This week so far has been busy, but surprisingly uneventful. With only until the end of the month to get a handle on Spanish before having to fend for myself, I have been concentrating on my studies accordingly.
Friday I will go to Rivas and finally buy a motorcycle. Buying used might have been cheaper but, after canvasing my few local contacts, I realized that a new bike is the only way to go. With an extended family or large social network, finding a second hand bike might be possible locally, but lacking either I would be in for a long and arduous undertaking. There is no craigslist.com for Nicaragua. After imagining myself making the four hour trip to Managua, then trying to track down possible sellers with my fumbling Spanish in a city without street names or house numbers that was put back together in ad hoc fashion after the last big earthquake in 1972, I thought it better to go to Rivas and find a dealer.
Honda and Yamaha are represented here, as well as many other brands I don't recognize. Several Chinese makes are available with a wide variety of odd names like Kayak, Freedom and RC Moto, all of which appear remarkably similar and are most likely unauthorized copies of Japanese designs. Indian brands Bajaj, Quasar and Discovery are also here. Road bikes and dual purpose machines with off-road capability, all in the 100cc to 250cc engine capacity range, are the most common. One suggestion I received was to buy a 'Chonda', assembled in China from genuine Honda parts. A few hundred dollars less than the real thing, but I would need to have a mechanic “tighten it up” before riding.
Nicaragua's roads will be a challenge on two wheels, but the locals manage so surely I can adapt. When a man rolls by riding a 100cc motorcycle on these roads with his wife on the back, a baby in her arms, and a toddler perched on the gas tank, you can't help but admire the obvious riding skill.
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