Nice ride into Crazyland

So this was a bit of a crazy day. Last night Coraleigh started complaining of her ear hurting and not being able to hear that well. After looking at it I saw that her ear canal was nearly swollen shut. We went to el doctor de medico in Samara (the next town over) and he asked if she had been swimming or gone to hot springs. We have done both so he took a look in her ears. She definitely had an infection in one ear and both were clogged up with wax. He said it was common for people from cold climates to come down to Costa Rica and get ear infections. I forget why, but still seems kinda weird. Anyway, he flushed her ears with an alcohol and water mixture and out came “the most [wax] I’ve ever seen in my life.” The doctor and I were just laughing. Coraleigh loves the Q-tips a bit too much I think so it got all jammed up in there, then when she went swimming the water just stayed in there and it got infected. She got drops and pills and we paid and went on our way. Gotta review the travel health insurance policy tonight…

The drive in our rental car to the border was easy. It rained quite a bit, but we never got lost or anything. We drove straight there and it was a beautiful drive through forests and small towns. When we got close to the border there was this huge line of trucks. Literally it was about 2 miles long. Since I’d seen our interbus drivers do it I just drove in the opposite lane all the way to the front of the line and they just let me pass. The Alamo return place was in this muddy craphole and the guy in the office wasn’t even there for the first 15 minutes. He finally showed up and we got our car returned. He was nice and drove us the rest of the way to the border and kinda pointed us in the right direction. We first had to go inside this building and get our Costa Rica exit stamp. Luckily we were exiting and not coming in because that line was huge. We got back into the rental car and he dropped us right at the border where he couldn’t go any further. We just walked across and it was raining and everything was muddy and puddles everywhere. We had to squeeze by semi trucks and then stop at a random tent thing and show some police our passports. They let us through and that’s when the vultures attacked. Cambio, taxi, bus, blah blah blah. Guys waving money around and everything. Then we got approached by this guy that was like an official border process guy. He led us to all the proper booths and lines, gave us forms to fill out, told me who was trying to rip you off and who was good, etc. So first we had to fill out our entry forms and pay the $7 entry fee. Our passports were stamped again and we received our tourist card and $2 exit receipt as well (to be paid when we leave). I got some Nicaraguan cordobas from the ATM and paid all that stuff. We also had to pay some random $1 fee thing and got a little ticket for that when we passed through the gate. All a very confusing process that we would have never known how to do had it not been for this border guy. He, of course, worked for tips but he was so helpful that I didn’t mind paying him. He made everything go very fast. He also got us a taxi for only $40 from his friend to Granada (a 2 hour ride). I think this was a really good deal because the price listed to get back to the border at our hotel was $80 here in Granada.

Let me tell you, though, that it was all a pretty freaky process. The border area was chaos and we stuck out like a sore thumb. Everything went OK, though, as the guy informed us that they like and want tourists so the police are watching out for you.

This place is definitely 3rd world. On the way here we saw oxen pulling banana carts and donkeys pulling trailers like it was 1880, and random cows and horses just on the sides of the road or walking down the middle of it. The view to Ometepe was awesome, though. Two huge volcanoes side by side just were poking up out of the massive Lake Nicaragua. I can’t wait to get out there. We drove into Granada and our retarded taxi driver couldn’t figure out where to go even though we had a map. We even got our bearings and were telling him where to go before he knew where he was. What a bonehead. Our hotel is really nice and clean and the A/C is also nice. It’s pretty hot here. I can’t wait to take a shower since the water was out this morning in Carrillo. Coraleigh jumped in the pool to rinse after the water went out since she’d already put shampoo in her hair. Hahaha.

Granada seems like a nice city. It’s all Spanish colonial architecture with cathedrals, plazas, and brightly colored buildings with tiled rooftops. We climbed the belltower in the church right near our hotel to get a view over the city around sunset. We then walked to a restaurant called Dona Conchi. It was really cool inside with candlelit courtyard all filled with plants and a fountain where we could see the moon. Coraleigh said it was romantical, haha. I had shrimp in garlic and wine sauce (and like in Greece it came with French fries even though the presentation was fancy) and Coraleigh had vegetable lentil soup and some kind of special salad with watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, cheese, olives, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and a yogurt dressing. It looked pretty interesting; she said it was good. This is considered a nice restaurant I think and after everything including some fruit drinks and water was about $25. Well we are here and made it through all the craziness, over 200 miles, a rental car, a chaotic border, a confused taxi, and a new city. Time for a good shower and sleep.