Country number 27 on our tour, cycling around the world.
I’m finished. My nerves are on edge when we reached the border to Nicaragua.
The days before we enter Nicaragua, I’m really nervous again. Borders are not my thing. We always have to pay extreme attention to our equipment. Looking for the right counter and what questions will we be asked? Do we need some other documents? Have we forgotten to fill something out in advance? Can we pay the exit fee at the border or do we have to do it online beforehand? And what about the entry fee? What food is allowed to be imported? Do we need the invoices for our electronic equipment? Can we take our camera equipment with us? And which electronic items are prohibited? Are any vaccinations mandatory? Are copies of the vaccination certificates sufficient? And so on and so forth. My brain comes up with many possible scenarios. After all, we’ve heard terrible stories first-hand about entering Nicaragua. We hope we are well prepared.
I keep telling myself: calm down
It’s only my brain thinking of what could happen. And above all, we want something from them, namely to enter the country. So we try to be calm and friendly.
And the whole thing, entering Nicaragua, went like this:
We first went to the medical building to get a note stating that we were vaccinated against yellow fever. This is a requirement for entry if you have been in certain countries for a certain period of time. A young man opened the window, said he would take a photo of our vaccination status and that was it. Did he pass it on? I have no idea.
There was someone at the entrance door to the migration office who wanted one dollar per person. We couldn’t quite figure out what for, but everyone who wanted to enter the building for visa matters actually had to pay that.
There at the counter it said on a paper: 13 dollars entry fee. Everything had to be paid in dollars. This is not a real visa, but a tourist card that you should definitely keep in a safe place until you leave the country. The magic word again was “transit” as in some other Central- and South American countries, because we do not have any bus- or flight ticket leaving the country, and there were no further questions. We got the stamp and two pieces of paper and then we pushed the bicycles through to the scanner, took the Luggage down, into the scanner, everything came out again on the other side, back on the bicycle and that was it. So we were in Nicaragua, rode off in silence. We couldn’t believe it was that easy.
We don’t have a long stage ahead of us.
Expecting the border crossing would take us 2-3 hours. In fact, it was maybe 30 minutes. Lucky we were. We weren’t treated unkindly, we weren’t made to feel insecure with silly actions, we weren’t questioned to any great extent and we didn’t have to pay any bribes. We were lucky. Now I haven’t used a whole pile of copies of our equipment and the vaccination document and am thinking about whether I might keep them. We still have a few countries to go.
CA-4 Area
By the way, for travelers in the so called CA-4 area (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras (we won’t be visiting), Nicaragua), there is a special regulation for leaving the country: A tourist stay of a maximum of 90 days in all countries combined is permitted. So we won’t need another visa. The next “visa” will be issued in Mexico.
Nicaragua – here we are
What a welcome to our first accommodation in Nicaragua. After a nice first cycling section, we took care of our new SIM card. “Claro”, without it we feel lost.
Then we got the new money, the Córdobas, from the ATM. Although you can pay with dollars again here, the Cordobas is again so beautifully colorful. It almost went wrong with the machine, the card only came out again with the help of the Leatherman pliers. The use left a quite questionable face at the officer in front of the money machine, but he didn’t say anything.
It also rained a little and now we are in our first accommodation. Max, our host, is so friendly, amazing. And worried whether everything went well at the border. Yes, it did. The rain has still caught us, but it will probably stay that way for the time being.
So, a pretty good first day in Nicaragua. And this really is a charming place to stay Please note the creative solution for turning on the water in the shower.
Nicaragua – where was that again?
In Central America, Nicaragua lies between Costa Rica and Honduras, has just under 7 million inhabitants and seems much more relaxed than Panama or Costa Rica from day one. Life takes place on the streets again. Small food stalls everywhere and lots of shouts of welcome.
The country seems more authentic and even less touristy. Above all, we are looking forward to lively cities, large lakes and volcanic landscapes.
Daniel Ortega, the left wing Dictator in Nicaragua: “se busca asesino” (murderer wanted) (Granada)
What I think and hope for traveling this country
Costa Rica probably has a bit more nature and more wildlife to be found in the rainforests, but Nicaragua also has colorful colonial cities. The country seems safe enough to stroll through markets and visit historic buildings. Yes, Nicaragua has a dictatorship. And I understand if that puts you off. If it wasn’t on our route, I wouldn’t have visited. Just out of principle, I wouldn’t have. But now we are here and I will try to find out for myself what life is like for the people in this dictatorship. I have to admit, I have no idea about this country and I hope that will change. We might have around 10 stages to go, before we leave again. Again with a small boat, from Nicaragua directly to El Salvador, skipping Honduras.
Thank you Nicaragua and thank you to the “Nicas” for their warm welcome, their greetings and their smiles.
