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Published: October 13th 2008
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Just a few more steps Last night I ended up counting up all my Colones in change and wanted to spend it all before leaving for Nicaragua in the morning. It was happy hours and the bartender was my new best friend. I must of unloaded a ton of change on him and he was quite happy because he needed for the night. 6 drinks later and it was time for bed. I got too drunk and had to bail on the Volcano tour which I heard was boring to do on La Fatuna. Everyone tells me to do it in Nica because you actually get to hike up there.
In the morning I met up with Charlotte and Natalie to catch the 6am bus to Nica. We ended up taking the local bus so it was a pretty hardcore ride through some pretty local towns in the highlands of Costa Rica.
I even saw a guy get arrested in some small town but the funny thing about CR is that there is no military presence because they have no military. It is the Switz of CA I would say. The bus ride cost $3 so it was dirt cheap but the bus was
Random pic
Along the road leading to the border of Nicaragua very unclean with bugs crawling over your feet at times and the locals...well let´s just say they were the hardcore locals going to church or home or somewhere. No tourist at all.
5 hours later we finally get to the border and if you are not use to border crossing in CA it is a gong show. When you get off the bus you have a swarm of touts trying to help you exchange your colones for the cords (Nica currency). It was just chaos trying to figure out where the border was and what to do. But again because it there is no military it´s like you get your passport stamp, no bag check and you walk over a few blocks into an entirely different country. Nica is completely different then CR because it is much less developed. You notice it right away as soon as you cross that fence how different it is. It is quite strange.
We waited in Rivas a small town close by the border and it was super chaotic. Dogs fighting, and the street had so many crazy and different food vendors shouting things back and forth. It was a bit of
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Border where you get passport stamped a shock for all of us coming from CR because it is quite touristy there but here in Nica it´s local. I think I have to spend a bit more time trying to learn Spanish with my traveling mates.
We finally got in a chicken bus and it is pretty much a sketchie school bus crammed all the way with dogs, people, kids, backpackers and we head off to San Juan which is by the water.
We finally got here and this place rocks. It reminded me of Tofino abit the beaches and the buildings were very Central American like unlike Costa Rica where it was so much more developed and lost that authenticity. I have only been here 1 day and I can tell you the vibe is completely different then CR. I agree with everyone else and this place is so much better. You really feel like you are in Central America here. It´s too bad I can´t make it up to Guatamala because everyone tells me that is the place to go because it is so unique.
So far everything seems cheaper - the room we have is $8 bucks shared but it´s quite
fence
The border crossing consist of stamping your passport and walking along this fence basic but heck it´s cheap. I lost Charlotte at the bus station because it was such mad house she decided to take a cab but Marianne was on a budget and I felt bad leaving her there by herself so I took the chicken bus with her.
I have no idea where Thomas is but I reckon he is trying to make it back to Nica. Tomorrow will be a brand new day in a different country so I am stoked. I had a nice dinner tonight at this resturant right by the beach and it was had a beautiful view.
I am down to 2 bottles of rum now and need to make sure I drink all of it before I leave. Nica is known for it´s really good rum called Flora De Cana I think. The 7 years is the one to get. l
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