heck do we manage to fritter away the whole day? We see a place on the side of the road where people are bringing their fruit to the truck driver and we stop to talk with them. We find a bus stop with a supermarket right across the street so we run over and buy a rotisserie chicken, a bunch of bananas, and chocolate milk and hang out at the bus stop to eat. We stop at an American-owned bike store on the side of the road and talk with the owner who came to Nicaragua in the 80’s to help out the Sandinistas and never left. While at that bike store, we meet up with another long-distance cyclist and spend tons of time talking with him.
And so it was that we pulled in to Grenada late in the afternoon and headed over to Hosanna Church – the same church we spent so much time at in Managua. Once there, Mauricio guided us over to the fire station where we were to spend the night – and got there just shortly before dark!
I don’t really mind frittering away the day like that – it’s actually the best way to travel. “Normal” cyclists don’t do it, but then – why would one want to be normal?
Kilometers today: 55
Kilometers to date: 13521
Pastor Adolfo and his sister Maribel at the church
David from Recyclingtheworld
Moving the house by horsecart
The sign says – If you do it for your country, you do it for God
John talking with a truck driver who hauls fruit up to Honduras
People haul their fruit to the road any way they can
The firemen gave us a ride into the center of town
The kids got quite a kick out of wearing fireman hats!
Normal is highly over-rated, in my opinion. Your way sounds much more lovely!
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