Home sweet home...

The big day had arrived. We were going south to Costa Rica! Nicaragua allows non-residents to stay for 90 continuous days and then they must either apply for one-time extension of their visa or leave the country. We had already gone the extension route so our only alternative now was to leave the country. The law was originally written that it was to be for 72 hours but they have either changed it or they no longer seem to observe it.

The previous two weeks were spent getting all our paperwork in order so that we could take our car out of the country and bring it back in again…a lengthy and complicated process we never could have managed getting through without our friend Roger leading us by the hand. If you’re not up to speed on that saga, I wrote about it earlier and it can be found in January’s blogs. But, we were past that and at last, we had all our paperwork in order and were ready to get the deed done. It had been a long weekend as it was our Rio Blanco weekend…I also wrote about that in the previous blog.

A week ago, on Monday morning, we had planned on leaving early but since I shut off the 5:00 a.m. alarm and went back to sleep, we didn’t make it to Jinotepe to pick up Roger until almost 8:30 a.m. And though we got a late start, we seemed to do fine on our time. It helped that we didn’t have a whole lot of traffic with which to contend which made Jim happy. As for me, I was excited to see the sights as we had not traveled that far south before.

As we passed Lake Nicaragua which is often reputed to be the largest lake in Central America and the 21st largest lake in the world, we got great views of the two volcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas. They are the focal points of Ometepe Island, which is an island rich in pre-Columbian artifacts. The winds were strong coming across the lake and there were some pretty good sized whitecaps. I discovered later that the east winds blowing across the lake toward the nearby Pacific Ocean make it quite prone to sudden storms (much like the Sea of Galilee!). Just outside of Rivas, there is quite a windmill project being built to take advantage of these strong winds. These giant “propellers” look out of place in this country but if they eventually help to stabilize the electrical grid here, I think they would easily be considered functional works of art.

All of a sudden, we were at the border. I don’t know what I expected, but what it is, wasn’t it. It just seemed to be a random placing of buildings, some newer and some looking pretty shabby. It wasn’t a surprise that there was some traffic congestion. Roger directed Jim where to drive and told us we would need to stop before the entry to pay the “voluntary” municipal tax of $1.00 per person. Even before Jim came to a complete stop, the car was literally surrounded by young men, all yelling and waving. They swarmed to Jim’s window. It’s not often that I get really scared, but that scared me. I was really intimidated by the number and the energy of the young men, all trying to out-yell one another, reaching their arms out towards Jim’s window. Roger, in the back seat, calmly rolled down his window and told one guy we would need three tax stamps and told the other dozen or so guys that we wouldn’t need their services. We have been so thankful Roger has helped us throughout this process, but at that moment, no more so than right then.

We then drove to a small blue building where we had to show our passports and received a big, stamped square of white paper. From there, we drove around to the back of a big building where cars and buses park. Again, there was a frenzy of motion. There were vendors set up along a covered walk area and quite a few men who wanted to be hired to help us go through the border procedure. Add to that, the people who were passengers on the buses out walking around and it was a hub of activity.

We hired one young man who took our circulation card (car identification card), the white ticket we had received, Jim’s license and our Permit to Leave and went to find a policeman and an inspector to sign off on our things. It was a little unnerving handing this kid all our documents but Roger said it was okay and that we would learn who was trustworthy and who wasn’t. I didn’t even want to think about how those lessons would be learned. It’s not necessary to hire one of these guys, but it speeds up the process considerably as they know just who to go see and because they shares a cut of their pay, the officials give those guys first priority. Thankfully, our young man was one of the good guys and he came back in short order with the approved paperwork. Later, as Jim paid him 80 cord (approx. $4.00) for his assistance, I asked him his name for future reference. Francisco assured me he would be happy to help us in the future. He liked Jim. Most folks only give a couple of dollars. I only hope that he’s still there the next time we have to make that trip as he was worth every bit of $4.00 to us!

Our next step was to go inside the building and get in the line to have vehicles approved to cross the border. We had to again show our circulation card, Jim’s license, the Permit to Leave and the white ticket we had received upon entering the complex. Once that was approved, we then moved over in to the other line which was Immigration, where we would get our passports checked and hand in our Immigration Registration forms. The cost for leaving the country was nominal - $2.00 per person.

Upon leaving there, we then drove to a free standing small blue building where we handed the man our white square ticket. What that ticket was, I don’t have a clue. I just know it was a critical piece of paper that was making the rounds. I also should say at this point that I was so focused on our procedures that I didn’t think to take any pictures…sorry…I wish you could have seen all the lines we had to stand in!

After that, we then had to drive down to another building where we had to pay $4.00 to drive through a spray to get our car fumigated before we could cross over in to Costa Rica. Once that was done, we then drove on a bit further and were actually in Costa Rica…although we still weren’t through with all the rigamaroll. I guess we were more in a no-man’s land than anywhere definite.

We parked the car in front of a large building where there was again, lots of activity. There were quite a few people going in and out of the building and a handful of moneychangers, all trying to get someone to change their currency, whether Nicaraguan cordobas or American dollars, in to Costa Rican colones. We went inside to the Immigration office, filled out our registration forms for Costa Rica and then got in yet another line. At that window, we handed them our forms and our passports to be stamped for entry.

We had to go back outside to change money so that we could buy the mandatory insurance to drive in C.R. We just had $20 changed but it seemed like we were filthy rich. In Nicaragua, the exchange rate is 19.8 cordobas to the dollar; in Costa Rica, it was 552 colones to the dollar. So, we walked away with our pockets stuffed with 11, 040 colones!!! But, easy come, easy go. The insurance for Jim to drive cost us 7,890 colones...or a little over $14. We had to then get copies of Jim’s license, the circulation card and his passport for our next stop.

Across the street, in a small building, was the customs office. Here we had to fill out another form regarding our car. It was then turned in with the copies we had just made along with our Permit to Leave. A man came and checked the back of our car, saw we had just one small suitcase and didn’t even bother to have us open it. He just waved us on.

We then drove up to the next building which was set back off the road a bit. Here we had to get in another line to get a print out which basically allowed us to enter Costa Rica. This place had quite a long line but tourists are given priority over the truck drivers. As a result, we were actually able to get in fairly quickly. Those poor truckers…I would imagine they don’t look too favorably upon others who are crossing the border just because of the preferential treatment. Jim had to show his passport, the circulation card, the form he had filled out at the customs office, the insurance receipt and the vehicle inspection approval paper. We were then given a print out which Jim had to sign.

Leaving there, we made our final stop at the border, a small yellow and green building where we relinquished our vehicle inspection form. And then, we were on our way. The process took about two hours and that was with constant forward motion and not huge lines at any one place. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when we finally completed the last step. Then we began driving to Liberia, which is the first town of any size going in to Costa Rica. It’s about an hour’s drive south of the border. We were stopped several times at checkpoints to verify our paperwork and to have our passports checked but I have to say the Costa Rican police were very kind and cordial. A totally different attitude than is exhibited by the law enforcement here.

There were several things which immediately struck me about Costa Rica. First of all, it’s a beautiful country…but that didn’t surprise me as I had heard that many times before. What was very noticeable was how green it was. Now this is no exaggeration…the Nicaraguan side of the border was brown and dry…but we’re in the dry season and I expected that. But literally, just on the other side of the border, it’s green and beautiful. It was just weird. And there’s just a different attitude there…it’s lighter and more open, not nearly as oppressive. Then there’s the fact that there’s no trash laying around along the roads in Costa Rica. It’s clean. The “shacks” are wooden and nicer than the zinc and plastic shacks you find here. It’s just cleaner. In Liberia, there aren’t the crowds of street vendors who mob you at the stoplight like here and there seems to be more of a sense of order just in the daily life. Not quite so chaotic.

We really enjoyed our short visit…although it was only for a quick lunch at Burger King (of all places!) in Liberia. We ran in to the grocery store across the street so Roger could pick up a treat for his kids (couldn't believe how clean and attractive it was) and after a quick tour around a part of the town, we headed back to the border to come back to Nicaragua. As we entered the border area, I couldn’t believe all the semi trucks lined up waiting to get across. It’s easy to forget that the little two lane road is the Pan American Highway, the main north-south thoroughfare which travels from Mexico all the way to South America.

Although there were a few steps that were a bit different, for the most part, we just had to do the above steps in reverse. And once again, it was about a 2 hour process. The fee was a bit higher to enter the country vs. leaving it…$7.00 per person. We dropped Roger off at his home and then headed back to Managua. It had been another really long day, but regardless, we were thankful that we didn’t have to stay the required 72 hours out of country. It’s funny. We haven’t felt like we’ve really had a home for some time now but it sure felt good to pull in to our driveway that night.

I have thought a lot about our day’s visit to Costa Rica. It’s the vacation mecca of Latin America. Folks from the U.S.A. love it…and why wouldn’t they? It’s a tropical paradise, with rain forests, clear water and lovely beaches. The stores are clean and modern. It’s eco-friendly, it’s beautiful and it caters to the required pampering that we often consider essential. The people are warm and welcoming. The pace is easy and relaxed. What’s not to love? And someday, I might like to go back to spend some vacation time there. But not for awhile. For now, I’m content to be home…and right now, home is here.