Costa Rica

My first "trip" outside the good Ol' US of A, was to Flamingo Beach Costa Rica (pronounced with a long o).
I flew into San Jose. I will never forget all the "Ticas" faces pressed against the airport windows as I came to the airport exit. I still don't understand what they were all doing there. My best guess is that they are all there hoping to give you or ride, be your tour guide or anything else to make a few colones.

The Pan American Highway is a nightmare! From San Jose to Flamingo is about a 4 hour drive to the south and west. I compare it to  playing a  video game. Trying to get there in a timely manner by driving a decent speed all the while keeping a sharp eye out for the pot holes (some the size of one of your tires). SO you find yourself dodging to the left and right sharply and quickly and not missing most of them as they are too large.

Flamingo Marina Resort is a beautiful spot and I was certainly glad to see it after the hellish drive to get there. It's truly paradise. The air is noticeably different in Costa Rica. It's thick yet  feels fresh on your skin like I had never really felt fresh air in my life before. It was like "aw, this is what fresh clean air feels like?".

The people are absolutely beautiful! And it is a very tourist based country so they are very friendly and service is as it should be. The word "service" says it all. That's what you get, service. I think this country has forgotten what that word means. Service in the USA is a job. Make a buck and who cares. Not in Costa Rica!!

I have been in and out of C.R. about 30 times and ended up living there for awhile before my venture into Nicaragua. That was over ten years ago. Sad to say but the country is now swarming wih Americans who have retired there and drove all the prices up. There is every American fast food chain there now and english is spoken widely. So it's not the same paradise it used to be. I call it "Americanized". I still love it, but I think I saw it at it's best before the invasion.
(Currently digging for pictures of Costa Rica)

Nicaragua Nicaraguita

Ahhhh....My favorite place in the world!

Myself and some friends were in Costa Rica sitting around the pool getting a buzz. The next thing I know I hear someone yelling for me. So I go over to see what's going on. This guy that I hardly knew who sells real estate says " so they are leaving it up to you Cheryl" and I say what's that? He says " Want to go to Nicaragua tomorrow?". WHAT? Nicaragua? Isn't it dangerous? Isn't there like a revolution or something happening? "We could get kidnapped!" I say. "Hell NO!" The guys says. So after a minute or two and a drink or two I say "OK, if your sure it's safe". The guys name is David, he went on and on about how nice it is and how safe it is too. He assured me he had an AK47 so that I would feel safe. That was the joke of the whole trip ..."Cheryl, grab that AK47".

So the  following morning (hungover of course) we all four loaded up in Dave's SUV to take the three hour drive north to Granada Nicaragua. The "frontera" or border crossing is always interesting there. Hundreds of people in line. Buses with loads of "Ticas and Nicas" going to see family or to work.  We stick out like a soar thumb with our white skin. We were the ONLY white skins there. SO all eyes are on us. I was a nervous wreck. Dave paid a young kid twenty bucks, grabbed our passports and left us outside to wait while he went with the kid in front of the line. Yep, for twenty bucks we get "the express lane". But we didn't know Dave really at all. So as I stood there and I thought this could be the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life!! The Latinos in line were none too happy looking either. They were waiting for hours and knew what we were doing. So I got back in the car where the windows were tinted dark and observed. I kept thinking is this crazy or what? What are we doing? We were drunk when we made this decision and I sure need a beer to ease my nerves. Pretty soon, well about twenty minutes later we WERE IN! No turning back now.

The process at the border was really silly the first time. We drove by a tiny station in the process of entering the country that was to check for fruit or food we might be transporting. The guy at his post opened the front doors of the vehicle, took out a can of raid and sprayed it in the floor on each side. He charged us two dollars. When Dave asked what the two dollars was for he said "the raid". I could go on about the process of entry. But to put it short. It was like the "officials" didn't really know what all to do to allow you to cross, but since they didn't they would look important and do some stuff, charge us so that it looked like a big deal. Once we got through it was funny. We all looked at Dave and said that was weird and he said "Cheryl reach under your seat at anytime if you feel the need for the AK47". We all laughed and agreed we couldn't wait to see what the beer was like in this crazy country.

We drove past Lake Nicaragua (the 19th largest lake in the world) and saw the two volcanoes that make the big Island (Ometepe) in the middle of the lake. It was breath taking! We started seeing mules pulling old carts with men driving them to work. To be the second poorest country in the world (next to Haiti) the roads were great! Way better than Costa Rica. So we hammered our way into Granada.



View of Mombacho Volcano
Las Isletas Granada, Nicaragua



What a trip! Granada is like stepping back into time. It's a very old Colonial pueblo. I expected  the Spaniards to jump out at any moment. We went straight to the "parque central" (central park) where we saw short, skinny horses with bows in their hair pulling coaches lined up on the square, just waiting for the next customer to take a ride. We went to the big hotel on the plaza and sat out front for our first Nicaraguan beer, Tona (pronounced  like the name Tonya with a long O). Oh it was GOOD! I had thought the service was good in C.R.!! Nicaragua by far has the BEST customer service I have ever seen in my life. The beers were less than a  dollar a bottle so we had hundred or so! And began our spanish lesson ..."Ultra mas cerveca por favor".

We got drunk and people watched for they day. We may have seen  four or five other "gringos" walking the streets. The servers spoke NO English, so it was nice to be in a country and get the full affect of it (unlike Costa Rica where English is widely spoken). We stayed in a great Hotel called "Hotel Colon" with a swim up bar and we partied our asses of at the local discotheque's. Those folks know how to dance let me tell you.

I have many many stories of Nicaragua as I ended up living there on and off for years in Las Isletas which is a archipelago  made up of 360 small islands in Lake Nicaragua. The country seems to focus around the lake and most of my stories will come from there. I look forward to telling more stories of my now life long friends there and sharing lots of pics.
Adios

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