Anyway, after the event, we took the press through to the front of the hotel where the car was waiting. Somebody had obviously gone a little crazy with the cleaning as the car was all buffed up and shining, and given the late night, I can assure you that it wasn’t a member of the team! So there, in the early morning sun, the only sun we had seen for a while actually, we drove the car around for the press to film and photograph…needless to say, they were thoroughly impressed!

After this it was time to drive the 150 miles across into Costa Rica, the 8th country in our journey so far. Apart from the customary sharp showers here and there, it was a great drive to the border was great; the weather was generally on our side, and the scenery as we drove alongside the massive Lake Nicaragua was unforgettable. 2 huge tropically-vegetated volcanoes connected by a tiny isthmus of land rose from the tranquil waters, and it was among the most beautiful vistas we have yet had on this trip!

After a few hours drive, we made it to the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border where we were presented with the usual paperwork. Fortunately, the British Embassy had sent someone to meet us; a great guy called Eric, who really helped speed things up and get us to the front of the queues. Despite this however, we still ended up staying at the border for 3 hours, and by the time we were able to leave, it was dark again. It appears that no matter how hard we try, we always end up driving in the dark! Although I suppose this can’t really be helped given the fact that it gets dark at around 6pm in the tropics.

At the border, we had been warned of a very heavy rainstorm around 20km away, but we carried on nonetheless as we only had 30 miles still to cover. As promised, we were lashed by a torrential rainfall, but nothing we hadn’t seen already. And around 45 minutes later, and a little bit wetter for the journey, we arrived at our hotel in the small town of Liberia just inside the Costa Rican border. With the car on charge and some extremely mediocre food in our bellies (a late night Pizza Hut if you’re wondering) we headed for bed.

Interestingly, despite being in these small Latin American countries and out in the middle of nowhere, you are still greeted by Pizza Huts or MacDonalds and plenty of other American fast-food chains, at the first sight of a settlement with even a modest population. But at least we were able to get some food in us at this late hour to prepare us for another early start the following morning!

From the canteen, Troy took us on a tour which really boggled the mind. As the station was using heavy oil as its fuel, it uses huge reciprocating engines rather than the rotary turbines found in most large scale power generation. In effect, the power station is a series of massive car engines, but that’s where the similarity ends. Each generator had 18 cylinders, with each piston head the size of a decent V8 engine, and upon seeing these beasts in the flesh, one truly got an idea of the scale needed to keep a country’s electricity supply flowing!

After having a walk around the base of these huge machines, we were taken up to the control room which was using state of the art software to control and monitor the station. Here we learn more fascinating details as well as hearing about how the company had also invested in its surrounding environment by planting ivermectin 30,000 trees. It was an exceptionally informative and enjoyable visit!

After the tour, we picked up the car and drove around 15 minutes to the nearby city of Choluteca where we were exceptionally well received by the local residents. Literally hundreds of people lined the streets to get a glimpse of the car in what was quite a spontaneous event, and we spent several hours talking to a wide range of people. From here we headed to lunch with the Mayor if the city, at, interestingly enough, a Wendy’s restaurant! Not quite what we were expecting as there were clearly some nice local places around, but nonetheless was a unique experience on the trip so far!

With lunch complete, we headed for yet another border crossing, this time trying to get into Nicaragua which, coincidentally, is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere. As such, we were not expecting the greatest road conditions, but before we had a chance of sampling the roads, we had a 3 hour border wait to contend with. Nothing new here, just the same issue of filling in paperwork and waiting in queues. Unfortunately however, the rain was not waiting for us, and just before we were about to leave, the heavens opened…

The rain was horrendous. I know I have kept on saying “I have never seen rain like this” or “this pales into insignificance compared to blah blah blah” but this rain really topped it all off, and to boot, we have it on camera for you all to enjoy in the final documentary series. Nonetheless, Nik and Clemens soldiered through the rain in the dark, and before long, viscous lightning accompanied the rain. It was absolutely brutal on the car!

However, with smooth roads we were at least lucky on that front, and just before midnight we rolled into our hotel in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. The car was soaked, with several centimetres of water flooding the cockpit! Yet despite this absolute battering, the car survived perfectly intact! Today more than any other day was a true testament to the quality engineering which made this car what it is. With this thought in mind, and the car on charge once again, we headed to bed for a short but blissful sleep!