Yesterday we drove from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. We hired a tour bus from Costa Rica to come pick us up since we had heard some nightmare stories about crossing the border. Turns out our extra few dollars paid off as our guide has made friends with all of the border patrol and we cruised right through. Cruising right through still means an hour of showing passports here and there and waiting for who knows what, but we've heard it can take 4+ hours.
Nicaragua is surprisingly dry compared to Costa Rica's driest area of Guanacaste. And Costa Rica's roads are notoriously bumpy! Nicaragua has great roads, but as soon as we crossed the border the drive was uncomfortable. The total drive was about 3-4 hours, but we stopped in San Juan del Sur before leaving Nicaragua for lunch.
After winding around Costa Rica's beautifully lush hills for what seemed like forever we arrived in Tamarindo, a surfing mecca on the Pacific side. We found our little rental which is right on the beach (absolutely gorgeous and perfect location). It is very comfortable, although we noticed hundreds of flying ants in the place. We went to the store (we rented a little car for two days to get settled) and after getting home (we saw a tarantula crossing the street!) we found dozens of these flying ants on the master bed! I was having a little bit of a hard time wanting to go to bed knowing these things would be landing on me all night. And with how exhausted I was it was a little too much "adventure" to deal with. I think I told Geoff that European adventures were more my style... Turns out these ants are attracted to light like mosquitoes are and when we got a tour of the house and yard we had left the doors open. Once we killed them all (no small feat) they would be gone. So we spent a good few hours searching them out all over the house, and finally we rested in peace. (Bless Geoff who wielded a shoe and then broom for hours to comfort his weary wife.)
Today we went to church an hour away. It was the smallest, most practical little chapel I've ever seen. I'm going to take my camera next week. The members of this little branch were so welcoming and warm. I think we found a Spanish teacher and cook among those great people! This afternoon we unpacked and settled in for the month. Geoff and the girls are out collecting crabs. I think I'll go join them.
Nicaragua is surprisingly dry compared to Costa Rica's driest area of Guanacaste. And Costa Rica's roads are notoriously bumpy! Nicaragua has great roads, but as soon as we crossed the border the drive was uncomfortable. The total drive was about 3-4 hours, but we stopped in San Juan del Sur before leaving Nicaragua for lunch.
San Juan del Sur
Very tired girls!
After winding around Costa Rica's beautifully lush hills for what seemed like forever we arrived in Tamarindo, a surfing mecca on the Pacific side. We found our little rental which is right on the beach (absolutely gorgeous and perfect location). It is very comfortable, although we noticed hundreds of flying ants in the place. We went to the store (we rented a little car for two days to get settled) and after getting home (we saw a tarantula crossing the street!) we found dozens of these flying ants on the master bed! I was having a little bit of a hard time wanting to go to bed knowing these things would be landing on me all night. And with how exhausted I was it was a little too much "adventure" to deal with. I think I told Geoff that European adventures were more my style... Turns out these ants are attracted to light like mosquitoes are and when we got a tour of the house and yard we had left the doors open. Once we killed them all (no small feat) they would be gone. So we spent a good few hours searching them out all over the house, and finally we rested in peace. (Bless Geoff who wielded a shoe and then broom for hours to comfort his weary wife.)
Today we went to church an hour away. It was the smallest, most practical little chapel I've ever seen. I'm going to take my camera next week. The members of this little branch were so welcoming and warm. I think we found a Spanish teacher and cook among those great people! This afternoon we unpacked and settled in for the month. Geoff and the girls are out collecting crabs. I think I'll go join them.
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