Costa Rica / Nicaragua 2018: Weeks 4 & 5

Last weekend was our last in Costa Rica. Our plan was to rent a car and check out more of the country, but they were out of cars again in Samara, so we went to Plan B and hung out on the beach again. We decided we would get up early and get the first bus to Samara. We went to the bus stop at 6:45am only to realize the 1st bus wasn't until 7:45. A little before 7:45, we see the bus pass the condo and we'd missed it. There is no 8:45 bus. So, at 9:45, we finally caught the bus and headed to the beach. This pretty much sums up Brett's luck with the bus system for our entire stay in Costa Rica.

Brett smiling at the bus stop because he KNOWS he didn't miss the bus this time!

We got into town and stopped for breakfast. If you ever order an omelette at Franks in Samara, do yourself a favor and split it. In fact, find another couple and split it with them as well. I believe they are meant to feed four or more!

We met several interesting people while staying in Puerto Carrillo. One was a young girl, 10 years old, who started a conversation with us at the pool one afternoon. She was fluent in Spanish, English, and German.  She was very animated and I told her she could be an ambassador for Costa Rica. We learned so much about the country from her, both geographically and culturally. I could have talked with her for hours, she was so much fun. She wanted to know what foods we had tried, and she insisted we needed to try a copo.  So when we saw the lady come by on the beach making copos, we knew we had to try one. 

To make a copo, they first start with shaved ice. Add syrup. Add powdered milk. Add more shaved ice. More syrup. Drizzle with condensed milk.  Top with marshmallows. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and this was way beyond what I could handle, but I could see why a 10-year thought it was the best thing ever!

Speaking of interesting people, Brett and I are big fans of the show, Survivor.  Last week, Neleh Dennis, the runner-up from Survivor Marquesas was staying in the condo above us. We had a good long chat with her husband who told us about her Survivor experience. Very cool. But oh, how that must have hurt to lose out on the $1M by only one vote!  They now own a food food truck selling corndogs and fried pickles outside of Salt Lake City. Super nice guy. We only talked with Neleh for a few minutes before they were heading out, but she seemed just as nice.

The guy next to us last week has a niece who owns a 100% gluten-free restaurant in San Jose, Costa Rica. We'll be in staying in San Jose the night before heading back to the USA, so we got the information and we'll give it a shot. And hopefully we'll be able to meet up with Stefen on that last night as well. Stefen was another guy who stayed in the room next to us for a few days. We enjoyed hanging out with him and his two boys while they were here. Meeting new people from other areas is one of our favorite things about traveling. We have so many wonderful friends that we've met "on the road".

Back to our weekend...I finally made it to the beach with the tidepools.  

All of our walks are starting to look the same.  Here's the road to the tide pools.  Gravel. Hilly.

But the scenery at the end of each walk is always worth it.

And then on Wednesday, it was time to say goodbye to Costa Rica and hello to Nicaragua. We took a taxi from Samara to Liberia (2 hours) and then took a shared shuttle to Nicaragua. The shared shuttle was interesting. The van was very crowded and we were the last to get in, so I was in the front middle seat and Brett was in the back. The rest of the group were all backpackers, mostly from Europe. The driver was nuts, loco, crazy, however you want to say it. Since Brett and I weren't together, we spent most of the time texting each other, trying to keep our minds off the driving. By driving, I mean, talking on the phone, driving on the other side of the yellow line, watching a music video (radio on the dash had video player), all while on a curvy road. I said lots of prayers. Thankfully, we picked up a different driver on the Nicaragua side, and he was very good.  

Tip:  Don't wear a skirt on a super windy day when you have to walk across a border crossing while lugging multiple suitcases. Just trust me on this.

I think this "government" building was also their home.  The toothbrushes in the bathroom kind of gave it away.  (This is where you paid your exit fee to leave Costa Rica.)

Miles of trucks waiting to cross the border. We saw several using gas cans to fill up.  Makes you wonder how long they've been waiting.  Thankfully, passenger vehicles use a different lane.

We made it!

After getting settled in to our new place, we headed downtown to have some lunch and check out the town. While the population of San Juan del Sur is only 15,000, it's four times more than Samara and about eight times more than Puerto Carrillo, so it's much larger than where we've been staying.

Sunset in San Juan del Sur.

We've already started making friends here at our new condo and it feels comfortable. The views are amazing, it's secure (24-hour armed guards at both the street and beach entrances), San Juan del Sur is extremely colorful, and it's relatively easy to get to town. We found we can walk the beach and get to town in about 15 minutes, whereas taking the road would be several miles. There is an inlet between the river and the ocean that you have to cross. We've made it at low tide a few times and were able to trek across where the water was just above my knees. Other times, we've walked down a bit to where we could use the water taxi, which is just a panga that they pull across using a rope.  For roughly $0.35 per person, it's well worth it to ensure you get to the other side dry.

Statue of Christ overlooking the bay.  It's directly above our condo complex.

View from our condo

Water taxi

On Saturday, we headed into town again and made arrangements for two overnight weekend trips. My parents are coming down next week, so we wanted to get those things planned before they arrive. Saturday night we played Farkle at Dave and Susan's (condo neighbors who are from Texas) until almost midnight.

On Sunday, we rented a 4x4 side-by-side to check out the local beaches. We went to two beaches north of town and 3 beaches south of town. Long and dirty day (a few miles were on brick roads, yes brick, but the vast majority was dirt), but we saw some really pretty beaches.

Our favorite one was Playa Hemosa. Survivor Nicaragua was filmed in this area and there were many Survivor items at the ecolodge and restaurant. There's a $3 per person entrance fee at this beach, but it's well worth it. The have tables, hammocks, restrooms, showers, as well as a restaurant and spa. Loved it. We'll definitely be coming back to spend a day here.

They've filmed 3 seasons of Survivor here.  Two were American versions, but these two flags were from Survivor New Zealand.

Brett recognized the columns in the restaurant were actually the poles from the Get a Grip Challenge, so we had to see if we could do it. Hats off to those that can do this for an hour in the hot sun!

Our second favorite was Playa La Flor, which is a natural reserve (to protect the olive ridley turtles). They had a large amount of turtles that they were releasing at 6pm, but we wouldn't be coming back as we didn't want to drive at night. Since it's a reserve, there was an entrance fee (roughly $6 per person), so we paid that and headed to the beach. This beach had lots of colorful rocks (blues and greens) and shells at the shoreline. I wandered and collected until I figured I'd better stop. I don't think Brett would be too happy if we had to pay an overweight luggage fee on return because my suitcase was full of rocks! As I was busy wandering, Brett headed for the shade and I heard him whistle for me. I ran up and he had found a baby turtle that had apparently just hatched. Generally, a nest all hatches at once, so we looked for more, but he was alone. Brett went back and got the ranger and he collected him to be released with the others that night as it was too hot and he wouldn't have survived the trip to the water in the middle of day. There wasn't a single other person on the beach the entire time we were there. Lovely.

The little guy Brett found.  He named him Fred.

We ended the day by heading up to the statue of Christ. It is a VERY steep hill. We were able to drive most of it, but the last bit can only be walked.

View from the statue.

The last bit of the walk.  Yes, it's as steep as it looks.

A few more sights from our Sunday drive.

We saw four different baseball games.  We didn't realize it was a big sport here. 

A boy and his cows.

Horses on the beach.

Happy faces of some kids we gave a ride to. Too bad we didn't get a picture of the backpackers we gave a ride to earlier.  Those were some amazing dreadlocks:-)

Is that a 1-horsepower generator?  Hehe