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Published: September 28th 2009
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from the bus
after the border crossing entering Nicaragua Posted by John
This is our last posting... I will explain at the end but read on for now....
Time for another border run... Seeing as how our last border run was to Panama, we decided this time to head north and see Nicaragua. Our semester teaching has ended and six of us teachers decided to go to Nicaragua together to save on boarding and transport. One of our friends had heard some good things about Granada and the surrounding area so that was the plan. It worked out well although getting a consensus with a group can sometimes be a challenge. We left out from Heredia to San Jose at 4.am. to allow getting to Granada at a decent hour. Like I have said before, just because your distance traveled may seem short in this country, travel times can be quite lengthy. Fortunately, we all decided to catch the TICA (pronounced teeka) bus and pay more to have the convenience of a bathroom on the bus and more comfortable seats and A/C. The trip is a total of nine hours with only one stop for the crossing at the border (read: circus) so any added comfort is appreciated. The border
sitting on the steps
Waiting to get a room at the hostel crossing differed from our earlier crossing at Panama. The main difference being that Costa Rica is much more concerned with Illegal Nicaraguans crossing into C.R. than Illegal Panamanians doing the same. The pay scale in C.R. is much higher than Nicaragua (hmm... sounds familiar...) so many Nicos cross for better paying jobs creating a feared loss of jobs in C.R. True? Who knows but it makes for a complete fiasco at the border that is flat out ridiculous. Oh well, it's all part of the adventure right? So we cross and head on another 45 minutes or so to Granada.
Wow! Nicaragua is beautiful! This is what I would look for in a nice old colonial city. From the churches, shops, and schools to the private residences, it just reeked of character and age. It was no more obvious than now how westernized Costa Rica has become. This is a beautiful and sleepy country. We ambled our way to the local hostel and got a room, found an ATM, had a beer, a snack, and called it a night. The next day,we had reservations at a hostel just out of town located in the extinct crater of a volcano that
Laguna de Apoyo
the view says it all. has filled with water and is now a beautiful lake. It has a reputation of being the place to go if you are in the area. It is a beautiful location but the service and amenities were not even third rate so I will refrain from even mentioning their name here. The lake itself was amazing and glorious. The water was very clear, especially for rainy season. Being an extinct volcano crater, the surrounding soil contained a lot of very porous lava rock so the lake had a lot of floating rocks in it. Pretty cool sight. Needless to say, that with a nice hot and sunny location that included a lake, deck chairs, and hammocks, absolutely nothing productive was accomplished. I am not even sure I read much. Nicaragua is well known for how cheap the Flor de Cana rum is so memories are fuzzy for the two nights we were there. Just lots of sun and swimming is all I will attest to.
The day before our departure back to C.R., we headed back to Granada and got a great hostel located in a private residence that had a few of the rooms converted into bunk rooms. The
Our cabina
We had our own fridge and bathroom, woo-hoo! six of us shared a room and just enjoyed a nice quiet final day in Granada exploring the town and walking a lot. The town truly is very lovely and a must see when in Nicaragua. It is very walkable with lots of great things to see and do. Great food, shops, photo opportunities, etc. The church in the center of town is right in front of the central park and a congregation arena for the locals so the people watching is superb.
The next morning, we woke early, had breakfast in the hostel and made our way to the bus stop for the ride home. Pretty uneventful trip home, which is a good thing here.
Megan and I have returned to the states because we are expecting our first baby! We considered having the baby in C.R. but decided the closeness of family would be nice in the coming months. We have been back a few weeks now and are settling in nicely finding jobs and setting up home again. It is nice to be back amongst friends and family again. We had a great time in our nine months away and hope you enjoyed our posts. It has
hammock time
Everyone should have hammock time as often as possible in life... been a great experience and we would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get out for a while and see how much we are all alike in this world. Thanks and we will see you again soon!
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Kerry Parham
non-member comment
congratulations!
That is great news about the coming baby! I'm so happy for the two of you. You seem very much in love. Blessings always Kerry