And so it begins................

Ok,

So I'm in Nicaragua and am typing this in the back of a car zipping me up to Leon where the journey begins.

Bit of drama on arrival, first I got a little confused as the immigration official told me getting a stamp in my passport cost $10.  Not totally surprised by that and it was cash over the top of the counter but anyway.  Second, I get through customs no problem out to the waiting area and surprise surprise, no-one with my name on a piece of paper.  Cue wandering aimlessly wandering around the airport looking at anyone waving a board around.  It's a good hour and a half to where I'm going so I'm not about to try and flag a taxi.  So I dig up the number of the hotel (let's not get into the fact that I hadn't written it down so I had to turn my phone and use data service which probably cost me $30), call them up and the guy that answers the phone doesn't speak English and my Spanish doesn't cover, "where is the bloke you were supposed to have here at the airport to pick me up". So he finds someone else who comes and broken English I discover that the fella's name is Victor and he should be there, as she's saying that I see him and the sign but not before asking the classic question "what does he look like?". I mean seriously, what did I expect her to say, "well he's 7 foot tall, pink hair.........", no of course he looks like everyone else at the airport so even if she'd described him it wouldn't have done a bit of good.

Anyway, sitting in the car now, so all is well.

Note after the fact, I found out when I arrived that the person I tried talking to on the phone was the night guard and the girl he got who spoke some English was his girlfriend.  Bless them they were trying to help but the combination of their English and my almost complete lack of Spanish was never going to get very far.