Nicaragua Down-Time

Finally entering Nicaragua after the border hassle and a 100 km ride down perfectly paved roads, we reached the town of Esteli. But luck was not on our side. In the middle of the night Flo developed a high fever and after three days of no improvement and Kate having diagnosed him with every tropical illness in existence, we decided to pay the local clinic a visit. Sitting in the waiting room surrounded by sick people we finally got called up. First we were told off for not speaking Spanish and then they declared Flo had to stay there and get an iv-drip. Looking around, the clinic was in a terrible condition – there was no way that he was going to stay there, so we kindly said “thank you” but NO – and hopped into the next taxi to a private hospital. Flo was diagnosed with a bacterial throat infection which kept him tied to the bed for a whole week.

With Flo in tow still not feeling that well our journey continued southwards to Masaya where we bumped into George and Robert, who we had met up ino Coldfoot, Alaska! The next days where spent riding up and peering into the hissing Volcano Masaya and relaxing at the Laguna Apoyo. Heading to the Costa Rican border two motorcyclists were stranded at the roadside trying to fix a flat tire. Stopping to help we met Josh and Johanna riding XT250ties – turns out they are on the same sailing trip from Panama to Colombia. Flo still down we tagged along with our new overlanding friends to the nearest town for the night before crossing into Costa Rica the following day.