Costa Freakin´hot

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Hola from the sweltering country of Costa Rica. Man is it hot here! I guess that´s what happens when you go to Central America in the middle of the dry season. After a month, I finally left San Juan Del Sur but not without some trepidation. Absolutely loved the beaches, people, food...you name it. Also, finally broke down and bought a surf board. It´s a great used board that I rented from the nicest man in Nicaragua (Manuel...you´re the bomb!). After about a week on this board I was completely in love with it and convinced Manuel to sell it to me which he did for a steal of a deal. It´s nice and short too so not so much lugging around.

There is a reason why travel guides are just a ¨guide¨. My book claims that the border crossing at Peñas Blancas would be a hassle but shouldn´t take too long. Well. We stood in line for 4 hours just to get a stamp that took 3 seconds to get. But it was kind of our fault because we were there on a Sunday when all the locals head back home. After that, we couldn´t get a bus for the life of us. It was chaos! People everywhere trying to get on any bus, standing in random lineups that seemed to go nowhere and not one person working or organizing the masses. It was quite something to see. I was with three others so we decided to get a cab to the next town hoping that we would escape the chaos. Well we did but the buses that went to the next town were the same as those coming from the border and they were packed! Plus there was four of us with huge backpacks and four surfboards. They were not letting us on. So we waited in La Cruz for another 3 hours until finally the last bus let us on. But we had to pay through the teeth because of all our gear, and like the ometepe bus, I was basically standing on one foot, hugging my friend with my face in someone´s armpit. So We finally made it to Liberia where I had to make an unexpected layover because it had already taken 9 hours to get from San Juan to Liberia which is about a three hour drive.

Next day I hopped on a much less crowded bus and made my way to Samara. Had a great visit with my aunt and uncle and scored a much needed hot shower (it had been more than a month since my last one in Honduras!) I stayed at a sweet campsite on the beach which cost an astounding $9 per night. Costa Rica is very expensive. The fruit in Samara was phenomenal. The best mangos I´ve ever eaten. After my aunt and uncle left, I made my way to montezuma on the tip of the nicoya peninsula. Took much longer than I expected and ended up in town last night pretty late and beat. So I grabbed a quick bit to eat and hit the sack. Only today did I realize that my day of buses was valentine´s day. Oh well. So today i´m going to check out Montezuma and hopefully rent a bike to go to some waterfalls. Tomorrow I head to Mal Pais to do some more surfing.

Adios for now and thanks to all of you who send nice hello messages...it´s nice to hear from you all.

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