Dear Friends and Family,
Hola! We flew a mere 5.5 hrs from Los Angeles, CA, to Liberia, Costa Rica. There, we adjusted for 2 days to high humidity and heat during Liberia’s Civic Festival. We followed the music to the city park where a live band played, singers stirred up the crowd, and colorfully costumed folklore dancers performed. The next day, it was an unexpected treat to witness their “Tope de Toros,” horse parade and running of bulls (redondel). They set off booming fireworks at noon and at midnight for the festival. Even without the fireworks, Liberia is a small, noisy Costa Rican border town. On day three, we took an early bus to the border and endured a 2 hr immigration process into Nicaragua. It would have taken longer, but we had a printout of our first booking, and a printout of our airline ticket info for exiting the country.
San Juan del Sur welcomed us to Nicaragua with a peaceful, colorful three days on a Pacific Ocean Bay. Little shops and food venues line the bay. There are fish restaurants all over, and we had a delightful seafood meal at Jose Sevilla Copia, a small place with a booming local business at the southern end of the promenade. For USD10-15 choose a complete meal of fresh from the ocean fish or a small lobster! People have wood fired grills on the sidewalks with beef, chicken, enchiladas, tacos, maduro, (fried bananas), and other delights. It smells SO GOOD! Mmmm… Today, Linda tried a traditional tamale (Nacatamale) wrapped in banana leaves and filled with rice, chicken, and bell peppers stuffed in masa, ($2) and Bruce had a hunk of grilled beef and cabbage salad ($2) from a lady near our hotel. We’ve also tried tacos and enchiladas, which are nothing like ours at home, but are also delicious!
Our accommodation (Tapihouse) includes a great scrambled egg breakfast with “gallo pinto,” (rice and red bean mix), avocado, “pico de gallo” (minced tomato’s & peppers), maduro, and coffee. The staff kept the purified water station full, and were very kind in helping us navigate our first days in Nicaragua. The bus, the bank, surf shops, and the beach are all easily accessible from Tapihouse.
Today we climbed a steep overlook road-trail to a statue of Jesus, “Christ of the Mercy,” for a bird’s eye view from above. The view was spectacular! There was a small chapel there, where we thanked God we made it in the heat! While the sunshine made the bay view incredible, leaving in the morning would have been a smidge cooler. The breeze, and full water bottles really saved us. Bruce “played the age card” and we got the local price for entry. They made him show ID because around here, if you’re almost 83, we’ve been told, you can barely walk. So far, everyone is astonished by his energetic “bounce to the ounce.” Overall, we hiked for about 2 hrs and came back roasted, even with sunscreen. We’ll hang out here tomorrow and then on Sunday take a “chicken bus” to our next destination, Rivas.
Mornings and evenings are when everyone is bustling around, while things are quieter during the mid day heat. We stayed in at night, but during the day it felt pretty safe and tourist friendly here.
Next stops: Rivas to Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua. Hope this finds you doing good.
Love, BnL
Bruce and Linda/Momma
bnlmos 