So I took an midnight bus from Panama to Costa Rica. We arrived at the border first thing in the morning. We were all hauled out of the bus and had to take our bags into a room to be sniffed by a 'sniffer dog'. I'm sceptical about this dog's skills since he just seemed to start eating a few bags and his handler had to keep pulling him off. A few people giggled and after he left I said to one of the guards that the dog was a bit naughty and he just laughed.
Here's a map by the way...
Back on the bus to enter Costa Rica and we go through basically the same thing. Finally we arrive in San Jose (the capital) some 15 hours after we set off but there wasn't a bus out until the morning so I stayed in a shitty hotel near the bus port and went for a wander round the centre where I counted 6 McDonalds on one street. They love fast food here.
Costa Rica is known for its great surf and great natural sites and animal conservation. It's also known to be full of yanks and have extremely high prices...so I skipped it. I caught an early bus the next day to Nicaragua. The bus pulled over at a roadside restaurant for lunch and I bought a Diet Coke and this plate of food for $8USD and nearly choked. Yikes.
Eventually we crossed the border into Nicaragua. We arrived and I could see so many people at the office but as we walked closer I realised they weren't lining up. It was like a refugee camp. Five police officers stood outside our bus and others escorted us to the office to have our passports stamped. I asked a local what was going on and he told me they were Cubans. Someone told me they were trying to get to Costa Rica but someone else told me they would have come from Venezuela with the intention of heading north. So I don't know but they looked like they'd been there a while. I even saw people having showers.
When we entered Nicaragua there were about ten army guys with huge guns so possibly the Cubans were going north but who knows. Yesterday I saw a guy with a huge gun at an icecream shop and in Bolivia I saw one in a shoe shop. So that's not proof of anything really.
Anyway, eventually we were in Nicaragua. Here's a picture of the landscape on my way through. That's Ometepe island in the background and one of those peaks is a volcano.
I arrived late in the capital (Managua) which is known to be a fairly busy/dirty/unpleasant city. After Colombia and Panama I was completely sick of men and just tired and grumpy. The bus arrived at some random terminal in the city and I was without internet. Fun.
A taxi driver yelled some stuff at me and I ignored him. I asked the girl at the counter how much a taxi cost to the other terminal and she said $3. She then called him over. Haha. So I go outside and head towards his taxi. Some guy tells me not to go with him, but then he also asks if I need a boyfriend so I ignore him. Get in the taxi asking 'how much?' to which the driver ignores my questions. I knew exactly how this was going to go but I was just so over it. I got in.
By this stage it was 5.15pm and getting dark (it's pitch black at 5.30pm here). On the way to the terminal he churns out a few classics:
1) I can take you there but the last bus to Granada left at 5pm. My response 'take me there'
2) There's another option. I can take you all the way to Granada (1 hour trip). My response 'take me to the bus terminal'
3) Look at the buses. They're so full. It's very dangerous here. My response 'take me to the terminal'
Ten minutes later we arrive at the terminal and he of course says $10. That's US by the way. I laugh. Since I only had a $20USD note or a small amount of cordobas I got out of the taxi and went to find change (which is hard work in countries like this). Ten minutes later I handed over 80 cordobas (about 3 bucks) and told him he was a liar. He drove off without saying a word.
I then procured a chip for my phone and went to line up in the huge line for the many buses to Granada. Every bus that came was crazy. I saw men pushing women, women pushing men and just general chaos. About 3 buses later I got a tiny seat but was finally on my way to Granada.
Some days are hard work!
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