February 28th.....

It is now Saturday, March 3^rd and we have been here for a number of days. We have accomplished a lot in these past few days. For one thing – we are cooking with gas! Yes, Pat is making coffee right now as I type this out. But…. Let’s start back at the beginning….

Tuesday, February 28^th – I left you in Miami. The flight to Managua was uneventful and it seemed that no sooner were we in the air then we were making the landing in Managua. Out itinerary indicated that we would be arriving at 8:30 in the evening, but in reality we arrived at 6:30 and it was only just beginning to get dark. We could see many small fires throughout the countryside where the farmers were burning off the weeds etc.

Gardens at the hotel

The first step we had when we got off the plane was to go through

Pat relaxing at the Hotel

immigration. While we were in line we saw a fellow just on the other side of the officers holding a sign with our name on it – remember – this is a secure area! So, imagine our surprise that this fellow was an employee from the hotel that we had reservations at. We acknowledged him and he waited patiently for us to come through the line. When we had paid our $10.00 (each) entry fee, we followed the hotel employee to pick up our suitcases. The poor fellow – I’m sure he will develop a hernia from lifting all those heavy bags. Once we had them all we had to take them to an area where they are scanned and you hand in your declaration form – so I guess this area is “Customs”. Again, our new friend lifted each of the bags off the cart and put them on the conveyor to be scanned and then on the other side he took them off and put them back on the cart.  Next there is usually a customs officer who will indicate whether or not you need a “secondary inspection”. I didn’t see anyone and in any case we were walking so fast out of that building that I don’t think anyone could have stopped us if they tried.  Since we had so many bags with us we took the hotel shuttle, even though it was literally only across the street. So, I would say that from the time we touched down to the time we were in our room it was only about 45 minutes later. Amazing.

It was really nice to be reunited with all of our bags. However, we noticed that the duct tape that we had put around them had been discreetly cut…… upon opening the bags that read “ NOTICE OF BAGGAGE INSPECTION”. I’m sure they were wondering what all the metal was in the bags…….and all they discovered were pots, pans and cutlery.

It had been a long day so we decided on a light supper and a drink and then early to bed.

Pictures to follow....