About an hour into Nicaragua a guy on a Yamaha DT175 catches up to us in a village and yells out “Are you from Wisconsin” We confirm. Then he says “I know you from AdvRider!” Holy cow, I motion for him to pull over. He is going to email us and until then I will not even attempt to spell his name. Anyway this fellow advRider is from France and he and his wife have lived in Minneapolis for 10 years. Small world, we talk about Minneapolis and where we both lived there. He was riding to Granada for the day. How cool is that, we just run into him on the road in Nicaragua!
The first time through Nicaragua we hit most of the places we were interested in except Matagalpa. We were planning on just riding to Esteli today where we stayed before. We know the town. We know where the hotel is with good parking and is close to downtown. But then Heidi suggests we try something new (gotta love her). Matagalapa here we come…
We hit a little rain through most of Nicaragua but just after we pulled off the main highway and started climbing into the hills toward Matagalapa it started to pour. Then it started to really pour. I have never ridden in such hard rain ever. The road was almost new and has a good curve on it so the water didn’t pool up but my face shield stared fogging up to the point where I had to lift it up. Good thing the down pour didn’t last long or else I would have had to pull over somewhere for safety.
The road to Matagalapa is so new some of the bridges aren’t completed yet. I could feel Heidi twitching while we approached the muddy water crossing. She said “Do you want me to get off?” I tell her “No, I can do this” She trusts me. I can feel the pressure (I Better Not Spill!)
We just pull into town and I can see the rain coming at us up ahead. I do a 180 and ride to a car dealership we just passed and pull under a vacant overhang. It starts pouring again. Good timing.
After a while a guy from the dealership comes out to talk with us. He asks all about our trip then starts to tell us how important what we are doing is, visiting lots of different cities in different countries. He talks about how you can not learn what we are learning by working a high paying job and buying a lot of things. He talks for at least 15 minutes really getting deep and philosophical. He was a real pleasure.
Random acts of kindness:
The rain ended so we proceeded to ride around town looking for a hotel. This is a larger and busier city then we anticipated. The traffic was heavy and the streets are all one-way. We circle around and around the city a few times. While riding along a downtown back street a taxi behind us starts beeping and motioning for us to pull over. We did and he tells us that something is not secure on the bike. Heidi jumps off and sees her pannier pad locks just hanging, not locked. We waved and thanked the taxi driver as he rode by. How nice is that. One of the best and most memorable things about this trip has been these random acts of kindness that we have experienced. We have been given so many that we can’t even begin to list them all. They fill our hearts will joy and prove to us that people are basically good. Hopefully we will pay it forward.
Still looking for a hotel we were on our third run down main-street. I finally pull over between two parked cars and flag down a passing empty taxi. I ask him if he knows of a hotel with secure parking for a motorcycle. He confirms he does and despite honking cars behind him he proceeds to tell us where it is. I quickly ask him to show us and say I will pay. He gives a quick thumbs-up and motions for us to follow. We get guided to a hotel that we would have never found on our own, just at the edge of downtown. We give him $2.50. He rode off waving and waving back at us through his rear window.
Hey Fuzzman, good timming 
