Where Is Ron?
Mexico and Central America: October 2006-February 2007
Ron and Ellen at Agua Azul, Mexico, November 2006
Report from Nicaragua and Costa Rica
January, 2007
Afton, Virginia, USA
15 January 2007Dear family and friends,
Ron has been meandering through southern Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica by bus and boat. Much to my amazement, I've been able to find in my atlas all the places he mentions except for Santa Rosa, Costa Rica.
Here in Virginia, we continue to have unseasonably warm weather -- this past weekend temperatures were around 70 (~22C), and there are trees and bulbs budding that are a month or more ahead of their normal time. I'm happy about the temperatures because I hate cold weather, but I do worry about what will happen to all the budding plants if/when we do finally have a stretch of normal winter weather.
Love to all,
Ellen
Pig on the roof, fish in the boat
To see photos of the boat trip from Isla de Ometepe to San Carlos, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of boat trips on Rio San Juan, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of Castillo, click on the thumbnail at the left.
To see photos of people in Castillo, click on the thumbnail at the left.
San Jose, Costa Rica
14 January 2007Hello, my dear -
The route from Managua to San Jose was diverse and not the routine way that most people travel, which perhaps is typical for me.
On New Year's Day I took a bus from Managua to Rivas, by boat to Moyogalpa on Isla de Ometepe, and then staying at the beach Santa Domingo at the end of a day tour by van, bus to Alta Gracia, ferry to San Carlos on the southern end of Lago de Nicaragua, a small tourist boat to El Castillo on Rio San Juan, another boat to Trinidad on Rio San Juan, and a gas delivery boat to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui in Costa Rica on the Puerto Viejo and/or Sarapiqui River, bus to Guapiles, and another bus to Puerto Limon, then backtracked to Viejo de Sarapiqui and took a bus to Ciudad Quesada, and another to Santa Rosa, then a bus to Los Chiles, a boat to San Carlos, Nicaragua, a boat back to Los Chiles, a bus to Ciudad Quesada, and a direct bus to San Jose.
There were adventures, beautiful scenery and wonderful people along the way. Chris and I planned to meet in Moyogalpa on Isla de Ometepe but he returned from the beach to Leon instead. But I met another traveler, a 34-year-old who was born in Russia and moved to the US when he was 8. He has traveled to many more places than I. We traveled together until I took the boat from Trinidad to Costa Rica and he proceeded on to San Juan del Norte (Greytown) with a Japanese lady we met in Castillo.
Living in the country in Virginia, I had originally planned on spending a few weeks in the city of Managua, trying to understand what is happening politically. But instead I only spent a couple of days in the city to experience the fireworks on New Year's Eve.
The beach at Santo Domingo, on the narrow strip of land on Isla de Ometepe between the two volcanos, was beautiful, especially when the full moon rose unexpectedly from the lake directly in front of us on the beach just after dark had arrived. And of course the fish and lobster added to the overall beach experience. If the boat schedule had allowed, I would have enjoyed staying longer, and recommend that others stay at Santo Domingo rather than Moyogalpa or Alta Gracia, which are sort of ordinary.
While the 11 hour boat ride under a full moon is the best way to get to San Carlos, at night there is not much to see, and it was very crowded because of the holidays. However, the rest of the boat rides on Rio San Juan, Rio Sarapiqui, and Rio Frio were spectacular, with alligators, birds, monkeys, and jungle and forest with varied vegetation and huge old trees.
On the Rio San Juan on the way to El Castillo they loaded a large pig on the roof of the boat, and it stood the whole trip, tied but walking around on the roof, causing the people below to worry about it coming through when it would paw at the roof when it was unhappy. And on a boat tour of a preserved rain forest a very large 120 pound tarpon jumped into our boat, just missing the Swedish couple in the front. Our guide cooked us a very good fish dinner that night; the best way I can describe how the fish was prepared would be to call it fish hash. Very good! A lady from Florida said people in Florida don't eat tarpon.
The boat I took from Trinidad to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui was loaded with 14 empty 55 gallon barrels for gasoline to get refilled in Sarapiqui for delivery down the Rio San Juan.
For those wishing to follow my unofficial route into Costa Rica, when I got off at the place called Trinidad, I was told I had to return to the last Immigration check point (about 1 hour before and the second from Castillo) where I had already asked for an exit stamp and been told I would have to return to San Carlos for it. When I returned to the immigration check point by boat, immigration was closed, it was after dark and I had to spend the night at the Army Barracks. There was a hotel across the river but no one would take me across. I got up for the 5 am boat to be told that it left from the other side at 4 am. The gas supply boat was unexpected, but soldiers who were awake and the boat driver had no problem with me taking it. When I got to Puerto Limon and tried to get an entry stamp, they sent me back to San Carlos, Nicaragua to get a proper exit stamp and then I got a Costa Rican entry stamp at Los Chiles. If one could figure out how to get an exit stamp in San Carlos without actually leaving, and then went by bus from Sarapiqui to Los Chiles, the immigration at Los Chiles is near the boat dock, but separated by a long block and accessible from the town square, and it should be easy to just get an entrance stamp. Or if one is planning on returning to Nicaragua, there seemed to be no problem when I explained how I went and that I was returning for an exit stamp. When asked when you left Nicaragua, I would suggest you say yesterday. When they tell you to return for an exit stamp when the next boat is loaded, well if you are staying in Nicaragua ...
On my bus journey to return to San Carlos for my exit stamp, the last bus ended in Santa Rosa, just south of Los Chiles. A woman who was my seat mate helped me find a hotel (they were all closed for the holidays, if that makes any sense to you, but she knew how to wake up one of the owners) and she invited me for breakfast the next morning. Wonderful experience and probably the best breakfast on the trip so far (beans and rice, scrambled eggs, fried yucca, fried bananas, avocado, juice, coffee and tortilla) -- until this morning at the Hotel Aranjuez in San Jose where there was a most spectacular unlimited spread for breakfast.
Nicaragua is a stark contrast to Costa Rica, which is far more developed, much more expensive, full of tourists, especially large tour groups, and has a very different feeling. While the travelers and backpackers I was meeting in Nicaragua, especially from Ometepe south, were more experienced individual travelers looking for new adventures in out of the way places, the people I am meeting in Costa Rica are more like tourists, with many traveling in groups on tours. While going down the river near Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui on my "private" gas boat with just me and the boat driver, we passed several tour boats with large groups that were paying $20 per person for a ride of half an hour out and half an hour back, after arriving and leaving from and to who knows where by tour bus. Eco tourists. I gave the driver $6 for my three and a half hour ride and he apologized that he had no change.
I have enjoyed the small Costa Rican towns where I have stopped on my bus odyssey, but my favorite town so far was Castillo, on the Rio San Juan in Nicaragua, where I spent three days while waiting for the boat to go down the river. Perhaps 3,000 people, a river community, mostly old wooden houses, electricity with only a couple of power failures, no Internet, no vehicles except a few bicycles, but a good hotel (Victoria) with wonderful food, where we could watch the turtles and cayman (small alligators) at night by large flashlights in the creek where it enters the river by the hotel. The people were very friendly and I enjoyed my walks in, around, and outside of the village. The river shrimp were the size of small lobsters, with meat in the legs, and the fish were cooked with garlic. Yummmmm.
I will leave San Jose today for the Caribbean coast but will perhaps spend the last few days back here before returning home.
Love and miss you,
Ron
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Last updated: 15 January 2007
