The Border and the Truck

Kaz and I had a one-week break from school last week, and Kamila had just arrived, so the three of us went to Nicaragua with a group of other interns from the school. We spent the week taking Spanish classes for four hours every morning and then enjoying ourselves for the rest of the day after that.


The two pictures below are reversed. The first one shows Kamila and Kaz boarding the truck that would take us to San Juan del Sur from the Nicaraguan border. The fact is, our driver from Costa Rica did not want to cross the border into Nicaragua due to significant fees charged in both directions, the VERY long wait for vehicles to cross, and the hassle and fees associated with having to have his passport with him and the whole immigration process. So, he dropped all 14 of us at the border. We made our way through the official "exit" from Costa Rica and the official "entrance" to Nicaragua, then found our Nicaraguan driver on the other side.

This truck was our transportation to San Juan del Sur, a beautiful little bay town about half an hour from the border. We felt a little like cattle at first, but it was actually a fun ride.

The picture below shows the little gate through which we had to pass to enter Nicaragua. The whole process was so primitive and disorganized, I could barely believe it. There was also a large area between where we exited Costa Rica officially and where we entered Nicaragua officially. I don't know who that land belongs to. Were we in Costa Rica or Nicaragua then? Hmmm.

Nevertheless, we made it to San Juan del Sur last Sunday afternoon.