Pedro and Maria Motorcycle South America!: San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua to Tamarindo, Costa Rica, 127 miles

We woke up a little later than usual as our movie the night before put us to bed much later than we have been. After a little packing we set off to find a postcard to mail and a Nicaragua sticker before we left the country. We said our goodbyes to the Canadian couple and took off with Adam towards the Costa Rica border.

Before we knew it we were at the border crossing. You can tell you are there as all of a sudden the road is full of parked trucks and chaos. As soon as I saw the trucks I cringed and realized how much I dread the border crossings. I’m sure I’m a little more tainted than usual after Honduras, but none the less…it was a bad feeling that came over me. I guess you can never be in the mood to battle off several very desperate men try to help you with force, on top of cocky slimy border men who love knowing that your time is theirs.

Even though the border crossing wasn’t too bad, in fact the exit portion of Nicaragua was more of a struggle than the entrance to Costa Rica. About a couple hours later and several stops in various booths and buildings, we were in Costa Rica!

For some reason, knowing that we have made it to Costa Rica hit me as a bit of a milestone today, realizing how far we’ve come…it’s crazy. Even though we have seen so much and been through crazy lands, it still blows my mind how far we’ve come…not to mention how far we have to go! Mind boggling. It seems you can only take this trip one day at a time, any more than that and it’s overpowering. One day at a time, and before I know it, I’m in Costa Rica.

We rode directly to Tamarindo (other than the several stops from police, who only seemed to want to say hello and shake Mike’s hand). As soon as we drove in I felt like I could be in Santa Cruz (but with a much bigger and more beautiful beach). I did get a nice greeting from a local as I tried to cross the street; he literally tried to run me over! There are several gringos (I believe there must be some frustration and anger between the Costa Ricans and Gringos), all the American favorite fast foods, big hotels…but also a beautiful beach along the street. As we’ve been dreaming of ‘Nachos as big as your ass’ from our lonely planet book, which talks of such great foods in Tamarindo, this was our first stop after finding an economical accommodation. Yes, the nachos were big and they were also delicious. The best nachos I’ve had in some time, and definitely the best chips I’ve had this entire trip. Between that and the best beer I’ve had since Mexico, I was a happy camper. Following dinner we enjoyed the beautiful sunset on the beach which is filled with surfers.

Today was the first day where I said to myself, when will we be out of Central America…Mike mentioned the same thing to me later in the night. It happen to hit us both as we entered the border crossing sweating our butts off and grimacing just thinking about what lies ahead to get through. There seems to be so much BS that you have to deal with to see these small countries; sometimes you just need a break, a feeling of vacation… I am looking forward to hitting South America as well as the cooler climates.

Tomorrow morning we are going to rent some boards in the early morning, have some more nachos and then head to a neighboring beach with a few less people.

There was much debate over this symbol which is on the Nicaragua coin...the thing that looks like a bean is some type of hat!