Jess and Stacey’s Travels

Our 90 day visa was up on the day that Mark and Jeana left.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t see them off to the airport because we were bee-lining it to the Costa Rican border early that morning.  We got to the border about 11am at Penas Blancas.  It was the most confusing border crossing we had encountered.  No clear signs on which way to go. 

Info for anyone else crossing on foot (not on a Ticabus or other bus) – little girls try to sell the immigration form to fill out.  One tried to sell us them for $1 a piece.  A bit steep for something that they give you for free at the window.  Go through the break in the chain linked fence and pay the $1 on the Nica side.  Walk to where you see the buses and go to the window where you pay to exit Nicaragua and fill out the form – $2/person.  You need to give the other copy of the form to the Costa Rican side.  Walk down the dirt road where the trucks are going, and stay on the left side of the street.  There is a bank at the Costa Rican side next to where you get your passport stamped, so no need to change to Colones before then. 

At the border, Penas Blancas, we caught a mini-bus to Liberia in Northwest Costa Rica, where we are now.  So far we like Liberia, more for what it is not.  It is not nearly as loud at night as Granada.  It does not have fire crackers and car alarms going off all night.  No church bells clanging at 5am.  It does not have men telling Stacey they love her, or cat-calling as she walks by.   Ah, Liberia!  We have such low standards.

Evidently, Liberia is changing rapidly because of all the beach development happening 45min – 1 hour away.  We were told by Dennis, owner of our hostel, that the population has doubled in 3 years.  Unfortunately, the Rincon de la Vieja park that we wanted to visit was closed today so we are just walking around town today and maybe going to the beach this afternoon.  There are public buses that go to the beach from here.  Tomorrow we are visiting the park and then we’ll probably leave Liberia on Wed. 

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.