Viva Nicaragua!

Here's a little Costa Rica flavor, since I've been remiss about posting pictures lately.

This picture was taken on the main highway just south of the Nicaraguan border, and we counted 8 people in this trailer. We were going about 60 mph...safe.
This was from early last week and was Tim's first success at catching fish. He cleaned the fish and gave them to one of Steve's workers, since we already had a freezer full of fish thanks to the fish truck.
This is a picture from the sunroom upstairs at Barry's. It looks out on the ocean from the front and the estuary from the side. Beautiful.

2/18/08

This is a REALLY long post...sorry, there's no way around it.

Last week we were outside on the patio at Barry’s when a van pulled up on the road and out hopped Barry and all his gear (we got an e-mail on Monday that Barry sent on Saturday, saying he might be dropping in for 24 hours or so at some point during the week). So we had Barry as a guest in Barry’s house for 2 nights before he left again for another 10 days or so. It was really great to hang out more with him and get to know him better; he’s a really good guy and we like him a lot. We were discussing the 90-day tourist visa situation with Barry and decided it was probably best for us to go to Nicaragua before returning to the states at the end of April (our next scheduled trip home), so our tourist visas wouldn’t expire. Once we decided to go we realized we had to leave ASAP because of Suzette’s pregnancy; once she left for San Jose to have the baby, we would be house sitting and dog sitting for at least 4-6 weeks. We quickly planned to leave on Thursday in order to be back by Sunday so that Steve, Suzette, Sean and Noah would then be able to leave for San Jose whenever they needed to.

On Thursday morning we took the dogs over to Steve’s house, said our goodbyes, and headed for the Nicaraguan border for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. This time we knew better what to expect at the border, since we had just been there to get the visa for the truck extended. For those of you wondering why we didn’t just drive the truck into Nicaragua and spend 3 days at that time and renew our tourist visas as well as the tourist visa for the truck all at once, there are 2 reasons: 1) We have heard it is easy to drive a vehicle into Nicaragua but can be very difficult to drive it back across the border into Costa Rica, and 2) had we spent 72 hours in Nicaragua in January (when we had to renew the truck visa), our visas would have still expired before we returned to the states at the end of April. Needless to say, we are learning as we go and as such, seeing these things and planning for them in advance is difficult.

We arrived at Penas Blancas just after 1 pm on Thursday afternoon and called our “helper,” Eric, to let him know we were arriving. We met him on our last visit and he helped us get all the necessary documents and stamps to extend the visa for the truck. First, though: the road into Penas Blancas. The road is only 2 lanes, with deep ditches on either side, and absolutely no shoulder. On one side of the road there are culverts across the ditch in front of every house, but they are very narrow and require pointing the truck straight to go across the culvert without falling into the ditch – hairball. In the one lane heading into Penas Blancas there were diesels lined up for about ½ mile, sitting and waiting for clearance to go from Costa Rica to Nicaragua. There were several cars and trucks that had gone around the waiting diesels and so we did the same, which meant that we were all going against the flow of traffic coming into Costa Rica since there was only one lane going each way. As we approached the gate going into the no-mans-land between the 2 borders, we were stopped by a bus in the road; the bus had done as we had done and attempted to pass up all the parked trucks in the other lane, and had come upon a diesel headed out of Nicaragua and into Costa Rica. Since we were in the diesel’s lane, both the bus and the diesel had stopped and either the truck had to back up or the bus (and all of the cars behind it) had to back up in order to let the other pass. After 15 minutes or so the bus started up and the reverse lights came on, so that meant we would be the ones to back up to let the diesel past. We backed up for 200 yards or so and tried to turn into one of the driveways, across one of the skinny culverts. Since we only had one lane and no room to point the truck straight, it was impossible. Tim pulled over to the precarious edge of the road and we sat tilted at a crazy angle to allow the trucks by with only inches to spare. We couldn’t pull off the road any further without tipping into the ditch, and the trucks couldn’t cut any closer into the other lane because of all the parked trucks, so it was scary. I had to pull in the rearview mirror to allow enough room, that’s how close it was. And it wasn’t just one truck that needed past, it was about 15 of them. We finally had a chance to get back on the road and head to the gate and both of us breathed a huge sigh of relief. I really wish I had pictures of the border crossing and the roads going in and out of no-mans-land; the truth is I get so freaked out and intimidated by everything there that I wouldn't be able to hold the camera still enough to snap a picture...you should have seen how many shaky pictures I took the day the snake was on the door handle.

When we got through the gate into no-mans-land, we met up with our helper Eric, who directed us to a 24-hour secure parking lot where we left the truck. From there we grabbed our backpacks and walked to the Costa Rica immigration office. There were lines going out the door and Eric instructed us to get in line; outside the office, he got on his cell phone and called one of the immigration officers behind the counter, and in only 2 or 3 minutes he motioned for us to jump ahead of all the people waiting and go to a specific counter, where our passports were stamped and we were on our way. A little payola goes a long way. Eric handed us off to a kid named Jonathan, who told us he was 14 years old. He led us to the point where an official checks passports and you cross the actual border into Nicaragua, which is a small palapa that you would expect to see at a flea market instead of an international border crossing. After that we had to go to the Nicaragua immigration office, where there were more lines. He said it would cost $7 each to get the official stamp we needed to enter Nicaragua, but if we paid $10 each we wouldn’t have to wait in line. We gave him our passports (don’t try this at home, boys and girls) and he took them inside the office and presto! he came out with our passports stamped in about 10 minutes. He led us through a gate where they checked our passports one last time and we were in Nicaragua. There is just as much activity on the north side of the border as there is on the south, so it was still a maze of people, buses, food vendors, helpers vying for your business and diesels waiting to be cleared to go into Costa Rica. We told Jonathan we needed a taxi to take us to San Juan del Sur, and he found someone he knew and off we went.

The ride from the border to San Juan del Sur takes about an hour, with roads comparable to Costa Rica…maybe a little worse. Santo, the driver, played a CD mix of Freddy Fender, Credence Clearwater Revival, and Kenny Rogers songs at full volume along the way and we sang along in the back seat. As we drove into San Juan del Sur, we knew we had made the right choice. SJDS sits on a large picturesque horseshoe bay with a large beach. There are huge hills (or small mountains, depending on your perspective) on either end of the bay, and dozens of fishing boats and sail boats bobbing in the bay. The town is small enough that you don’t need a car. We checked into the Park Avenue Villas, a new hotel built up on a hill about 2 blocks from the beach. It is owned by a couple from Waxahachie (just south of Dallas), and they were wonderful. The beach road is lined with restaurants and bars, all with beautiful views of the bay. We spent the afternoon and evening exploring SJDS, and had dinner in one of the beach restaurants. We turned in early, tired from the trip and the stress, and eager to take in a little satellite TV while we had the opportunity! :)

This is the view from the deck of our hotel, looking at the north end of the bay.

This is the view looking south over San Juan del Sur.

Over the weekend we strolled around the quaint little town, checking out other hotels, restaurants and businesses and just taking in the wonderful culture and vibe. On Saturday afternoon we were having lunch in yet another beach restaurant when we overheard a couple from Wisconsin talking to some other tourists, and they said there was going to be a “Harley party” (biker rally as the rest of the world knows it) that evening. Sure enough, before sunset Harleys and other motorcycles started rolling in and by dusk the beach road was lined with probably a hundred bikes! The hotel owners recommended a restaurant called El Pozo for dinner so we headed that way. We were absolutely blown away with the food and the atmosphere. It is owned by a young American couple, and the food was like nothing we’ve had since we moved to Costa Rica. We had an appetizer of crostini with arugula and fresh strawberries glazed with balsamic vinegar, main dishes of filet mignon and Mahi Mahi with mushroom risotto, and dessert that was orange and chocolate custard, plus a bottle of great wine, all for about $65. The name of the restaurant is El Pozo and it is not to be missed. Because of the crowd in town for the biker rally, the hotel was booked and we had to move to one of the upstairs suites which the owners gave to us for the same rate of $75 we were paying for our small downstairs room. The new room had a private deck overlooking the bay, and was a wonderful treat we wouldn’t have splurged on otherwise. I can’t say enough about how beautiful San Juan del Sur is and how much we loved it there; the people were great, the prices were at least half of what they are in Costa Rica, and there is just a great vibe in the small town. Go there if you ever get the chance.

Typical Nica store front.

See if you can count the number of meters and wires coming from this pole...

Biker rally, Nica style.

Sunday morning in San Juan del Sur.

We left this morning to return to Costa Rica, and since we knew the routine had no problems. The taxi driver who took us to SJDS on Thursday picked us up at the hotel and took us back to the border, where we found Jonathan again and had him help us to the other side. When we crossed the border we called Eric, who met us and helped us through lines and such again. We got the truck from the parking lot and got back on that crazy two-lane road where all the trucks are parked in the northbound lane. AGAIN we met up with a northbound truck in our lane and had to back up to allow it and about 8 diesels to pass; luckily we found a wide culvert and I hopped out of the truck and directed Tim across it and onto a dirt road that runs parallel to the main road, and we snaked our way back onto the road after we passed the entire line of waiting diesels. Why there is no traffic cop directing that madness at the border is well beyond both of us.

When we started getting close to Junquillal, we tried to call Steve and Suzette at their house numerous times but got no answer. Tim said he had a feeling they had to leave because Suzette went into labor and when we reached their house to pick up the dogs, the gates were closed and locked. We parked on the road and walked up to the house where Eduardo (one of Steve’s workers) told us to call Steve on his cell. Tim called and found out Suzette had started having contractions yesterday afternoon and they had to make an emergency trip to San Jose a week ahead of their schedule and 5 weeks before the baby is due. We persuaded Eduardo to spend one more night house sitting, and tomorrow we will start packing up our things at Barry’s and move over to Steve’s for the next 4-6 weeks. On the road again, this is move #6 since last July.

Sunset over the bay.

That's me, watching aforementioned sunset.