Walking across the border into Costa Rica from Nicaragua via the Peñas Blancas border is a relatively straightforward process. Once you are dropped off on the Nicaraguan side (most backpackers will bus or take a taxi), walk straight forward into the immigration building. There are also people here selling Costa Rican currency (colones). I was left with a 500 cordoba note from Nicaragua, which I exchanged for 8000 colones, or about $14 USD, which is a pretty crappy exchange rate but I didn't really want to hang on to it. You need to pay a total of $3 USD to exit Nicaragua (these are two separate fees - one is $2 and the other is $1). You definitely want to have small bills as they probably won't have change. There is a Lafise Bank just before this building and if they are open, they might give you change. The immigration officer will stamp you out of Nicaragua and then, after getting your passport checked by another officer at the end of the road, you are free to walk to the Costa Rica border. On the left-hand side, you will find the “Welcome to Costa Rica” sign if you want to take your photo for the ‘gram. Keep walking and veer to the right, there will be a building on your left. This is customs and immigration for Costa Rica. They are strict about proof of onward travel out of Costa Rica so be sure you have this. I had screenshots on my phone of my confirmation e-mail which worked fine. You can also buy a bus ticket out of Continue Reading
Hiking to Cristo de la Misericordia in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua
On our first day in SJDS, my travel buddy Aimee and I noticed the Jesus statue at the top of the hill on the northwest end of the beach and decided that we wanted to walk up there one day. The short hike is meant to take about 45 minutes from town, so we left the hostel around 4:15pm in order to arrive before sunset and before they closed (official hours are 8am-5pm, but I think it’s more or less adjusted for the sunset time, we had heard from others that they close at 6pm) We were both wearing flip flops, but I had brought my Nikes in my backpack. A local had told me a few days before that you can walk along the beach and once you pass the white hotel with the red roof, you need to exit the beach and then follow the streets all the way up. But for some reason, I forgot about this advice or just chose to ignore it. I guess I figured we could exit somewhere else. We kept walking all the way to the end of the beach where we were met with a rocky shore and what looked like a closed hotel or vacation property. There were two security guards at the gate to the hotel. “Pasamos por aqui?” I asked him, pointing at the hotel, wondering if we could pass through the grounds to get to the other side. They asked if we were going to the statue, we said yes, and one of them pointed at the rocky shore leading around the hotel and said we could go around that way. We thanked them. Without looking back at them, knowing Continue Reading