Back to Latin America. More specifically Nicaragua.

Two colonial towns have featured. Leon, the more liberal University town and Granada, conservative and wealthy. We liked them both although the Spanish spoken here in Nica is a complete wreck and makes a beginner feel like... yes, a complete beginner. We also thought that it is likely that Granada will become the new Antigua with its beautiful parque central, colourful colonial buildings and romantic horse drawn carriages.

In Granada we had our first run in with the policia on this entire trip. We decided to hire a scooter to visit the ´biggest market in the country´ in the nearby town of Masaya, which was disapointing besides discussing real vs fake cigars, and the very beautiful Laguna de Apoyo, a lagoon in the crater of a volcano where we took a dip to cool down from the intense Nicaraguan heat.

On our way back to Granada, only a few blocks away from a refreshing frappuchino, we were waved down by a policeman. We handed over the documents the rental place had given us in the event that we were pulled over and the cop said something about 'no license' and 'accompany me to the police station'. Our cries of 'we don't own the bike' were met with a blank stare.

On the way to the station we started stashing cash and passports in different parts of our bags in anticipation of well known corruption in central america.

We arrived at the station, complete with prisoners behind bars, where we were told to wait in what resembled an interrogation room - four concrete walls, no windows, a table and two chairs. After refusing to sit down and mumbling our growing concerns (part of which was due to being surrounded by male police who had no qualms in taking their time looking at Nat) we were then asked to sign a statement, in spanish, which placed us on the bike, ilegally, in a very matter of fact way. We insisted on altering the statement to make it clear that the bike was rented.

In the end the drama didn´t live up to our fears. The scooter owner arrived confirming our position and we were allowed to leave. Naturally, as we left the station the very officer who had detained us was taking the bike for a spin (and obliged when we asked for a photo).