The Adventures of Pleasure Life - Aloha Nicaragua, Adios Amigos

Back in El Salvador we decided to hook up with two other overlanding couples to caravan through Honduras for safety. Dave and Ann's blog is called "The Adventures of Dave and Ann, or ADVODNA"; Chad and Emily's blog is called "Pleasure Device". And of course we are Sprinter Life. It didn't take long before we were calling our new tribe THE ADVENTURES OF PLEASURE LIFE.

We've had an absolute blast with these guys. During our time together we've had many laughs and great memories. I was beginning to believe that THE ADVENTURES OF PLEASURE LIFE could not be stopped. But I guess all good things come to an end, and so must ADVOPL, with Nicaragua being our point of departure. Chad and Emily plan to move fast through Nic and head to Costa Rica. We know our paths will cross again down the road with those guys. But Dave and Ann have decided to forgo South America and ship their vehicle back to California from Panama. We're really bummed about this because we've become great friends with them. I was really looking forward to running into them in various places on our way to the tip of South America. Despite sabotaging their car battery, they seem intent on their plan. The only silver lining is that Dave was teaching Kiki too many bad habits. Nevertheless we're going to miss them. I'm choking back tears as I type.

Chad and Emily pounding back some beers to ease the pain of separating from the tribe. Me already pounded...

Ann and Stevie sharing a moment in one of our last nights together...

On our way to the Nicaraguan border we felt protected...

Adventures of Pleasure Life perform the flag ritual on the Sprinter. In the first photo Dave thought it was funny to add one of his stickers to the van. It wasn't. And in the second photo Dave thought it was funny to make a spectacle of Kiki. It wasn't.

Despite the separation, we were all excited to get to Nicaragua. Statistically, this is the safest country in all of Central America. A welcome stat after driving through Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras...

Borders can be a real cluster F@ck, which is why we really like the small ones. My job at the border is to walk around and try to figure out what we need to do to get to the other side. Sometimes there are signs, sometimes not. But crossing any border entails immigration followed by getting our vehicle permit canceled out at Aduana. In the new country we have to go through the whole process again, including obtaining a new vehicle permit. This usually requires a vehicle search, which basically means they open the door and take a quick glance inside the van. We always make sure Stevie is sitting in front of Kiki's bed, hiding her. So far we've managed to smuggle Kiki across every border except El Salvador.

One of the tasks at every border crossing is to exchange all your money from the last country into the currency of the new country. Since math is involved, plus the ability to pronounce funny new words, this task usually falls on Stevie. There are always more than a few money changers walking around with ginormous wads of cash...

Here are our first glimpses of Nicaragua...

And so we've said our goodbyes to our friends and Stevie, Kiki, and I are once again a small independent tribe. The van is running good and we haven't seen a gun since we crossed the border. Our plan is to spend 4-5 weeks exploring Nicaragua. So far we love it. Stay tuned... TREE