We got up at 08:15 hrs. and headed for the Nicaraguan Consulate. We got bus number 10, destination Alameda, at the bridge at a cost of 40 centavos for both of us, and we overshot the I.M.A. stop where we should have got off.
The bus terminated on a windswept hill and we had to take the next one back into town. We asked around in a pleasant residential area, where all the houses had security bars, and found the Consulate perched on a hill.
Our visa applications were dealt with by friendly, efficient staff and it it seemed expensive to us, Declan’s visa costing $25 US. Luckily it seems that as a UK citizen I don’t need one. We were told to come back at 12:30 hrs. to collect the visa so we went off to get breakfast.
We found that we were very close to the Parque Central and Boulevard Morazán with it’s American-style bars and restaurants, as well as some interesting churches and museums.
We had a great “desayuno rapido” in the Centro Comercial Los Castaños where the bookshop was. We stopped off at Dunkin Do’nuts on the way back to the Nicaraguan Consulate for a coffee and cherry donuts.
Some American soldiers stopped by for a takeaway. We got back to the consulate at 11:30 hrs., prepared to wait, but Declan’s passport was ready for collection. We walked back to the hotel through the busy streets, stopping briefly at the market.
There were quite a few soldiers about, in a multitude of uniforms and armaments. I bought some milk in the supermarket to wash down my malaria pills. We laid about in our room and read our books while our sheets were being washed and hung out to dry from the balcony outside.
It is still blowing well, Tegucigalpa should be called “the Windy City”, never mind Chicago! The cleaners witter and giggle around the washing machine outside.
At 15:15 hrs., we walked along to the end of Avenida 6, Comayagüela, to the “Mi Esperanza” Bus Terminal where we bought tickets for tomorrows 04:00 hrs. bus to the Nicaraguan frontier.
On the walk back we stopped to look for some honey and Declan fell in lust with the girl at the farmacia. He wrote out a love note in our room but bottled out of giving it to her in case one of the other sales assistants was her husband.
We dined out at Todo Rico’s Vegetarian Comedor, but the meal was lukewarm and no where near as good as it had been yesterday. Thus, we went on to have a chicken (scrap) sandwich just off the main square (Parque Central).
It was very cold and windy as we made our way back. Many of the locals had their balaclavas on. Of those sleeping on the pavements, only the lucky ones had nylon sacks to sleep in. One fellow lay face down in his T-shirt on the bridge.
We retired to bed early, hoping that the alarm clock would go off at 03:00 hrs.
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