Hello from El Salvador!
We spent a wonderful day summiting the Santa Ana volcano today, which boasts a turquoise, boiling lake inside the crater. The weather was great. The vibes were high. And the popsicle at the top was phenomenal.
We Got Detained in Nicaragua
So yeah. We got detained. It wasn’t fun. We’re going to post a whole video about what happened in a few months, but here’s the written account.
The Story
Us and drones don’t go together. In India, our first drone was confiscated by the airport security because we forgot it was in our checked bag, and you can’t check lithium batteries. It’s still there, being held by a friend in Delhi.
Before South America we splurged on another, but it got attacked by a hawk in Uruguay.
We tried to get it repaired, but it was too damaged. So we bought a replacement.
And took it to Nicaragua.
A dictatorship.
Where drones aren’t allowed.
And flew it in the center of Managua, the capital city.
Near a military installation.
And a high security jail.
Not our brightest moment, to say the least.
No more than 30 seconds after we launched it, to take videos of a pretty lagoon, a man in normal clothes walked up from behind us and flashed a police badge. We immediately apologized, said we’d take the drone down, and be on our way. They took pictures of everything and wanted to see our passports.
At this point, I was convinced these guys were fake cops looking for a payday. They weren’t in uniform. They had no police vehicle, just a motorcycle. Their “badge” could’ve been made at home with a laminating machine and a printer. These guys wanted our money.
So to prevent being robbed we said we were sorry, it wouldn’t happen again, and left. We hurried away, found sanctuary in a nearby mall, and told some locals about the situation. They agreed that these guys were probably fake cops.
We were wrong.
The same two officers found us at the mall along with three more officers (also without uniform), as well as the mall security.
They wanted to take us somewhere private. I declined, convinced this was a larger gang that extorted tourists. I said I’d prefer to stay in public.
At first they were hesitant. But then they agreed. More police were coming.
Worried we could get taken somewhere and no one would know, we started reaching out to family and friends.
We called Reyka’s parents, sharing our situation and our location on our phone. We contacted our airbnb hosts, who actually came to the mall to try to diffuse the situation, to no avail. And I borrowed a stranger’s phone, to call the U.S. Embassy. They didn’t answer, but I left a message and told them how they could contact Reyka via Whatsapp, which they did later.
If you’re in trouble, it’s better to have more help than you need, than need more than you have.
More police came. There were probably 12 officers at this point. They told us they were taking us to the station. Most had big guns.
And so we left the mall, driving in a truck. Once there, they had us empty our entire backpack on the sidewalk, cataloging everything in it. From our camera to the sunscreen.
They escorted us inside the station, and immediately wanted to separate Reyka and me. I strongly protested. After they assured me that Reyka would be fine. They just wanted to ask us some questions, I agreed. There were lots of female officers, and
I felt better not leaving her with a room full of men. If I didn’t go, it would cause huge problems. Compliance was the way to go.
So they took me to a separate room with the lead inspector. She sat across from me in a desk, and proceeded to ask all sorts of questions.
What do you do for a living? What’s your home address? Why are you here in Nicaragua? What are your plans while in Nicaragua? Where are you staying? How did you come to Nicaragua? Why were you flying the drone? How did you get the drone into the country?
I explained each answer as calmly and clearly as possible (a true workout of my Spanish), and explained that two days prior when we landed in Nicaragua, we had the drone in our backpack, scanned it in the customs machine at the airport, and went on our way. Nobody said a thing.
The questions dragged on.
At a certain point, she asked if I was nervous. I said yes, this has never happened before.
She said, “You have nothing to be nervous about if you have nothing to hide.” Classic cop line.
After three hours, Reyka joined me in my room. We still didn’t have access to our phones, which we desperately wanted to be able to let everyone know we were okay. We knew they were panicking, unable to contact us.
Finally, after another 30 minutes, they let us go. They drove us to our Airbnb, returned everything except the drone, and assured us we were cleared. A sergeant even came by that afternoon to apologize. They now were confident we were honest, but they just had to be careful.
Our Airbnb host later told us that the police probably suspected we were either A) Spies or B) Investigative journalists documenting humanitarian crimes in the country.
We contemplated leaving Nicaragua right then, but we worried this might look suspicious to the government, like we were fleeing, and so we gave Nicaragua a second chance.
And we’re so glad we did!
Nicaragua is beautiful. It has delicious food. Great people. Gorgeous lakes and volcanoes. Fun activities. Cute colonial cities.
Our two highlights were sledding down a volcano and renting a scooter and driving around Ometepe, an island made up of two volcanoes sitting right in the middle of a lake.
When we left a week later, the drone was waiting for us with the officers at the airport. They apologized, just said we’d broken the rules and they had to be careful, and sent us on our way.
To leave Nicaragua with all our gear, including the drone, not having paid a dime in fines, feels like nothing short of a miracle. Either we got extremely lucky, or because we are vloggers they didn’t want us to give their country a bad reputation. Or, maybe the horror stories of people getting kidnapped and extorted are just a loud minority and people are better than we think they are? Maybe it’s a combo of all three? I have no idea.
We’re just grateful to be safe.
If there’s one thing to take from all this, it’s that when traveling, it’s better to ask permission than forgiveness. Not only to respect the country’s rules that you visit, but also to ensure you don’t accidentally break laws and end up detained.
Anyways, nothing that some Pupusas can’t fix. We’ve been chowing this scrumptious El Salvadorian cuisine for days now, and they blow our mind every time. Mexico, you have a close competitor for best Latin American food. Just saying.
As far as plans go, we leave Santa Ana and head to El Tunco tomorrow, a town on the Pacific Ocean with good waves for surfing. Stay tuned to see if I can actually stand up on the board.
Then, on Thursday, we fly to Boston to meet my family to kick off a month of fun family/friends get togethers! We’re pumped!
Here are our first two Youtube videos that are out now, in case you missed them! Chile was a fascinating country, that we really enjoyed exploring. And it’s been fun to relive the memories editing those videos.
Anyways, hopefully that’s the last time you see the word “detained” in the subject line of a Sunday Somewhere email. That was more than enough stress for a year or two. But we move on to better times.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you have an excellent week! ❤️
Love,
Wyatt (and Reyka)