Packing Up and Shipping Out

Luckily for us, the often challenging task of finding bike boxes was made much easier in Managua by our host Darling. She had recently hosted a cyclist who had flown his bike to Managua to start his trip and left one bike box with her. She then called around to a few bike shops and found us another box from a shop 5 km away. All that remained was to go pick it up, and we figured we could find a way to carry the box on our bikes after watching another cyclist fashion backpack straps for his bike box back in Mexico. It certainly made for a wide load, and was a little hard to manage in the wind, but ridiculous sights like Karl riding with a 5 foot box on his back are common on the streets of Central America, so drivers just gave us a wide berth and moved on to avoiding the next traffic hazard.

Packing bikes into boxes is never a fun task, and really marks the end of a trip, so is a bit sad as well. Fortunately, after we finished the job we managed to connect with Joe, who just rolled into Managua from the mountains, for a fun last evening of stories and reflection. We also managed to offload leftover fuel and bits of gear that Joe could use as he continues south towards Ushuaia. Our 8 am flight the next morning meant we said goodbye to Darling before 5 am as our taxi driver lashed his hatchback door over our bike boxes. We were off to the airport and the fast way of travelling back north...Read more