Nicaraguan Adventure - Day 6: Are we there yet? (1/1/11)

Had a slow morning thanks to the previous night's festivities (was cool celebrating new years in a different country). We pack up, check out, and have a big breakfast before taking a taxi to the bus station. We were previously warned about trying to travel on 1/1 as they may not be running or on weird times, but we decided to chance it. We get to the bus station a little early for our bus departure and find that there are buses running but cant find ours to Esteli. Eventually a lady Judas priest helps us out and gets us close to Esteli but the bus stops ~30km short. After another bus doesn't come for over an hour, a few of us (us 2 and 2 dutch girls) flag a taxi and get on our way to our hostel (turns out the bus got there not too long after we all got into the taxi – not the best of luck there). Check into the hostel (Hopedeja Luna) and are hanging out when the owner, whom I had been chatting with over email before the trip, comes over and introduces herself and we chat for a bit about the upcoming miraflor trip. The hostel was nice and the lady is awesome. Really enjoyed my stay there (really all the hostels we stayed in were pretty great). Head out to get dinner down the street, where I got some delicious beef cordon bleu, and then we proceeded to walk around the area of town our hostel was in before returning to the hostel to get some sleep.

Church in the middle of Esteli that was a 5 min walk from our hostel.

Luis enjoying the new town so much he cant contain his dancing

Having a coffee since this region is known for its coffee. Tomorrow we head out on my favorite part of the trip; family homestays with people who live on and work the coffee fincas.