Nicaragua

With only two weekends left now (AH!), I'm starting to really value the ones I have left here. And this past weekend was definitely a good use of time...NICARAGUA!

Four of us made the trip because a friend who studied in Costa Rica for a month in January is now working at a clinic in Nicaragua for a couple months, and we wanted to go visit her! Two people left earlier, but Kalifa (my roommate) and I had class Friday so we left a little later at 12.  The bus ride was a bit long...about 8 hours.  The border was interesting.  Basically, we would fill out the little customs form, then we would all get out of the bus. They would look at our passports and stamp them.  Then, we would get back on for about 5 minutes.  Then we would stop again and the bus people would take everyone's passports in a big pile (sounds scary, I know) and then they would 'check' our bags that we would lay out on a table outside.  I'm not sure if they just don't check backpacks or if it was because we were gringos, but they didn't even touch our bags, just kept going down the line.  I'm not trying to secretly suggest that I would ever try to smuggle anything across the border, but I think I understand how there is so much drug trafficking in Central America now!

TicaBus!

the border-there are people selling things, exchanging money, it's crazy!

The trip actually started out horrible. The bus ride there was not bad actually, but we took a taxi from the bus station to our hotel and kind of got jipped...we didn't realize how much it was because it was in Cordobas (Nicaraguan money) and not Colones (Costa Rican money). It's one of those things you look back and say you should've known, but we didn't, and that's okay. Learning experience. Luckily it was only about $15 for each of us so it really wasn't too bad.  We were also worried because we couldn't get ahold of our friend who we were supposed to meet (her internet was out) the next day and figured there was no way we were going to find her.  So we got there and pretty much went to bed lol. On the plus side, the hotel was pretty!

you can sleep in one of these hammocks for the night...only about $5! (we got a nice room. with actual beds. lol.)

little courtyard

But the next day, everything got much better! We got up early to look around Granada, the city we were in.  It is pretty and so different from Costa Rica.  Nicaragua is more typical of a Latin American country than Costa Rica--which is a bit more of a mix and modernized (kind of like the U.S. of Central America, if you will).  The buildings in Nicaragua are more of the Colonial style, and they use lots of bright colors.  Also, the set-up is that along the street there is the sidewalk and then just cement walls...no yard, gates, nothing.  Then, inside, imagine kind of a square as the house layout, the middle typically being some sort of courtyard with plants and no ceilings.  I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it's cool, trust me! haha.

We also walked around the market, which is CRAZY! Lots of people, food, clothing, and everything else you could ever want ha.  Nicaragua is cheaper than Costa Rica (Costa Rica is actually not really cheap at all, for the most part...some things are actually more expensive than the U.S.). 

it was really WAY more crowded than this, this was just really early in the morning.

We had made a back-up plan with our friends to meet at the bus station in Granada at ten. And good thing we did! The only problem was that we didn't specify WHICH bus station. That would have been a great idea.  But nonetheless, we managed to meet up at ten! Que suerte! After meeting up, we took a bus to Jinotepe, where my friend lives. In Nicaragua, they use 15-passenger buses to get from town to town.  But there is no such thing as a full bus in Nicaragua. At one point, I counted 24 people and a baby in our bus! 

yep. 24 people and a baby. in that. !ay caramba!

After getting some food from the market, we took another crazy-full bus to a beach called Huehuete.  It was gorgeous and there were only about 5 other people on the beach.  There was just a little village by it and it was not tourist-y at all.  BEAUTIFUL!

i got hit by a wave. lol. 

After a few hours at the beach, we headed back to Jinotepe. We got dinner, which was so cheap! We also met some of my friend's Nicaraguan friends and got to ride around in the back of a pick-up. Yay :) We had some 'Eskimo' ice cream, visited the town, park, etc. The next day, we had breakfast at a place owned by an American, and I got a wonderful, wonderful omelet.  And a chocolate milkshake. haha, very healthy breakfast :)

pickup ride! they thought we were weird because we all wanted to sit in the back. haha.

everything is so colorful!

we were playing musical chairs to try and figure out which seats were the most comfy in the 15-passenger bus. it's more like a lesser-of-15-evils kind of thing.

random fact of the day: they refill the glass bottles in Nicaragua!

YAY NICARAGUA! Anyways it ended up being a great trip. I'm so glad we got to see another part of Latin America that was a little more typical and it was great to see our friend who works there. As always though, it was great to return home to Mama Tica. Love her!!