Costa Rica Christmas
Uvidime
Why do we travel? Its not just because it's vacation and there are beaches to see and people to meet. Not even the monkey you see in a tree on the side of the road. It's the unexpected and this weeked has topped them all.
I spent the last week in Nicaragua studying Spanish. It's a great way to learn and it gives you a purpose to be there and a way to make friends, local and tourist alike. But as my visa is expiring on the 27, I knew i would have to hop down to Costa Rica for 48 hours. I was loving Nicaragua and really didn't even want to go. I should have listened to that gut feeling and just taken the fine in Honduras when I tried to return, in all honesty. I didn't, so now I have a story to tell.
Did you happen to know that there is a large number of Nica's (Nicaraguans) living and working in Costa Rica. It makes sence, Costa Rice is rich (comparetevely). Well, they all go back north for Christmas. To be exact, they all go back home on Saturday, exactly when I also tried to return, having come down Friday. I had waited 2 hours for a bus, gave up and got a driver who they said could take me through real quick. He knew all the secrets. He was a fantastic guy and he did know the secret, when you get near the border, TURN AROUND! That's what he did, only he left me there.
For several kilometers before the border you saw people walking with boxes on their heads, a random washing machine being dragged, anything. Then the line started. It took 15 minutes to walk to the front of it. I asked towards the front and they had been waiting for 6 hours and probably still had 2 to go. I asked people comming south to find there was another 5 hour wait on the Nicaraguan side. The border closed at midnight and all of these people were just going to sleep in line and start again in the morning.
Must be time for me to go back into Costa Rica.
I begged a ride off of a bus that was driving back to San Jose to get another group of people. He said the border would be this bad until Tuesday. tuesday it would only take me an hour. Tuesday. He dropped me at an intersection next to the Burger King and told me where to get a bus to the beach. My Spanish is getting pretty good. I go to the bus stop and ask two gringo's trying to make a phone call if they knew when a bus came for Playa de Coco. Nope, but they were driving there and would take me. My luck is getting better. They are a young couple from Pheonix whose parents have just bought a condo down here and the whole family was comming for Christmass. As we get into town they see their parents driving by so we turn to follow them and now I'm in this small property surrounded by jungle with beautiful new homes looking out on the hills and down to the pool. A Canadian couple from Niagra Falls had bought the land and are now selling off the houses and helping to organize everything for the residents from appliences to coctails. Only 90,000 and 6 left if you want to buy one.
They invite me to stay. So there here I am, Playa de Coco Costa Rica for Christmas. Surrounded by friends. That's why we travel.
Why do we travel? Its not just because it's vacation and there are beaches to see and people to meet. Not even the monkey you see in a tree on the side of the road. It's the unexpected and this weeked has topped them all.
I spent the last week in Nicaragua studying Spanish. It's a great way to learn and it gives you a purpose to be there and a way to make friends, local and tourist alike. But as my visa is expiring on the 27, I knew i would have to hop down to Costa Rica for 48 hours. I was loving Nicaragua and really didn't even want to go. I should have listened to that gut feeling and just taken the fine in Honduras when I tried to return, in all honesty. I didn't, so now I have a story to tell.
Did you happen to know that there is a large number of Nica's (Nicaraguans) living and working in Costa Rica. It makes sence, Costa Rice is rich (comparetevely). Well, they all go back north for Christmas. To be exact, they all go back home on Saturday, exactly when I also tried to return, having come down Friday. I had waited 2 hours for a bus, gave up and got a driver who they said could take me through real quick. He knew all the secrets. He was a fantastic guy and he did know the secret, when you get near the border, TURN AROUND! That's what he did, only he left me there.
For several kilometers before the border you saw people walking with boxes on their heads, a random washing machine being dragged, anything. Then the line started. It took 15 minutes to walk to the front of it. I asked towards the front and they had been waiting for 6 hours and probably still had 2 to go. I asked people comming south to find there was another 5 hour wait on the Nicaraguan side. The border closed at midnight and all of these people were just going to sleep in line and start again in the morning.
Must be time for me to go back into Costa Rica.
I begged a ride off of a bus that was driving back to San Jose to get another group of people. He said the border would be this bad until Tuesday. tuesday it would only take me an hour. Tuesday. He dropped me at an intersection next to the Burger King and told me where to get a bus to the beach. My Spanish is getting pretty good. I go to the bus stop and ask two gringo's trying to make a phone call if they knew when a bus came for Playa de Coco. Nope, but they were driving there and would take me. My luck is getting better. They are a young couple from Pheonix whose parents have just bought a condo down here and the whole family was comming for Christmass. As we get into town they see their parents driving by so we turn to follow them and now I'm in this small property surrounded by jungle with beautiful new homes looking out on the hills and down to the pool. A Canadian couple from Niagra Falls had bought the land and are now selling off the houses and helping to organize everything for the residents from appliences to coctails. Only 90,000 and 6 left if you want to buy one.
They invite me to stay. So there here I am, Playa de Coco Costa Rica for Christmas. Surrounded by friends. That's why we travel.
posted by Karen at
2:27 PM
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