When you come to Costa Rica for the winter, you’re supposed to leave before 90 days is up. We didn’t bother to do it last year; and didn’t have any issues at the airport when leaving. But we decided that this year, we would leave and go to Nicaragua.
So early on Tuesday morning, Joey picked up me, Mike, Phil and Jason, and our long travel day began. Joey only took us as far as Barranca (to catch up to the bus) and then we took the Tica Bus the rest of the way.
No problems at the border; and a few hours later, we were finally close. The bus doesn’t go into Granada on the way through, so we transferred to an old bus and bumped along the rest of the way. The guys figured the bus was circa 1965.
We finally arrived at the bus station in Granada and started walking. Never seen anything like this place in my life and not sure if I ever will again. The streets were narrow; and an assortment of buses, cars, taxis, and horse drawn carts filled the streets. That and 1000’s of people...it was insane!
Found a place to sit and have a drink and figured where to look for a hotel. Thankfully Jason had been here before and he knew where to go. We passed the central park; the old church and then up another street. A few times I found myself thinking “oh Lord, where is he taking us?”.
Let me describe most of the streets in Granada, so that you’ll understand why I was feeling this way. The streets are narrow; and sometimes there’s a sidewalk… sometimes wide enough for us to walk side by side. Other times, it’s only a few inches across, or not at all. Sometimes the vendors have their businesses right up to the curb.
Some people have car ramps so they can drive their cars up and park their cars behind their walls. There are holes and cracks and it's not very friendly towards people with physical disabilities.
The buildings are all in a long row; and are all attached. Other than doors, there isn’t much else to indicate anything being there. But behind those walls are beautiful houses, hotels and businesses.
We arrived at the Hotel Cocibolca (ko-see-bowl-ka) and other than a small flat sign on the wall, you would never know it was a hotel. You step into the hotel reception area with a dining room off to one side and a lounge on the other side.
Beyond that is a courtyard with the hotel rooms down the sides. Lush greenery and flowers down the middle complete with a fountain that houses a half a dozen turtles. The pool is at the back of the property. Never would I have guessed that was behind the wall.
Very clean rooms and cheap… only $45 a night. After we registered and dropped off our stuff; we headed back out to the main street. This street is mostly closed off to vehicles and both sides are lined with restaurants, businesses and houses. The roads are both cobble stone and flagstone.
We were entertained by the local kids who don costumes and dance to their own music. Walked around a bit more and then off to bed we went.
The next morning, Mike and I took a horse drawn carriage tour around town and our guide pointed out the buildings of interest. In the afternoon, we went on a boat tour of the 365 islands, on Lake Nicaragua. Some beautiful properties for sure. Some of the islands were single homes and others had multiple homes. You certainly need some money to buy a place out here.
On Thursday morning, we had some excitement. The 4 of us were sitting in the breezeway of our hotel, which also happened to be the designated smoking area. There was a man and his children sitting across the way and he asked me to not smoke. I pointed out that it was the smoking area. A few grumblings later and I was going to move (to be considerate). Within seconds he was calling me a “f…ing ignorant a..hole”. Really??? Sat my butt back in the chair, and continued to smoke.
Now bare in mind, there was an empty, smoke-free dining room just around the corner; and this is where the 4 of us ate within the half hour. Shortly after breakfast, I see this guys wife sitting in the exact same chair as I was; with their daughter less than an arms length away… and the wife is smoking a cigarette!
Are you kidding me! The way he had acted earlier, I figured that they were both non-smokers. About 10 minutes later, the man showed up; and me, not being able to keep my mouth shut (I know what a surprise!).
I say to him, “hey buddy, did you know that your wife was having a cigarette with your daughter almost in her lap?” And what’s this a…holes reaction… “FU” he screams at me, then throws the contents of the ashtray at me, followed by the ashtray itself.
And the next thing I know, he’s slapped/pushed me on my face. Mike and Phil were up and in front of me by this point. The “F” bomb was dropped numerous times and the hotel staff came to see what was happening.
This guy threatened to kill all of us; and that’s when we called the police. But unfortunately, the police take a really long time to come and when it’s between tourists, they don’t usually get involved. This idiot was from France and also had a run in with some American tourists the night before; because… god forbid they asked him for his help on the computer… didn’t find that out until the next day.
The guy and his family were brought back to the hotel by their tour guide and was told to apologize… he did while laughing at me/us the whole time. That’s when I decided to press charges… maybe if anything, it would screw up his holidays.
But no such luck; takes anywhere from 30 days to 6 months for the cops to do anything; and by then the tourists are long gone.
On top of this, our tour guide, whom we gave a $20 deposit to the night before; never showed up and we got screwed out of a 4 hour tour of the area. First time that that has happened; and thankfully it was only $20.
We ended up going for a massage instead; and that helped erase some of the stress of the morning.
Friday we made our way to the bus station; and started the long ride back. We almost didn’t make it back into Costa Rica. The border guard that we went through was insisting that we have plane tickets showing when we leave. Nobody had mentioned that we needed plane tickets… now what? That’s when we talked to the other Canadians that we met and they went through the other line. So that’s what we did; back in line we went and without further ado, we were stamped and back on the bus.
We were really happy to finally meet up with Joey in Barranca before coming back to Jaco.
Granada was probably one of the coolest places that I’ve ever been too. It was old, caotic, noisy, busy and exhilarating all in one. We don’t think that it’s a place that we would want to spend a winter; as we were already getting a little bored by Friday.
Plus, I don’t know where we would buy our food from. We walked through the “flea market” for a bit. One stall after the next, selling their wares. A lot of the vendors had meat, chicken etc all just sitting out in the heat. And if you wanted something, they just cut off a piece. Yikes!
The amount of begging in the streets is also a problem; and kids and adults alike come up and ask you for money, pop, whatever, and it gets tiring pretty quickly.
All in all it was a great experience. It was like taking a step back in time to a world that really hasn't changed very much. And we're glad that we saw it.
I was really happy to be back “home” in Jaco. Please click here to look at our pictures.
