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.

Day 17 - Off to Get a Gold Crown

This morning everyone was back into routine... basically, Elliot up while it was still dark outside and playing his video games on his DS or iPad while the rest of us slept. I woke up a few times during the night and just stared at all the stars that were bright and filled the sky. Elliot returned to sleep when the sun still hadn't risen after an hour awake. Finally morning came and we were all up and ready to get some breakfast from downstairs. The 3 parrots downstairs greeted us with holas and whistles. Breakfast consisted of eggs, fruit, beans and rice and toast; a typical Costa Rican breakfast.

I packed up our things and then we were off in the SUV for Liberia where today I was getting my gold crown fitted. Arriving in Liberia, we set to work looking for the dental office. The instructions were to head west 450m of the Bank of Costa Rica, but there were no dental offices located there. I worked the street for some more info and ended up work with a helpful gentleman and a police officer who said I would find a farmacia east of the bank with the name I was searching for. Correen argued with me which way East and West are and we were still not locating anything referenced in the emailed instructions. I sat next to a man on a park bench and asked him for help finding the farmacia. He told me that it was 100m away and we made short work of reaching or destination.

Correen and the kids went for a walk while I went and got my crown. An hour was suggested as a time to return and meet me. As soon as I went inside I told them, "no es oeste, es oriente", with a smile on. Finding things in Central America with no road signs and misinformation is challenging, but humourous. The fitting of my gold crown took only about 15 minutes, so I thanked them for the work done and left to find Correen and the kids.

I met them about 5-6 blocks down and we returned to the car and drove to Burger King for some lunch. After lunch our plan was to return to San Jose, see if they had a room available for tonight, and have a day in San Jose to tour some museums, etc.

Driving in Costa Rica is very different from Canada. The majority of cars on the highway are driving between 40 km/h and 60km/h on a posted 80 km/h road. The other drivers are the ones passing these slow moving vehicles usually on solid lines and sometimes on blind hills and corners. I even had a police car speed past me on double solid line. So the norm is to safely negotiate passing whenever you can or add double the time to your trip. Well today, I got stopped by two motorcycle cops and they informed me of my offense, passing on a solid line and the officer said it would by a $600 usd fine. Say What?! An officer returned and asked me to step out to talk to them and they asked if I wanted to pay the $600 fine or pay $200 to them right there. In hindsight I probably could have negotiated this amount down, but I paid the $200 bribe and got out of there. There wasn't anymore double line passing by me on the remainder of the trip, but everyone else on the highway was still doing it, including huge 18 wheelers.

Correen checked with the front desk at the hotel and there was a room available. We parked and the whole place was decorated for Christmas and they were setting up for a huge staff party, immediately in front of the main entrance of our hotel. Correen and the kids went to the hot tub for a swim while I worked on the blog. When they returned, Elliot stayed with me while Mom and Tegan went to order Pizza with the front desk's help. About 30-40 minutes later the girls returned with Dominos! The have Papa John's and Pizza Hut as well here. So at 8 pm, with the disco music playing outside at the fiesta, we were eating slice after slice of pepperoni pizza, drinking orange Fanta and Coca-Cola while watching episodes of Friends and Two and a Half Men on TV.

Day 15 - Costa Rica Highway 160

We slept in a little more this morning and when Elliot complained he was starving and couldn't bare it anymore, we went to the same restaurant as the night before for pancakes. Then when the kids complained they couldn't stand the restaurant anymore because they were having swimming pool withdrawal, we went back to the hotel so they could swim. I stayed inside the room and worked on the blog update while Correen and the kids were outside swimming and iguana-watching.

When we were nearing the check out time, we had to get packed and load the SUV for our next destination, Playa Azul. We started off following the gps and it led us out of town and down a road and then we were prompted to turn left down a rough patch of road that looked more like a farm pasture access than the Highway 160. When we decided to not take the route, the gps kept suggesting a u-turn to rectify our error in navigation. I bowed to the gos gods and did the u-turn as prompted and returned to the cow pasture access road. Well, it was a rough road and we passed an older man on the corner near the river harvesting deadfall and burning some brush. When we rounded the corner, we could see no more road and only a river to cross, suggesting that if we needed to go further, this river was the way to go. The gps concurred.

Well Correen would have none of it. She demanded to go back to the civilized road and we backed out of the access road back to the main road. We only managed to make our way down that road about 1-2 kms before reaching another river crossing. We stopped to question the reality of the situation and during this time, 2 big trucks and a couple of smaller SUVs crossed the stream, the last one being a group of tourist like us. We shared the same humour on the event and then we actually went for it. Correen none to optimistic or approving of the idea.

We made it!

As we continued on with our trip we made an additional 3 river crossings. At Ostonal we stopped to look for a nature conservancy center that was suppose to be open to the public and sharing information on sea turtles; however, we did not locate it. We ended up at some kind of university research center instead and they were not helpful. The place we were aiming for in Playa Azul ended up being very difficult to locate. We staggered up and down the road slowly honing in the location. You would think if you wanted people to find you, that you would put up a sign on the highway and further more not advertise that you are established on one beach, when truly you are located on another! An hour wasted and there wasn't even a sole there and plus we would have had to pay high season rates for a facility with none of their amenities even opened yet. We stopped at another resort down the road and it looked just as deserted and expensive.

So on to Plan B: Playa Negra. By the way this Highway 160 is all gravel with tons of mini SUV swallowing holes. Hopefully the kids aren't experiencing any kidney bruising. We arrived at Playa Negra and were looking for a place to stay. We found a place. It was a little pricey for a Cabana with only a private washroom and shower, but no hot water or A/C. We ate a meal that was a little disappointing, meat was rare for Correen and sending it back twice did little to improve it. My hamburger was on the pinkish side even though I asked for "cocinar bien". The beer was 150% what we usually paid and I kind of felt we might of entered a twilight zone episode. I can't imagine any of the guest were enjoying the food there... but there they were eating the rubbish.

We went down to the beach so I could get some sunset photos and the kids played a little on the beach. The waves were the best I had seen and the surfers were riding them for a period of at least 30 seconds each ride. After the beach the kids wanted at the pool; so in they went swimming after dark. Back at the cabana and readying for bed, Correen was loathing the place she was in. Sure there were ants, dogs, a cockroach, some dead spiders, probably some live ones too, a door of wood that was weather shrunk and provided a loosely secure fit to its frame and finally the noises that happened throughout the night. It was much like sleeping in a tent, except I think on this night, Correen would have preferred the tent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 14 - Up, up and away!

Woke up early this morning to the iPod alarm, however the iPod was playing tricks on me. For some odd reason it decided to change its time on its own and it was now an hour earlier without me knowing. We had asked for a 7 a.m. breakfast, but we were now at the office for our breakfast an hour early. Randall and Leticia made us a typical Costa Rican breakfast of eggs, fruit, beans and rice and toast. We went back to our room to kill some time until 7:30 a.m. When we returned for our shuttle to Extremo Zip Line tours. We were the first ones there and paid our fee of $140 for all 4 of us, then they started to get us into our gear. There were about 12-14 people in our group and after a brief safety debriefing we were on our way up to the first zip line.

Elliot usually went tandem with one of the guides. Tegan was eager to do as many zip lines on her own. The zip lines were great fun; however, the hoofing it up the hills in the war humid weather was challenging. Towards the middle of our tour, we were taken down a rappelling area and then onto what is called the Tarzan swing. Tegan went first and she even did a the Tarzan yell. I went next, it was just like free falling from the plane for the first 100th of a second and then I just went swinging for a while until be manhandled by an inner tube to arrest my movement. Then Elliot was next and I was worried about the boy as I didn't think he would be able to do it, but he did. He didn't enjoy it, but he did it. Mom went after Elliot and she was a superstar and perhaps an adrenalin junkie. Elliot kept asking others in our group if the were "freaked out".

The last run returns you to the start and it is the 1 km long zip line. If you paid an additional $5 you were allowed to go down face down like superman. Tegan and I were the only ones that went down like this. It wasn't scarier, it was just a different approach to zip lining. I even got a video of the trip down with my camera, the end was the best part, when you are speeding along and then quickly brought to a stop by a breaking device on the wire line.

We had a quick snack at the cafe located on site and then we were whisked off to our next location; the canyoning tour. We were persuaded by the staff not to make Elliot do the tour and so it was just me and Tegan going on this one. We all hiked up to the gear up shed and then Tegan and I were led down to the first 2m rappel down a waterfall. I went first on all of the waterfall rappels. The water was super refreshing, enough to make you gasp for air when the water first douses your body. Actually, I had the same reaction every time I was drenched by the waterfalls.

The second waterfall was to me the most challenging. The tallest one wasn't as difficult, but I had to take a couple of breaks on the way down as it was tiring on the legs especially after all the walking up the hills at the zip line tour. Tegan was given a few alternate routes that didn't get here doused by the waterfalls like I did. Also there was a little trick that they throw at you that is somewhat static, but equally deceptive and cruel. The rappel ropes are actually cut a little short on a couple of the rappels so that you end up dropping into the pool when you run out of rope. Of course, I made a complaint about the short rope the first time we met, however the complaint conjured little reaction of the guides.

On the large waterfall rappel, Tegan was allowed to do a little zip line to bypass the falls and land directly in the center of the pool. She was belayed down from below, but her weight was too little and she basically just hung there. It was mostly do to the effort Tegan put in to work the rope up into the belaying device that allowed her to descend. It was pretty cool to see that she worked that out on her own. We were both happy with the canyoning tour and we met Mom and Elliot down at the office where we collected our cd of photos and then shuttled back to the hotel so we could checkout and be on our way. We highly recommend staying at Belcruz B&B and Monteverde in general. We packed in a lot of adventures in a very short amount of time.

Now we were off for Samara a little surfing town 4+ hours away. We had lunch in town, stumbled along and back tracked a little when following the gps, but we eventually arrived in Samara after nightfall. It was the second place that we stopped at that we settled on staying. We unloaded our gear and then went into town to have some pizza and then back again to get some sleep. Tomorrow we were heading north to Playa Negra or Playa Azul.