Early this morning I started my ride from the little town of Danli, Honduras. I immediately ran into the morning rush hour traffic; however, it was not cars or buses - it was bicycles. There were hundreds of bicycles with some small motorcycles in the mix.
The Central American countries south of Guatemala are noticeably poorer then both Mexico and Guatemala. Not many people can afford a car or other necessities. The largest industry around is growing tobacco or coffee.
I made my way to the Honduran and Nicaraguan border. Crossing this border took me a bit longer, mostly due to the trucks (18-wheelers) that arrived before me. In total it took me approximately two hours to make the crossing from Honduras to Nicaragua.
I rode to Granada, located on the banks of Lago Nicaragua. About 20 miles from Granada I heard a loud popping sound. That was immediately followed by the back end of my GS feeling strange. I pulled over, and sure enough, the rear tire was flat. I pulled out the tire plugging kit, repaired the tire in little time, and was off again. In the next town I located a tire repair shop and had them remove the plug and replace it with a patch.
Upon arriving in Granada I found a place to stay and headed out to check out the city. It is a colorful place with very lively restaurants and a boardwalk type boulevard. There is a huge volcano nearby, Ometepe, which has created an island just south of the city. It was cloudy and much of the volcano was covered, but it was still very impressive.
