First night in Nicaragua

I really noticed the steamy heat about the time we were in the lobby of Hotel Mozonte getting checked in.  In and out of the cab and the ride over was quick and busy.  Now we were standing still, inside, and it was hot. Not oppressively so, just thick sultry air.  And no air conditioning.  The front door and windows were open to the night.  The main hall opened to the back patio and the pool.  The dark humid world outside was seeping into the hotel. A ceiling fan stirred a gentle breeze. The lobby was dimly light and had a spicy-sweet exotic smell.

During the check-in process, it was our intention to find out about our missing shuttle.  Before we got to that however, Paula noticed something else was missing--one of her bags.  In the meantime, one of her nephews had arrived at the hotel.  He had been at the airport to meet us and didn't make connections.  While the rest of us got room keys, Paula and her nephew went back to the airport to look for her luggage.

Bobby and I had Room 1, directly across from the front desk. When we opened the door we were met with more of the same hot air from the lobby.  In Nicaragua, electricity is a valuable commodity that is not wasted or taken for granted.  In America we are used to entering pre-cooled hotel rooms where all we need to do is adjust the temperature to taste--often times for me that means a few degrees warmer.  Along the same lines, lighting in Nicaragua is minimum and dim. (We will continue to see this trend throughout the trip. AC is almost always available for the travelers, but Nicaraguans don't use it.)   The room was spacious, sparsely furnished and very clean.  The desk clerk got the air conditioning going and the room was cooled quickly.

Paula returned without the missing luggage.  We were all tired and ready for sleep.  I sent a very quick email to the family back home letting them know we had arrived and then we crashed sometime well past midnight.

The next morning we stepped out of our cool dark cocoon into the warm bright sunlit day.  The sun seemed brighter, the sky clearer, the heat crisper.   We enjoyed a traditional Nicaraguan breakfast on the patio overlooking the pool.

Scrambled eggs, beans and rice, toast.  No salsa or tortillas in sight.

When we got around to venturing out front and to the street we made the discovery to my #2 observation from the night before, that of the hotel looking completely different from what I was expecting from the online pictures.  First, we had approached from the opposite direction of the Internet picture and second, the front area was full of parked vehicles, blocking the view of the columns and the veranda. Not to mention it was the end of a long traveling day and a hairy cab ride through the city!

A second trip back to the airport yielded up the missing luggage, much to our relief.  We had simply not pulled it off the carousel with the rest.  Is it any wonder we missed it?  Here are all the bags (finally) stowed in the rental car.

Bobby and Alonso, Paula's brother and
our wonderful driver.

Shortly after this picture we loaded up,left Managua and the lovely Hotel Mozonte behind and headed to Leon and Poneloya where more adventures were waiting!