Day 23 - Laying low at Finca Mystica

The howler monkeys started their vocal choir this morning around 4am and they sounded like they were no more than 50m from our cabana. The whole jungle sounded as though it was waking with the coming sun. I stayed in a half sleep state until Elliot woke up and we went up to they in the hammocks and play his DS.

We had a good hour or more to ourselves and it was very nice. When Mom and Tegan stumbled up the walkway, we got to ordering our breakfast. The food here is very delicious and everything seems to be grown locally or onsite. I spent some of the morning updating the blog, Correen enjoyed her coffee and reading online updates from friends while the kids played with everything.

After a equally yummy lunch experience, we set off for the beach where there were suppose to be tons of kids for Tegan and Elliot to play with. However we went to the wrong beach and it was just the 3 of us. Correen stayed back to baby sit the coffee and pay me back for leaving the kids with her back in SJDS. The beach we were at was of black sand and rocks. Entering the water with bare feet was challenging as there were bands of sand and rocks, the later being uncomfortable on the feet. We played with the soccer ball we brought from the retreat in the water. Monkey in the middle was fun and keeping Elliot out of the middle required some creative cheating and play.

No kids ever did show, so we went back to Finca Mystica. On the walk back we saw a mom and her young Howler monkey. While back relaxing in the common area I stumbled upon a large quantity of ants moving across the front of the steps. It was like a super highway for ants and there must have been many thousands crawling down the path. The kids and I spent a good amount of time observing the ants. We tried to find where they were coming from and the direction they were heading. We were told by Angela that sometimes the ants move across the property and they will cover the entire walls of the cabanas. They basically clean out the spiders and other insects as well as any food they can find. We observed the ants walking on spider webs and crawling down the tunnels made of webs. We even shot a video of the action.

The sunsets were incredible and you could sit and watch the dropping sun cast shades of red and orange onto the clouds as it sunk deeper in into the horizon. Thinking that the sky might clear up and stay clear throughout the night I setup my tripod and camera to photograph the stars. Up to the common area for a snack and then to bed.

Day 19 - Nicaragua or Bust!

5 am and we are up getting everything tidied up into our bags for our bus trip to Nicaragua. Breakfast is at 6 am and the bus leaves at 7:30 am, so very minute is critical this morning. We were in and out of breakfast by 6:15 am and arrived at the bus station just before 7 am. Our bags were loaded onto the bus and then I went to sit in the line for our tickets. 20 minutes later, I ask for 4 tickets and I am told they are sold out and have been for 4 days! Panic! We have to be in Nicaragua today, my mind whirls thinking that we could try Transnica bus or take local buses to get there.

First course of action, get our tickets so we can leave Nicaragua in a week. Back in line. I get the tickets and we are set to leave Nicaragua. Correen suggests that we stick around and find out if there are any cancellations so we could board. Then it came to me and we head outside to grab a taxi and head back to Liberia where we had been 2 days before by rental car and then take the local bus to the border and then taxi to San Juan del Sur!

The bus tickets would have cost $27 / person and the car rental including fuel worked out to $95. Within 20 minutes out of San Jose we had already passed the Ticabus we were suppose to have taken. We arrived in Liberia in just over 3 hours... traffic on Sunday morning is very light. We then take a cab into Liberia and despite all the warnings from the car rental agent we take the bus to the border. Supposedly the bus terminal is very dangerous, but we just hopped on the bus, no complications whatsoever. The best part was the bus was just leaving when we arrived so there was no further waiting. We were ahead of schedule.

The next stop was the border. 5 kms from the border is where a line of trucks started waiting for passage into Nicaragua. We received our exit stamp from Costa Rica, paid a levy to the local town, got our entrance stamp into Nicaragua and paid a $12 dollar each entrance fee. We met a taxi driver who would take us to San Juan del Sur for $40, I asked for less and he agreed to $35. He was helpful and guided us through the Nicaraguan border logistics. My eyes stung from salt because my sweat was running into my eyes while filing out the immigration papers. The taxi can was a sweet Hyundai ride with racing stickers on the outside fenders including TRD. He fed us a lot of misinformation like how the currency rate was 38 cordobas to a dollar (actually 24) and that the fuel costs were $4/litre (actually $1.20/litre), he also told us that a house costs $30k, I suppose it would be more like $10-20k.

He drove around the town a little trying to locate the hostel which he didn't know where it was. Correen spotted it up a street from the beach. We made it to SJDS in good time, our room wasn't even ready yet. We did a walk down to the waterfront and had lunch and when we arrived back to the hostel Rosita showed us a room on the street that would be ours during our stay. Rosita gave Tegan and Elliot a package of Christmas Oreo cookies, in a typical grandma style. She was very affectionate towards our kids and it was cute to see.

We all went to the beach for a swim just before the sun was setting.  We sat and had some dinner at a restaurant on the beach.  Once Elliot was finished eating he went out onto the beach and joined the local boys and girls in a game of futbol.  It was over 30C out and Elliot was running as hard as he could.  Tegan even went out to participate in the game.  When the kids returned, Elliot was bright red in the face from the heat and exercise.  The bay is of a horseshoe shape and it is loaded with boats of various size anchored a few hundred metres off the shore. The beach gently sloped out into the bay and they waves were gentle for a famous surf town. We ended up having some gelato, but it wasn't just some gelato, it was great gelato. After enjoying a cone of yummy cold gelato, we went to our room and just watched shows on TV until we went to sleep.