Nicaragua!!

Nicaragua grew on us.  From humble beginnings in the mountains to finding our happy place on a beach we fell in love with this country.  We may have hit a bit of a breaking point in Leon but after a quick recharge we were able to rally and sand board down volcanos, see lava and explore quaint cities (and even being swarmed by a church group).  This is definitely one country we could return to especially since we were unable to explore Ometepe Island.

April 20^th – Feeling like true overlanders again

 

Before going to bed last night, the women who owned the restaurant asked if we wanted any coffee in the morning and we said sure that we would be happy to purchase some.  It seems as soon as she saw us wake up and leave the van she started preparing the most delicious cup of coffee for each of us.  She even asked how we wanted it prepared.  The coffee was everything we would have wanted and even came with some biscuits, the only “issue” is that she didn’t want us to pay for it.  The coffee, biscuits and the camping were all free.  She just wanted to make sure people had a good impression of her country.  We can easily say she gave us a great first impression; Mission Accomplished.

We explored Ocotal and neighbouring communities and even tried to go to a few places where coffee beans are harvested, assuming we could see the process and have more coffee, but these of course are industrial places with security, they did not let us in.

We ended up driving to a lake in a “fresh” area of the country (at least this is how the women who owned the restaurant we spent the night at described it) hoping to keep our trend of keeping ourselves cool by staying in the mountains.  We had planned to stay at a formal campground but missed the turn and ended up at the public dock which was pretty much empty except for a giant German Unimog.  Since the German’s appeared to be camping at the dock we decided we would be true overlanders and also camp at the dock. 

Our spot seemed great with an amazing view of Lake Apanas but before we knew it our German friends decided to leave (without saying hello or goodbye) leaving us alone for the night.  Maybe they knew something we didn’t like the plague of bugs that descended upon our campground as soon as it got dark.  We had never seen so many bugs!!  It didn’t take us long to retreat into our van for the night while ensuring all the windows were tightly closed.

 

April 21^st – The best burger of our lives in Coffee Country?!

We woke up planning for a slow start to the day; however, a local ended up coming to where we were camping demanding we pay for the use of the dock.  We didn’t have any money to give him, nor would we have, however once he started to explain that he was starving we decided to repay the hospitality of the woman of the previous night and give him some meat to eat.  He accepted the meat and went on his way. This is when we learned that Nicaragua is the poorest country we would be visiting on our entire Pan-American journey.

The community just south of the lake is Jinotega, the capital of the Jinotega region (same name) which is also the coffee capital of Nicaragua.  We envisioned cafes to enjoy locally harvested coffee everywhere but were surprised to see not a single café.  The only “café” we found was outside of a convivence store which had…amazing coffee.   Our next stop was a view point high above the city which had a good 4x4 road to get to it.  Somehow we thought we could make it, we didn’t!  So, although we didn’t spend as much time in the community of Jinotega, we at least had good coffee!

Our next stop was the community of Matagalpa which had a coffee museum.  Finding parking was a bit of an adventure but after a bit of backtracking we successfully found a spot for the van.  As we walked to the coffee museum Paul thought to throw the garbage out.  Most countries we go to have lots of garbage receptacles in the El Centro areas, but I guess not Nicaragua!  Paul ended up carrying two bags (small grocery sized bags) of garbage throughout the town looking for somewhere to put it.  When we finally made it to the museum Paul gave up and just placed the garbage beside the entrance hoping maybe someone would steal it.

The museum was really interesting, outlining the process of harvesting coffee, the different types of coffee beans and the history of coffee in the region.  Believe it or not, coffee is not native to Central America.

After checking out the coffee museum Paul was “surprised” to see his garbage was exactly where he left it, so he picked it up again and right before getting back to the van found a proper place to put it.

Kendra decided to head to another viewpoint which according to iOverlander was difficult for a 2wd vehicle to drive to, but thankfully this was not our experience and we finally reached a viewpoint of the area, which even had a restaurant.  We usually find that restaurants at touristy places tend to be expensive and subpar, but this was not our experience today.  Somehow the burgers were some, if not the best burgers we have ever had.  It sort of blew our minds, if someone would have told us this morning that we would be having the best burgers ever today, we probably wouldn’t have believed them.  So, if you are in Matagalpa, head to La Republica and try the Hamberguesa Don Mauricio, 10/10, or if two patties is too much the classic burger is excellent as well!

Of course, with every high there will eventually be a low, and ours was very shortly after leaving Matagalpa.  We broke the law, we were stuck behind a very slow moving vehicle and passed (with all the other Nicaraguans) on a sold (singular) yellow line.  Well, there happened to be a police officer right in front of us after passing.  We knew we had messed up and apologized hoping we would just get a warning, but the officer said that we broke the law and would have to pay a fine equivalent to $100 CAD.  We were willing to pay.  The issue is that we would have to pay, according to the police officer, in Leon the nearest big city and that to ensure we pay the fine he would be taking Paul’s license and could get it back in 15 days or so.  We spoke back and forth for a bit when finally, he said, give me what you have in your wallet and we can forget this happened.  Thankfully we had the equivalent of $5 in our wallet so we once again bribed the police and we were allowed to leave.

Our night ended at a Cigar factory which allowed overlanders to camp for free, but usually with these sorts of arrangements you’re expected to help out the business. So, for the same price as our police bribe Paul had purchased a cigar, something he hadn’t had since his Cuba days.  He was really overzealous with his smoking and after smoking the whole thing his headrush could only be described as “extreme”.

 

April 22^nd – Finding our Limitations

The area of Esteli is known for its tobacco and cigars, hence why we were able to stay at a cigar factory.   As a nice change we also didn’t stay at this factory by ourselves, friends we had met when we crossed into El Salvador were also there so we spent the morning trading stories and suggestions for the coming days.  One suggestion we got was to head into Esteli for some coffee and food, we even got some good recommendations of where exactly to go.

Esteli was crazy because, as we quickly learned, there was a festival going on.  We wish we could tell you that we explored this festival and had authentic local experiences but we knew we were getting burnt out again and found the festival very loud and overwhelming.  We got the coffee (it was amazing) and quickly left. 

Similarly, to Guatemala, Nicaragua is known for its volcanos so we decided to drive up and camp near a volcano.  We also planned to hike to the crater around sunset to see lava, unfortunately our plans didn’t come to fruition. 

We had read a variety of different reviews of the road up to Telica Volcano and although some said 4x4 is required, other’s implied we, in our dodge grand caravan would make it.  Well, we did need 4x4 because after driving for 15 kilometers we turned the corner and got stuck in volcanic sand. 

We did start the process of trying to get unstuck but thankfully some people on a formal tour to the volcano found us and they decided to help us (because we were blocking the road).  With 3 people pushing the van we were free of our predicament, but before leaving and after we thanked them the tour guide/driver was clear; “this road is for 4x4 only, it gets worse from here, you must leave this area”.

It seemed we had hit a wall; we saw our van’s limitations and were reaching ours.  So, we jumped on booking.com and booked the cheapest dog friendly hotel with parking for three nights in Leon.  We decided we needed a break.

 

April 23^rd – Taking our break

The hotel was really good, it came with breakfast, it had wifi and a pool.  We decided to just spend all our time in the hotel relaxing watching youtube or Netflix and chilling out. 

Our “room” was a thatched roof bungalow with a private outdoor shower(beside the outdoor toilet and sink) and was everything you’d envision a perfect little tropical vacation would look like.  This break was so needed!

 

April 24^th – Exploring Leon

Leon is the third largest city in Nicaragua with a rich history associated with the rebellions against American imperialism.   It’s known as the Liberal city (with Granada being the Conservative city) so we were excited to check it out.

Our first stop was dropping off some laundry meaning we’d have the entire day to explore Leon before returning to pick up our laundry.  Unfortunately, we found Leon a little underwhelming.  Maybe it is because we were still burnt out, or maybe because it was another colonial town after we had already seen so many.  Regardless this one seemed a bit rough around the edges. 

Our favourite part was the Museum of the Revolution which showed the history of Nicaragua starting in the early 1900’s and how they have continually had to fight for their sovereignty against American influences.  The general tone of this museum reminded us of North Korea, as so rarely you go to a museum with a clear villain and pictures of so much death and destruction combined with murals to instil patriotism.  It seems that the revolutionary party is still kind of in power today.  After overthrowing the leader of Nicaragua (placed by the American’s), the Revolutionary party ran the country for 10 years before the FSLN party took over, which has its history all the way back in the early 1900’s and is truly part of the zeitgeist of Nicaragua.  We really can’t tell the difference between the revolutionary party and the FSLN, but you see the FSLN party colours everywhere in Nicaragua (Black and Red symbolising Death and Blood- the revolutionary party’s flag was the same but with a skull on it).  Similar to North Korea government propaganda is everywhere combined with their historical narrative and a call for patriotism.

The best part of the museum is we got a great overview of Leon from the roof of the museum.  This roof was in rough shape.  No regulator would ever allow anyone to step on this roof back in Canada but if it is good enough for Nicaragua its good enough for us, and again the views of Leon, Momotombo Volcano and the volcanoes in the distance were amazing.

We left Leon and returned to our hotel with a couple pizzas (the box said Italian flavour in a Nicaraguanese style) and spent the heat of the day in the pool.  We did think about returning to Leon to see it in the evening but decided that relaxing was far mor enjoyable. Paul did have to return to pick up our laundry, which was not ready, and he said we would return in the morning instead of two hours after the initial scheduled pick up time.

 

April 25^th – EXTREME SAND BOARDING

One of the top things to do in the Leon area is to go to Cerro Negro Volcano and sand board down the volcano.  Well, we couldn’t not do that! We hope you’re not hating the double negatives there! We left the hotel and made our way down roads that gave us flashbacks to our adventure going to Telica Volcano but this time we arrived unscathed.

We were unsure how the process of volcano boarding would work, especially since we were not on a formal tour.  The process to rent the equipment was easy, we were given safety glasses, gloves and denim overalls as well as a sand board to toboggan down the mountain on.  To our surprise we had to hike with all this equipment to the top of the volcano and the hike was nothing to scoff at.

Paul thought it best to take off his shorts and shirt and put on his overalls right away while Kendra hiked her overalls up the mountains.  Each of us think our plan was better, but regardless we were sweating buckets carrying our gear up the mountain.  Thankfully the views were worth it and the videos and pictures of us sand boarding (tobogganing) down a mountain look EXTREME. 

In truth it was a lot of work for a few moments of fun.  We are glad we did it but decided against hiking the 30 or 45 minutes back up the mountain to do it again.

We had originally thought to camp at Cerro Negro but because we had already finished sandboarding and it was already 32 degrees at noon, we decided to leave and camp (as well as enjoy AC in the van as we drove) south. After eating our leftover pizza and sorting out our laundry, which unfortunately is not looking as clean as it usually does when it has been washed, we cranked the AC and hit the road.

We ended up finding a spot near the shores of Lake Xolotlan on the side of Chiltepe Volcano.  The place was almost fine, except we started to hear shooting which freaked us out a bit but it was too late for us to leave without good reason, and the shooting stopped as soon as the sun went down.  If only we had known that we were camping beside a militarized area; however, I’m not sure we would have felt any safer.

 

April 26^th – Detours for Ice Cream, Cheese and Beer

We woke up and left our volcano hideaway and headed towards some communities in the mountains known for dairy which also contained a brewery.  Seemed like the perfect one hour detour.

We left our camping spot and were surprised to immediately see warning signs for a military zone on the other side of the road, the more we drove the more military people we saw, making us first worried we had made a terrible mistake in where we were driving and second glad we had not driven this way to get to our camping spot as we would have turned around and who knows where we would have camped?

The first town we visited was Diriamba which we walked around and where we purchased some cheese.  The owner of the queseria even allowed us to try different types before purchasing. 

Our next stop should have been the brewery, but it never materialized.  We followed google, waze, and facebook and any other bit of information to find its location but in the end gave up after multiple failed attempts.

 Our final stop on our detour was the community of Jinotepe, known for its sweets and ice cream.  We indulged in the best rice pudding we had ever had and ice cream that Nicaraguans travels hours on the weekend to get.  The whole time we were in the ice cream place we saw a constant stream of people coming and ordering 4 to 8 ounces of ice cream then heading to work, school or home. We each ordered 8 oz. (Passion Fruit and Jack Fruit flavour) and enjoyed people watching.

After completing the detour, it was time to return to our main plan for the day, to see lava!  The easiest place to see lava in Nicaragua is Masaya Volcano, so we had planned to drive to the volcano, wait until nightfall and see lava for ourselves.  When we arrived to the entrance to the volcano we were told we were unable to enter the park until 4:30 so we had a couple hours to kill which we spent at a restaurant overlooking Lake Masaya and wandering through the town of Nindiri.

Closer to 4:30 we headed back to the volcano and we were blown away by how many overlanders were going to be joining us on our trip to the crater of Masaya Volcano.  After seeing one or two at any given time, suddenly there were 6 of us, one we had even seen multiple times starting in the Yukon! 

After entering the park, we did have more time to wait until sunset so we checked out the museum of the volcano and did a couple hikes in the park.  We even got in trouble, after hiking around to the old Masaya Crater viewpoint which we learned was forbidden, they really should have put up a sign, or maybe we missed the sign because it was dark? We really do try hard to be respectful and not break any rules, so we were apologetic to the park ranger when he said we weren’t supposed to be where we were.

In the end we watched the lava with everyone else at the defined viewing platform until we were told the park was closing, at that time we headed to the entrance where many overlanders camp for the night.

This is another one of those times where we were thankful for our compact size. There were very limited spaces for wild camping, and 3 spots had been taken by one Unimog, and our friends in the sprinter had the second spot, but we were able to squeeze in between some trees.  Unfortunately, the other overlanding vehicles would have to find somewhere else to camp, after dark, which is something we would have struggled with.

 

April 27^th – Previously White Coloured Buildings

We woke up to the sounds of children, when we poked our heads out of the van we were surprised to see 4 buses full of middle school aged children all waiting until the park opened to see the volcano.  I wish they were excited to see our rig and talk to us, but instead decided to take a million pictures of the Unimog beside us.  The Swiss people who owned it hid inside and didn’t seem to make any attempt to talk with the kids, we had hoped they (the kids or the Swiss) would come say hello to us, but never did.

South of Masaya we had read about a half dozen communities collectively known as Los Pueblos Blancos (or White Towns) known for their white coloured stucco buildings.  We left our camping spot and headed south to the communities, but were surprised at how few white coloured buildings there were!  We had assumed they would be like the communities we had previously seen in Spain, but instead we were greeted by newly painted, very colourful buildings.  Were these the white buildings we had read about, just now newly painted?  Who knows?!?  We did stop at a view point of Lake Apoyo in the community of Catarina where we decided to have a drink and a slice of pie while we watched tour groups arrive, take one picture then head to the tourist shops to shop.

After seeing three of the “white towns” full of colourful newly painted building we left the area, a bit confused, and headed towards Granada.  Kendra originally wanted to spend the evening exploring Granada, maybe even going out for dinner, but after arriving at the campground in the heat of the day, we thought it better to play some card games in the gardens found at the campground.

 

April 28^th – Exploring Granada

After completing an Amazon order of things Kendra will pick up in Canada when she is back we headed towards Granada’s El Centro.  Granada is a beautiful and colourful colonial city.  It may be one of the most colourful we have seen.  We spent hours walking and exploring only stopping for smoothies or fruit juices. 

We then walked to the lakeside and back finally stopping at a little bar to have a few drinks and to people watch.  Before we knew it the heat of Granada was really starting to affect us so we drank a bunch of water and returned to the campground after exploring.  Although we enjoyed a leisurely day walking around, the heat and living outdoors is really starting to wear on us. So as Paul writes this blog, Kendra is creating some covers for our back windows to keep the mosquitoes and bugs out at night.  We know we will hit rain and more bugs at some point, and this has been a task on our to do list for quite some time.

 

April 29^th – And this is why you make reservations

One location in Nicaragua that was highly recommended to us was Ometepe Island and we always try to do everything that is recommended for us to do, unfortunately, we were warned that reservations are recommended for the ferry to the island especially if it is was weekend, well today is Saturday.

We left Granada after a quick stop for water a drove to Rivas.  We had been warned of some corrupt police officer between Granada and Rivas but never had any issues.  After arriving at the ferry terminal, we decided to not park in the terminal itself as there was fee to enter it and we just wanted to make a reservation, ideally for today.  Paul left Kendra to figure out when we could get on the ferry and was inundated with tour operators all trying to “help” him.  Usually in these situations (booking finite tickets for a specific event [sailing]) people tend to try to take advantage of tourists.  The typical line is that “we need their help as there is no way we can figure this out ourselves and even if we could it is all booked up”.  Well, they stated most of the typical line, with one key change, everyone said that its all booked up completely for today and the rest of the weekend.  Paul frantically tried to find a ferry operator who would make a reservation for us but the earliest we go get a ferry was Tuesday evening. Turns out it was a long weekend this weekend.  What is worse, we wanted to go to Costa Rica on Wednesday to maximize our time in the remaining countries in North America. With heavy hearts we left Rivas knowing that Ometepe would not be a place we would be able to visit on this trip, but at least it gives us a reason to return to Nicaragua.

Back in Mexico a Belgium couple recommended a beach where camping was free in southern Nicaragua and thankfully Kendra (with a pin on google maps) remembered this just as we were starting to get concerned about where to camp for the night.  The beach was known Playa Amarilla and it was everything we expected Baja California to be.  Camping spots in shady locations two steps from sandy beaches with swimmable water and beautiful sunsets.  We quickly got over our disappointment pretty quickly.

We found a perfect spot for us, set up the hammock and relaxed, then before we knew it the sun had set and it was time for bed.

 

April 30^th – We didn’t go to church, church came to us

We woke up and saw the perfect spot to eat breakfast, so we set up our table and chairs overlooking the ocean in a shady level spot.  Breakfast was just about done when a school bus full of people decided they really liked the spot we had camped in and parked relatively close to our van.  All of a sudden upwards of 50 people exited the bus and started setting up their chairs and BBQs in very close vicinity to our van.  We really didn’t know what we should do.

We did eat our breakfast in our perfect spot, but it didn’t feel as tranquil as we had hoped it to feel with Nicaraguan children to the elderly walking around us checking out what we were eating.  We were happy when everyone left the area close to where we were eating, so we could enjoy our coffees, but we’re surprised when they made a huge circle right beside our van and started praying. 

The praying turned into preaching and singing and back to praying, YUP it was a church group that decided to do a seaside sermon literally right beside our van.  #blessed What was worse, Paul was not wearing a shirt and Kendra was in a bikini, we seemed totally out of place. #extremelyblessed?   It was at this time we decided it was time to leave our spot and allow the church group to enjoy it, we needed a few things any way from the nearest community.  Thus started the most awkward takedown and pack up we had ever done.  It really felt like we kept on getting in the church group’s way with them preaching louder every time we came a bit closer to them.  Finally, we were packed up enough that it was time to start the van and leave, but we didn’t know when the polite time to leave would be as the van, and specifically the exhaust was right beside and pointed at group. At this point, they had been preaching for almost an hour with no sign of ending and we decided, whatever, if this is why we go to hell so be it, we started up the van drove off our leveling blocks, packed those aways and left our perfect spot. Don’t worry, due to the heat of the day we were still wearing minimal clothing as we packed up around them, so we definitely did not blend in with them, but it is the most naked we have ever been and will ever be “at church”.

After getting our required provisions from the nearby community we returned to the beach with the hope that the church group would have left; unfortunately, we were wrong, they were still preaching an hour later.  The beach had also filled up with locals enjoying their own long weekend.  Thankfully the beach was large enough that we were able to find another spot to enjoy the day.

We spent the day playing boardgames under our awning, trying to stay in the shade and running after the ice cream man that would routinely bike past our camping spot.  Periodically locals would come and say hello, some even offered us lunch to trade for a bit of salt.  All in all it was a good day and thanks to the church group probably not one we will ever forget.

 

May 1^st – Beach(es) Day!

Today was the actual public holiday meaning the beach was again going to be busy so we decided to check out a few of the other beaches in the area, namely the ones Lonely Planet and Backpacker websites recommended.

Our first stop was Playa Guasacate within the community to Popoyo which had been heavily invested in by foreigners.  Most of the beach was blocked by hotels and restaurants leaving just small openings for someone to walk through to the beach itself.  The beach was fine, but lacked any greenery or shade meaning finding a cool spot to relax at was difficult due to the hot sand.  We had just about given up trying to find enjoyment in at the beach when we saw a few locals relaxing close to a river that connects to the ocean.  The river had created a large eddy perfect for swimming in that seemed to be the perfect temperature.  The sand was also tolerable on our feet.  The only issue we had is we didn’t have our swimsuits with us, so we decided to do as the Nicaraguans and go swimming in just our underwear, the first time we had actually done this on this trip!

This swimming hole was amazing, no waves, not very salty, and the perfect temperatures.  We ended up relaxing in the pools for longer than we should have (without reapplying sunscreen), but I guess we will pay for that mistake later. 

After such an enjoyable time at Playa Guasacate we decided to go to the backpackers favourite Playa Popoyo, it was definitely far less developed and just a couple hostels near the water, but the beach was not very good.  It was really hard to find anything that would set it apart of any other beach.  Once again there was no shade, and no where to really swim, since it is known for waves and surfing.  We walked around the beach hoping to find a spot to enjoy but in the end decided to leave.

Although there were a few places we could camp in the area we knew where we had camped for the last couple nights was the best.  Even though it was busy during the day, by 4pm it was not busy at all, and it was almost that time, but we didn’t want to go back to the beach quite yet, we had one more stop, a brewery.

As many of you know we often will stop in a local brewery to try the local beers.  During our time in Central America, we have been slightly disappointed by the quality, and in Nicaragua we have been disappointed that we haven’t been able to find any.  We have found them on google, but they are either closed when we are in the area or don’t seem to exist where google says they should be.  We were pretty excited when we saw a sign saying brewery, indicating it was open and only a quick few kilometers away.   We were shocked and disappointed when we arrived at the brewery only to be told that the only beer they had there was the national beers.  That would be like going to a brewery in Canada and being told they only have Kokanee and Keiths.  SERIOUSLY!?!  The trip was not completely in vain as across the road there was a craft ice cream shop with some of the most delicious ice cream we had had on this trip.  You win some you lose some.

By the time we arrived back to Playa Amarilla we practically had the beach to ourselves so we set up our table and enjoyed this paradise.

 

May 2^nd – The Dog Days of Nicaragua

The two most difficult borders for a dog to enter on the Pan-American highway are the Costa Rican border and the Panama border (with Panama being the most difficult).  As we would be going to Costa Rica tomorrow we had to spend today back in Rivas completing paperwork and paying fees to export (and by extension Import) our dog. 

The first step was the vet, the easy part.  Rupert was checked out, he is healthy.  We were given a couple documents and told to go to the bank.  There is only one bank in Rivas where you can pay your fees for exporting your dog and it just so happens to be the busiest bank with the longest lines.  After waiting 20 minutes the lines inside the bank were finally short enough for us to enter the bank itself.  The security guard asked Paul why we were at the bank, Paul told him we had to pay to export our dog and the security guard placed Paul in a special line to see a Customer Service Representative.  After waiting almost an hour Paul finally saw the bank representative only to be told that the security guard placed him in the wrong line, he needed to see a regular bank teller for that transaction.  The line for the bank teller was massive. 

After another hour in the line Paul could start to see the tellers, which is when he realized we would need his Passport for this transaction.  His passport was in the van, Kendra was in a nearby park with Rupert enjoying a smoothie and her phone had run out of data.  Paul’s heart dropped, thinking he would have to leave and spend another hour or more in the line.  Suddenly there was ding on Paul phone, Kendra had found some wifi in the park and was wondering how the process was going.  Thank god, within a couple minutes Kendra was at the bank with Paul’s passport, meaning after another 30 minutes of waiting the fees were paid (if you’re doing the math Paul was at the bank over 2 hours while Kendra was in the park with wifi and a smoothie- we will let you decide who is the winner).

With receipts from the bank and paperwork from the vet we walked to Cetrex, a government office whose purpose is still a mystery, as IPSA is the government agency responsible for import and export of animals (which we had to pay a fee to at the bank and would be going to tomorrow at the border).  The Cetrex employees took our paperwork, typed some stuff in his computer and gave us a 8 digit number to quote at the border and with that our day was done.  We had theoretically on paper exported Rupert to Costa Rica meaning we could relax for the rest of the day, not that there was much of the day left.

Our celebrations that we had completed the export process were short lived as the company we hired to ship the van to Colombia contacted us letting us know that Panama had changed their rules regarding the export of vehicles meaning we had to be in Panama City a week earlier than previously planned.  We were already on a tight timeline, but this news was demoralizing and created a lot of stress.  It meant that we would only have a week in Costa Rica, a place where the process to export the dog to Panama can take 10 business days. 

We made our way to a backpacker hotspot known as San Juan del Sur where we actually found a brewery that was open and had local beers brewed by the brewery!  We had a beer and talked through our options and our stresses.  There was a lot of unknowns.  We thought it best to get a hotel for the night so we at least would have a good night sleep in an air conditioned room and be able to have a shower.  The spot we choose was a hostel which offered free yoga and a welcome drink.  We are not too sure why, but we decided to take advantage of the free amenities and for the first time in our lives we did yoga.  At the end of it we were glad we had done it as it got our mind off of our predicament.