left cañas at 08.00 this am and finally cleared the border at peñas blancas at 12.40. it took 2 1-2 hours to go through the border. there were hundreds of people. and tons of money changers. not having my calculator on me i changed 8,000 colones for cordobas (nicaraguan currency). i got ripped off. i only changed 8,000 cuz i'd left my fanny pack (with the rest of my money and credit card) in my backpack on the bus. needless to say the money changer wasn't seen again.
see no fear here. said as i am again shaking my head at myself.
i am at a small beach town for a few days then think i will go to granada for 1 or 2 days. it's supposed to be beautiful, centuries old spanish architecture.
here, in san juan del sur, all the streets are made of paving stones. very cool. most of the houses, schools, churches and some stores in nica are made of red brick. also very cool. and with original spanish tile roofs. they're beautiful.
i have a tica bus map showing there is a tica bus terminal in san juan del sur. so of course i expected the bus to drive into san juan. not so. they let me off on the highway in almost the middle of nowhere so i start hiking down the road in the direction of the ocean. until i saw a sign that said san juan 18 kms. with a 20 pound pack and hot sun. mm - don't think so.
i talked to a family who flagged down a taxi for me. the taxi was like a bus inasmuch as he had 4 different fares in the car.
it's a small, quiet, peaceful beach town on a beautiful curved bay. poor nica shacks dot the hillside to the south, rich haciendas cover the hillside to the north and quaint little restaurants / bars all along the beach.
2 comments:
have you stopped by to see Miriam's Dad? or will you? I forget the name of the town he lives in with all his kids and there families (who live in different homes just on the same property and only a few feet away from each other... it's a nica tradition... sons stay with their families, bring their wives, build their house and live their)... but he lives just outside of Juialpa (spelling?) across from an elementary school. come o now you've gotta experience living with a nica family in one of those "poor shacks dotting the hillside". and then you can experince showering outside... well practicly(because the showers in the front yard by thie sink and has no door)...it's only the little curious kids who don't mind your privacy.
no i didn-t go there. i asked about taking the ferry from granada to san carlos, a much more direct route than the buses, (i took 5 to get to playa del coco today). 1 person said 5 hours, a tourist thing said 14, someone else said 9, however the thought of even 5 hours going across lago de nicaragua, so much open water, kinda put me off after seeing the white water on the lake. it-s so big you can-t see the other side and the thought of going across almost an ocean in a little ferry turned me off. maybe another time i will go visit them with mimi. i really do prefer more private showers anyway. but thanks for the warning.
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