Managua was an odd city, and I love cities. But this one was slightly suburban, plus a little nationalist.

The Palacio Nacional de Cultura was a highlight of the day, because Nicaragua as a country has a history of arts and literature. It was fascinating to learn and nice to see my guide’s pride in the national artists represented there and their revolutionary topics. Does he know that visit made the entire stay in Managua worth it?

After my visit I walked to Puerto Allende, a public park development built along Lake Managua with restaurants and bars, live music, street food stalls and family activities. Decorated in bright candy colors, it’s a relatively new development with a small admission fee. I seemed to be the only foreigner tourist in the whole place.

When I returned to the hostel (after being slightly ripped off by the cab driver, yay), I joined guests watching the animated movie The Road to El Dorado. Knowing the truth about pre-Columbian cultures in the Americas now…it was really, really weird watch!

Basically, in the movie the tribal shaman is considered the bad guy because he was suspicious – rightfully – of the two shady European guys. What’s more, the shaman was sacrificing humans. You know, a common practice by many tribes. Meanwhile the king is a benevolent man who hints that he knows that the white guys are trying to scam him and his people but knows that deep down the two white men are good.

This is the kicker: Steven Spielberg produced it! Spielberg covering conquered cultures? Wasn’t expecting that.

My Dutch friend met me in Managua the next day, and we took our first chicken bus of the trip! Vendors made their way down jam-packed aisles as cumbia blasted on the flat screen TV. I shared a moment with a group of men next to me as we half-laughed, half-ogled the suggestive music videos. LED lights lit the perimeter of the bus as the evening sky darkened.

We arrived on the outskirts of León not knowing where exactly we were supposed to get off but not really feeling completely lost either. A cheap but confusing taxi ride later we were at our hostel, Serendipity. The owners turned out to be two Spaniards that had left corporate life to start a hostel here. Through the days we sandboarded down a volcano and encountered crazy waves at Las Peñitas.

Next stop was Granada, like León a colonial city but slightly more impressive, much more touristic, and accordingly more seedy. The travelers here were the hardest to pin down; we met a mix of backpackers, short-term travelers and student groups.

It was a quick stay here as we had to get to Isla Ometepe, eager to see our boy Olli with whom we had parted ways about a month and a half ago.

The best way to explore Isla Omepete is by 4×4, car or dirt bike. Olli let me ride on the back of his as we headed to hike to some cascadas through a forest path. Our time in Ometepe was short and sweet, but we had a certain Sunday in San Juan del Sur to make.

Ever since the start of my travels, travelers had raved about the “Sunday Funday” pool crawl. It lived up to the hype BUT also was pretty expensive – $30 USD for just admission and transportation. Yikes. All in all San Juan del Sur was nice but not particularly memorable. But, that might have to do with the alcohol consumption.

It was there that I learned that I didn’t really have to return home in early August. I could just keep on going and finish up whatever else Central America had to offer. My initial thoughts for not going to the other countries – El Salvador and Honduras are unsafe, Belize is expensive, I’ve been to Mexico before – quickly faded away.

So, I changed the name of my travel album on Facebook to Despacito, meaning “slowly.”