4 Borders in 4 Days

That's right, we went crazy.

After Panama City, we went to Santa Catalina Panama, and I had one of the best dives of my life. Then we went up into the mountains to Boquete and enjoyed two nights of cool air.

Day 1 Border 1 We blasted from Boquete through David and to the Panama/Costa Rica border. Driving in Panama is a pleasure. It was a clam crossing and we were done in just under an hour. We drove up the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and into Liberia. It was about 10 hours on the road. We spent the night in a cheap backpackers haunt, then hit to road the next morning.

Day 2 Boder 2 From Liberia to Leon, Nicaragua. The border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua was not as horrific as when we were headed south, but it was still long and unpleasant. The Costa Rica side was fine, there was a small wait for migration, but nothing to long. We got through the fumugation on the Nica side by ourselves, then thankfully spotted Charlie. Charlie is the man who helped us get through the first time. Unlike the kids who hang around and yell and bang on the car, Charlie is calm and efficient. Dave yelled out the window as soon as he saw Charlie. Withouth Charlie it would have been a different story. After the border we headed straight for Leon. We ended up taking the old highway from the Managua area to Leon. The result was a much bumpier and slower ride. We spent 7 hours on the road, and decided to check out Leon for two nights, just to get a rest.

Day 3 wasn't much of a rest. Leon was hot and dusty and just not restful. It does have beautiful old churches and a fantastic art gallery full of work by artists from Central and South America. The gallery was the highlight and for me it is reason enough to go to Leon if you are in Nicaragua.

Day 4 Borders 3 and 4. This was the roughest day. We set out from Leon on a highway that was underconstruction, so two and half hours of dust and bumps, then exited Nicaragua without much effort. Getting into Honduras was a little more work and a lot more money. It costs 40 usd to bring a car in, plus a few dollars per person. After about an hour at the border, we were in Honduras. This stretch of Honduras is notorious for police check points, but we were ready. We bought a new saftey triangle and a fire extinguisher and watched for where speeds were reduced. We were nearly out of Honduras (about a 3 hour drive in all) and through 4 or 5 checkpoints without being pulled over when we got flagged down.

We showed them the triangle, the extinguisher, we chatted it up, then they said we ran a stop sign and wouldn't give Dave's lisence back to us even though we kept saying there isn't a stop sign visible from the road. It was off the road and totally blocked by trees. In the end they got 20 usd and we continued towards El Salvador. It was frustrating because it was so obvisouly a shake-down. Crossing into El Salvador involved waiting around in the heat for a while, but it only took an hour and we chatted it up with some truckers while we waited. We pulled into Alegria around 6pm. Making it a 9 hour travel day. At the end of the day we were rewarded with pupusas, cool mountain air, and friendly conversations.

The only downside was around midnight when we awoke to ''The Gambler'' being blasted in the plaza across from the hotel. Music and singing continued off and on until after 3am. Dave went to the van and retrieved earplugs which helped. Then this morning around 730 we awoke to a drum and brass band marching in the streets. Ends up one of the guys we talked to at dinner is a bit of the town crazy, and this is not an uncommon occurance. This morning we were told people don't try to stop him forcefully because he gets violent when he binges. We still haven't figured out the reason for the marching band.

Pictures from Panama coming soon, as soon as we get wi-fi.

We are headed back to Suchitoto tomorrow. After that we really don't know what we'll do. Probably going back to Playa Mizata for a day or two to clean out the van and collect ourselves. We're kinda waiting to see what the deal is with travelling between Mexico and the U.S.

Catch Up

Here's a quick summary of our last bit of travels in Honduras and Nicaragua.

After a couple of nights around Lago Yojoa, Honduras, see Dave's blog for more details, we set out for Nicaragua. We thought we could drive to Danli easily in a day. On the way we stopped at a cavern for a short tour. Think Natural Bridge Caverns, but we were the only ones there.

Our guide was really nice, and excited to practice his English, especially the names for the different formations.

Then we set off on what we thought was 3 or 4 hours of driving. WRONG! It was the worst single day of driving we have had.

All of CA-1 was down to one lane. The Honduran solution to this was for all of the cars to cut over to the shoulder of the on-coming lane and leave a long long line of buses and trucks waiting. Because Dave drives it like he stole it, we were in the line of cars on the shoulder going against on-coming traffic. We were just about to the end of the line of trucks, about 4 miles, when there was a detour. CA-1 was closed in both directions. The detour was a small dirt lane, this would have been slow, but there was a cattle drive down the lane, making it a crawl.


After the cattle drive turned off, people started going fast. It was so dusty from all the cars, it felt a little like we were back on the Playa at Burning Man.


After the construction it was a smooth drive through the mountains, until this semitruck accident. Luckily we were there before it started backing up and we were able to go around.


Around 5pm we pulled into Tegucigalpa, the capital. Traffic was slow chaos, but we made it through until the outskirts, were we were "ticketed'' at a police check point for not having a fire extinguisher or safety triangle.

We made it out of the chaos, and headed to a small town, Yusacaron. There are three hotels in Yusacaron, and one small guest house. All three hotels were full, and it looked like the guest house, Casa Colibri, was shut up. It was dark and we were exhausted, then Brucito showed up. Bruce is in his 60s, he and his wife have been working for half the year in the area for over 10 years doing medical training and community health development. The rest of the year they live in Ohio. He let us in, called the care-taker, and we settled into an idilic weekend in a beautifully restored colonial house. We didn't do much, just enjoy the quiet of the cobblestone streets and watch the processions of devout who walk every weekend during Lent. They walked in two lines, one women, one men. Following a cross and singing.

Dave shows off his panditos candy on the streets of Yusacaron.

View from the porch of Casa Colibri.

After two nights resting in Yusacaron, we crossed into Nicaragua, spent a night in Esteli, an industrial town that would be a good jumping off point for nearby parks in the rainy season, but for us it was too hot and dry for hiking. Next we headed to Granada.

Granada is a beautiful colonial city, and the oldest colonial city in Nicaragua. It is located on the shore of Lake Nicaragua. People were friendly, there is every type of restraunt and diversion you could desire. Generally we liked it. The only downside is how aggressive vendors can be when you are on the street. One boy pushed me twice while we were sitting waiting for our food, and one woman screamed at us then demanded our chips. It caught us off guard because things had been so mellow elsewhere.



There is one very old church where you can walk up the bell tower. We went up for a picturesque sunset.

After Granada we went to Lago Apoyo, a small crater lake between Granada and Masaya. We camped at the Monkey Hut. They had two kitchens, one of them outdoors, and three of four levels of lawn going down to the lake shore. We spent two nights swimming, reading, napping, enjoying the company of a very friendly cat and playing cards.


It was a great place, and we really enjoyed it. Lago Apoyo is the place in Nicaragua I would recommend the most.


We drove from the lake to Playa Popoyo where our friend Zach was hanging out with Lance and Kristin of Surfari Charters. On the drive, Dave found a giant cola. They don't have guests there yet, so we camped behind their bungalows on the beach. They were great hosts, and we enjoyed hanging in hammocks, dinners of fresh fish, and great company. There's not much going on in the area except surfing. But thanks to Kristin, Lance, and the other people from Surfari Charter it was fun.

Sea Turtle on the beach infront of our bungalow. Not really sure why it was there in the morning, but cool to see it close up. It was sad, because there are guys on the beach who just wait for the turtles to come in and nest so they can take their eggs. Gringos and some Nica environmental groups are trying to do community education, but from talking to people it is an uphill battle.

After a week we headed to San Juan del Sur. There are amazing sunsets in the calm bay where the town is. One restaurant has happy hour specials, we enjoyed some appetizers and played cards.
Other posts cover what happened while we were in San Juan del Sur. The town was small and easy to get around with lots of lodging and food options. We also saw Robert and Justin, the two Canadians we met in El Salvador. Minus the robbery and the flooded room, it was a good time.

After San Juan del Sur, we headed for Costa Rica. More on that soon...

Tomorrow we leave Playa Guiones and head towards the Caribbean. From there we'll head south and hopefully get to Bocas del Toro April 9.

Nicaragua Surfing Vids

Dave takes sun protection to the next level by rocking the hat.



Everyone loves a What About Bob reference...





Dave attempts a headstand...

Haircuts and Surfing!

Haircut

Dave got a hair cut! Yes, his golden locks are gone. Well they aren't gone, just shorter.
It happened when we were in Granada about two weeks ago with the sun beating down and bouncing off the colonial buildings. The heat drove him to it.

We walked into a barber shop, and after 15 minutes and two dollars, I couldn't recognize him from the back!

Surfing

I am learning to surf! Dave tried to teach me in El Salvador, but the conditions were rough. Although we had a good time, not much progress was made.
After evesdropping on a lesson yesterday, at a beach near San Juan del Sur (they set up right by me, I couldn't not watch and listen), I was ready to try again. The water was warmer than it was in Popoyo and the waves were nice little ones for me, and hardly anyone else was in the water. I had a great time and Dave said I did well.

I wrote this post after we surfed in the morning, but the internet was slow and the photos wouldn't load, so we went back to the beach for the afternoon. On the way home in the afternoon we were robbed. Dave wrote a detailed account, but as far as I remember, we were not the last car out of there, otherwise it is spot on. Bottom line, we lost 80 bucks and Dave's laptop. Neither of us was hurt. I was scared, but have just about recovered and am only slightly jumpy.

We are in Heredia, Costa Rica. It is near San Jose and the airport. In a few hours we are going to pick up Robbie and his girlfriend and head to the beach near Nosara, where we have rented a house for the week.

Dave also has a new computer, we are calling him Acerito, because it is a tiny little Acer computer. It is great, only problem it is a Spanish XP, so we get to practice our Spanish when we try to set up a new program.

Playa Popoyo

Just a quick note to say we are safe, sound, and happy in Playa Popoyo, Nicaragua. Nicaragua has been fun so far, minus the two speeding tickets. First time we saw someone using a radar gun, it was pointed straight at us!

Dave is surfing; I'm reading lots of books and magazines.

More updates/ catch-up soon...

Our Actual Location

While my blog is nearly a week behind, we are actually in Esteli, Nicaragua. Headed further southwest today, towards Granada.

More posts coming soon. I figured out I type them when we don't have internet then post when we do. It makes it somewhat quicker, but many thanks are owed to Dave for waiting patiently while I fritter time away on here.