A drive through Nicaragua

Bright morning sky in Managua.

After another breakfast of gallo pinto (rice and beans), I found this quiet place to sit in.

A nearby tree was full of these things. Is it a breadfruit tree?

A few hours later, a shuttle full of surfers and backpackers came by. This was my ride- $25 for a 3-hour trip south. We stopped first in Granada to drop travelers off at hostels, and then in San Jorge for two couples to catch a ferry to the island of Ometepe. The final stop was out on the Pacific coast, in San Juan del Sur. The shuttle is a really good deal, because it felt more like a day tour than just transportation. To connect directly to the coast will cost between $40 and $100 (the latter if you're traveling alone at night.)

Here are a few pictures from the road:

Granada.

Granada, edge of the main square.

Driving through a market in Granada.

Market.

Guard dog.

More scenes from Granada + Erwin, our driver.

On the way out of Granada.

Graveyard outside Granada.

Near the ferry terminal in San Jorge. The woman on the pink billboard is the vice president of Nicaragua and wife of the president, Daniel Ortega. He has been president since 2006 and was re-elected yesterday.

And then, we arrived to the beach :)