What a day! We took a cab from the central park to the Transnica bus station. The cabs here will pick you up even if they have passengers so we stopped off at two schools to drop some kids off and then off to the depot. That was like driving in a demolition derby. Bicycles either have the right of way or a death wish as they ignore the horn completely. We got there at 7 a.m. and I went to get some orange juice for the drive. We already had 3 large sandwiches which we bought yesterday and they sure came in handy. The bus left promptly at 8:30 a.m. and two hours later we were at the Nicaraguan border. The bus drivers helper took our $8.00 each along with our passports and headed to wherever they stamp them. We had to wait outside the bus in the dust and wind and the beggars (buggers) until he came back and then we were able to board (1 hour gone). We then headed across the border to the Costa Rican side. Everybody off along with our packs while we waited in line for an hour to get them stamped again. How could it take so long to get your passport stamped when the guy doesn't even look at your face? There were at least 150 and probably more, people standing outside waiting there turn to go in. We then went back to the bus to be told we had to get in another line to have our baggage inspected. Great but there was no one there to check the bags. The inspection area consisted of two long benches that we threw our bags on and waited for a half an hour for the guy to show up. When he saw we were Canadians by the flags on our packs he waved us through. Thank you God! We finally got under way at 12:30 only to be stopped at 1:00 pm for a roadside check where we again had to show our passports. You've never seen a border crossing like either one of these and it's a major deterrent to stay out of Nicaragua.
I noticed when we boarded the bus that it had music and movies. Yahoo. Ever watched the same Claude Van DAMN movie three times in a row? Geez by the third time I new the lines. The music was old 60's stuff from much music which beat the hell out of C.V.D. We gradually began to climb over the mountains only to get stuck behind every tractor trailer in Central America which were having a helluva time making it up the hills. The bus seats were becoming like cement blocks as were our asses. We stopped for 15 minutes to let the blood begin to circulate in out butts again. Jo went to the can which was a good thing as the bus didn't have a bathroom. Fortunately I'm like a camel but the thought did cross my mind "what if?".
When we arrived at 6:30 we found that this bus station was only about 4 or 5 blocks from the B&B we'd booked last night by email. Same old story. They didn't get it so there was no vacancy but then he offered us a backpackers room in the rear. It has three bunkbeds and a shared bathroom and shower. For sound effects we have to people on either side of the building coughing up chunks of lung. Fortunately we have the room to ourselves so we have lots of room. We'll both pass on having a shower here. The room is $10 each and the tv doesn't work and there's no fan or a/c but that's ok. We had to make the beds up ourselves so we got to pick the best mattresses. ha. We also had to cover the windows with the blankets or we may as well have slept on the sidewalk. I'll have to take a picture of the room with the blankets adding the ambience. It's a good thing I've lost some weight or my butt would be touching the floor on this mattress.
We'll skip breakfast tomorrow and get over to the other bus station as early as possible to hopefully get a ticket to Panama. It was too late today to go over there and get a ticket so we'll see how that goes. That's it for today. Another long day coming up and hopefully the border crossing will go better.
LINK OF THE DAY
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29511&l=3f2bc&id=680056043
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