Capital: Managua

Language: Spanish

Currency: Nicaraguan córdoba

Do Indians need visa pre-arrival: Yes but substituted with a valid permit issued by Canada, the USA or a Schengen Member State can obtain permission on arrival for a maximum stay of 30 days.

Places I Visited:
• Ometepe Island- Volcano Island inside Lake Nicaragua, good to do a bike tour.
• San Juan Del Sur- Excellent Beaches, Perfect place to surf and the Best Nightlife.
• Leon- Only volcano boarding place in the world and good to walk in the city.

I am walking towards Nicaragua immigration; it was already around 7 pm. I entered the office there and saw one hell of a queue. On the queue, I met a local guy who was travelling from Costa Rica who speaks English. After having a small conversation, it was my turn on the counter, I gave my passport to the immigration officer he checked it and told me I am not allowed to enter Nicaragua in Spanish (I didn’t understand Spanish back then). Then the local guy who I met in the queue helped me with translating. I started arguing with the officer; I think he is a junior officer. He then took me to an office, made me sit and started communicating in Spanish. I didn’t even understand anything. On my sit, I saw the local guy through the window; I went out and called him to help me with the conversation. The officer said he would allow me to enter Nicaragua if I pay a fee of $20.

I agreed and went to make a payment, but they do not accept US dollars, they only accept their currency. "I just entered Nicaragua; I don't have your local money?" I told the person at the counter, but he told me he can’t do anything, so I went out to search for where I could do an exchange. I did find an exchanger, but at a heavy rate.

I went to the counter, paid the money and got my stamp on the passport and exited the immigration office. As I came out of the office I did not see anyone there it was so quiet and everyone has disappeared. I checked the time; it was freaking 9.30 in the evening. I didn’t know what to do I was standing alone, I saw a taxi few meters away, I approached him and told him I needed to go to Ometepe island(the Indian whom I met in Panama was also on the island). The driver replied that there would be no ferry service to the island once it's after 6 in the evening and it was already 10 pm, I became confused. He suggested I stay in the ferry stand area so I can take my first ferry next day and the ferry stand was 40kms away from where I was. The driver drove me to the ferry stand. On getting there, we started searching for the hotel to stay for a night as there were only 2 hotels near the ferry stand.

Finally, I got one and paid a lot of money for a night. As I got my Wi-Fi, I texted my Indian friend that I was late and stayed at the hotel near the ferry stand and told him I would meet him the next day.

The next morning I heard a knock on my door, opened and alas, it was my Indian friend, he told he was done on the Ometepe Island and moving forward in his journey.

After my breakfast, I went to a bank to exchange money then started to Ometepe Island. I got to the Island, checked in into my hostel (one of the cheapest hostel I ever stayed), and it was pretty cool, and after a while I went out for lunch. I asked everyone on the street where I can get vegetarian food as I am a vegetarian. No one had an answer, but I met a guy who is from there and had a little conversation then he guided me to the vegetarian place. After lunch, I walked around the town and went back to my hostel. After few hours I met 2 Americans and 2 Austrians, and we had a drink. The guy who guided me on how to get food joined us and took all of us for a small walk tour around the town.

Later in the evening, we went to a club, and after a few dances, my American and Austrian friends left for the hostel leaving me and the local guy behind. We had a conversation about the local people. At a point he started telling me about himself, trust me that was the scariest day of my life; He told me he was a hit man and he started telling how he kills people for a living. I was sober and scared at the end of his tale. We were the only ones on the street as at 2am(the darkest hour of the night). I really didn’t know how to get away from him, so I asked him, “why are you telling me all this, do you want to kill me?” then he replied “brother you are a guest to my country, I cannot hurt you. You'll be fine”. This made me become a little relaxed but I was still scared as I went back to my hostel. He was in my thoughts the whole night such that I couldn’t even get a restful sleep.

The next morning, my Americans friends left, and it was the Austrians guys and me. We rented a motorcycle and started a trip to the island. This island was 100km; after few hours of the ride, I had a chance to watch my first bullfighting somewhere on the island where we spent few hours and headed back to my hostel.

Next day it was time to move to another place after a ferry and 2 hours of bus ride, I got to San Juan del Sur. After checking into my hostel, I went for a walk in the streets and visited the beach in the evening. I went out to meet the Americans I met in the Ometepe some days back. We had dinner, and I left them to meet my Indian friend, he was staying in the same city. We went to a bar and started partying. Next day was my craziest party “Sunday funday pool party.” We checked into the party at 1 pm and started drinking and playing pool games. The party ended at 1am at the dead of the night and I had drank for 12 hours straight (for the first time in my life). The next day, I and my Indian friend thought of going to Utila in Honduras and so we went to the bus station the next day to get a bus to Managua and then a bus to Utila Honduras. On getting to Managua, we went to the bus station to book a ticket to Honduras, but we were told that the tickets are fully booked for the next one week; this made us re-plan our trip immediately.

We then thought of going to Leon in Nicaragua; we got to know from the bus station that buses that leave to Leon take off from the other bus station which was 4 km away; we took a taxi to the other bus station and boarded a bus to Leon.

We had a plan to do volcano boarding the next day and go to Honduras in a local bus after the volcano boarding, but my Indian partner got a message that he needed to go back to Panama due to his work.

I went for the volcano boarding alone with a bunch of other tourists and got back to my hostel by 2 pm. On getting to my hostel, I wanted to check out but had a slight issue with the hostel guy; he asked for an extra pay of 3 hours which I rejected, he called the cops and almost got me arrested.

I discussed with the cops about what happened and I was told to pay the hostel guy which I did. I checked out and headed for Honduras. As direct buses were full to Honduras, I thought of going to Chinandega and change the bus to Honduras by going en route Tegucigalpa and then to La Ceiba (utila).

I started the journey around 3 pm from Leon and reached Chinandega in 2 hours. There, I waited for a while to get the bus to the border and got to the border around 8 pm. I thought of going to Honduras after dark, but I was a bit skeptical about situation Honduras that very night.

I went straight into the immigration office where I met an Australian couple who rented a car and were traveling round whole Central America but unfortunately, they were coming from Honduras. I asked them if they have an idea of hotels or guesthouses on the Honduras side where I could lodge and also, a bus stand to go further but they were not sure about it then, I had to pass the night in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua immigration office is in the middle of the desert, so there was no hostel to stay so, I requested from the officer if I could stay in the immigration for a night and leave to Honduras in the morning, but the officer disagreed. He seized my passport and told me that he would give me passport If I should leave the place, I agreed to leave and come back the next morning for emigration. The officer walked with me to the gate. As I went out of the gate, he handed my passport to me. I was scared standing alone in the middle of the night, but luckily for me, I saw the Australian couple passing, they stopped, and I ask them for a ride to the next city or town where I can find a hostel.

They agreed and gave me a ride; we didn’t find any hotel or place to stay till Chinandega. It was getting late already, the couple was supposed to go to Leon, so I told them to drop me down in Chinandega. They drop me in a gas station in Chinandega that was the only place that was opened in the whole city.

I couldn’t even find any hotel there, so I went into the gas station and asked them if there is any hotel around, but there is this communication barrier as they were speaking Spanish. It was getting to an odd hour, my mind technically blocked at that time as I had no place to stay and no known face around. I didn’t know what to do and was thinking I might be killed at the same time. While standing, a stranger tapped on my back and asked me "who are you and where are you from what are you doing here" he spoke in English. I explained everything that happened then he replied “man you can stay at my home this night” I didn’t what to think is he trying to trap me or wanna help.

I was confused, but I had no option than to walk with him to his house. His house was 2 blocks away from the gas station; he came to the gas station to get some food. I had a thought about what he was trying to do with me. I followed him to his house, and we had a conversation on our way. He told me that he hails from that city and moved to Canada in his teenage years but relocated to his city a few years back due to his family issue. My trust level on him increased but still with a little doubt. He knocked on his door, a lady opened the door, invited me in and introduced me to his family. Trust me; his family were like 10, four kids, his sister, his wife, and parents; now I had total trust in him that I would be safe staying there. He showed me my bedroom with 2 twin beds and 14” CTV with ensuite bathroom. Before going to bed, I told him I need to leave at 5 in the morning; he was at the next bedroom and told me to wake him up so he can open the door for me. I went to my room, had a pleasant sleep for about 4-5 hours. I got up around 5 pm and told him I am about to leave.

Before I left his house, I gave him a long hug; I had tears rolling down my chick. Emotionally I walked to the bus station that was 1 block away from his place and boarded a bus to the border.

I'm through with my proper emigration, and my next destination was Honduras.