July 14, 2007

After a restless night of urban camping in the streets of Granada, we got up early and headed south to the Costa Rica border.

Given our experience a few days prior, we tensed up each time we approached a cop, but none were ready to shake us down this early in the morning.

We stayed on the chewed up back roads from Granada to Nandaime, passing through the shadow of the Volcan Mombacho.

Closer to the border we passed the massive Lago Nicaragua, and its two famed volcanoes that dominant Isla de Ometepe, on our left. We pulled over beside one of the many fincas that look onto the lake and had our breakfast.

It was pretty, but also pretty socked in with clouds and we weren’t able to appreciate the ancient volcanoes in all their splendor.

We were also keen to keep driving south, allowing for Nicaragua to fade away in our rear view mirror.

Two and half hours after leaving Granada, we maneuvered into the sprawling Penas Blancas border crossing on the Pan-American Highway.

Even with the assistance of a guide, it took us 45 minutes to satisfy the steps on the Nicaragua side, which were the following:

1. Park the van, go into a small building and fill out a form;

2. Have the van inspected by two officials;

3. Have a seemingly random guy, who was apparently a police officer, sign the form;

4. Go into the main building and line up at three different wickets to finish off the customs and immigration paperwork; and

5. Pay the municipal tax.

We then pulled forward to the Costa Rica side, which was teeming with travelers organized into several different lines, and selected another guide from the many who swarmed the van. The steps on this side were:

1. Go into the immigration building and get our passports stamped. The guide we hired paid off the guard allowing us to sneak to the front of what was a very long and slow moving line;

2. In the same building, but in a different room, buy our vehicle insurance;

3. Get a photocopy of our vehicle insurance;

4. Go across the road to a customs building where they entered information about the van into a ledger by hand. This step took awhile as we had to wait for the absent official to return;

5. Pull ahead to the fumigation area, where a sprayer is automatically activated;

6. Drive about 500 metres down the road and park in front of another building. Go into this building and wait in line behind 15 or 20 truckers to have van information entered into the computer system. When it took over an hour to process just one trucker, I tracked down the jefe and made a stink, making it clear to him these delays were terrible for Costa Rica’s tourism industry.

He was a decent man who empathized with my frustration and directed me to another office, where I could get the van processed. But even here it took 20 minutes to enter our information in the computer, as the system kept crashing.

About two hours after arriving at the border, with this final step completed and a throbbing headache as a souvenir, we finally pulled away.

Key Facts & Figures:

Nicaraguan Border:

-Municipal Tax: $1/person
-Immigration: $2/person
-Guide: $2

Costa Rica Border:

-Fumigation: $4
-Vehicle Insurance: $14
-Guides: $7