Make it count: Costa Rica

Day #2 - Friday, January 9th

Today we did an epic day tour to the country of Nicaragua. An early wake-up call led to a 5:50am pickup at the Peri Supermarket (across the street from our hotel) in Liberia. The tour included 9 total people with an additional guide and driver. We had an extended van - pretty nice setup.

It’s 6:30pm and we’re in the van headed back to Costa Rica. A really good day is being challenged by a rough return. We are dealing with tons of road construction and have been at a stand-still on/off over an hour now. We still need to get across the border back into Costa Rica. We’re looking at a 9pm (or so) arrival back to our hotel.

Regardless of the challenging return drive - I will remember this day as a really interesting, educational day - where I got to see/experience a ton of new things.

The sites/scenery were great - but I thoroughly enjoyed the education from our guide along the way. Just a few things I learned:

Nicaragua

• 300,000 soldiers

• Road extends from Alaska to Panama

• Biggest country in Central America by land mass - 2-1/2 times bigger than Costa Rica

• 6 million population

• All Central American countries speak the same language (Spanish) but are totally different. “Latin countries don’t like each other”

• Sugar cane - can use for 30 years if cut by hand with machete

• Lake Nicaragua expands the southern portion of the country. 2 volcanoes sit in the southern portion of the lake - 1 active and 1 not

• Most expensive project in Central America - Wind Mills

• License suspended 3 months for traffic violation. Lots of check points

• $220/month - minimum salary

• Rivas - city where ex-pats live - closest city to border in Nicaragua

• December-January—- biggest holidays. Nicaragua becoming more of tourist spot. Lots cheaper - equally as beautiful as Costa Rica

• Food - lots of plantains. Rice and beans. Chicken.

• Cocoa bean - originally from Central America

• Roads are in really good condition in Nicaragua - upgrades ordered directly by President

• Lots of road work today - traffic pretty bad

• William Walker - from Nashville, TN - had control in Nicaragua for 11 months. Burned places down before he left - the Catholic Church in Granada.

• Nicaragua has 2 Presidents currently

• Volcano erupted into lake - formed 365 small islands

• Corruption in all Central American countries. Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador - more industries than the other 4 countries

A breakdown of the tour: (Claudio- tour guide)

• Crossed border (1-1/2 hours)

• Breakfast in Playa La Virgen. Walked to Lake Nicaragua and took pictures of 2 volcanoes

• Catarina - look-out spot and walked around shops

• Volcano Masaya. Active since 772. Drove to top of volcano - 2,100’ high. One of the most active volcanoes in Central America. Active smoke - mild eruption 1 month ago

• Granada - oldest colonial Spanish city in Central America. Founded in 1524. 7 Catholic Churches

• Cigar shop —— 4 largest cigar makers: Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras

• Chocolate Shop — demonstration, taste test, coffee shots

• Catholic Cathedral - center of Granada. Toured inside as well. Most highlighted view in colonial Granada.

• Lunch - great chicken/steak lunch in isolated garden spot

• Lake Nicaragua - 1-hr boat ride. Viewed many of the small islands created from the volcano eruption in the past. People own each island. 6 million dollars - most expensive island. Mansions, helicopter pads. Monkey island - 2 monkeys live on 1 island

• Drive home - cross border back into Costa Rica

Today was a long travel day - but well worth it in my opinion. Always interesting to learn new things. Nicaragua - done. On to exploring Costa Rica!