Well we completed our first Visa run this week and we were granted another 90 days in Costa Rica- yippie! We took the Tica Bus to Granada, Nicaragua and had an amazing time. We met some great people, as well as, funny characters along the way. We got to sit 3 hours at the Nicaragua border on the way in (fun times) and then ride home for the last hour and 1/2 with two Jehovah’s witnesses on the way back (our bus driver decided he wasnt going to stop at our stop). It was an adventurous journey and took way longer than we expected (about 10 hours each way when you factor in border crossing, etc) but we absolutely had a blast! Sophie was such an incredible little travel partner. She didnt make a peep on any of the bus ride and really only fussed a little when waiting in the sun to go cross the border and have our bags checked. This little diva does not like waiting around. She managed to entertain herself with collecting rocks and throwing them and when all else failed the boob was a savior. She also ate prob 3 apples on the way there and 3 again on the way back. Apples are def. a great travel treat since they take a baby a long time to eat and kept lil nugget occupied for a portion of the journey. Luckily our trip each way started at about 6am so since miss thing doesnt usually wake up until around 9am she slept for about 3 hours total during our trip. Anyway, needless to say we didnt do much via car, bus, boat or anything other than foot when we stayed in Granada.
We ate at some incredible restaurants and had some of our favorite meals since living in Central America. Our hotel was my favorite that I have ever stayed in and I think Will agreed. It was absolutely beautiful, quirky and completely spotless. I typically lay a baby blanket on the beds whenever we stay at hotels (it is a weird thing i have about hotel beds) but I realized on the second night that i hadn’t even pulled it out of the suitcase. The owner Ulli was more anal than me and his place was so organized and spotless that I was in heaven. Everything was labeled (will makes fun of me b/c i like things labeled, like i like the sugar jar to say “SUGAR” etc, lol), the switch for light said “light” and fan said “fan” and so on, ugh it was my utopia.
Anyway, on to things other than mine and Ulli’s apparent share for the love of OCD. The city was so different from Costa Rica. We def. sensed a lot more poverty and it wasn’t as modern at all (people still traveled by horse), but the architecture was super cool, and there was a lot of flavor and people living there from all over the world. There were tons of restaurants of all types and every night there was some sort of party going on somewhere. The whole city was walkable minus the ginormous potholes that you had to look down for while walking on the street. We saw an acrobat routine, belly dancers, juggling, fire dancing, etc. and this was all in only 3 nights. The president was inaugurated while we were in town so they had fireworks and a projection screen showing the inauguration on the side of a delivery truck. We have videos of a bunch of the entertainment that I will post later.
I def. would love to visit Granada again and stay longer so we could see more of the sites. There are supposedly some beautiful islands that you can take a quick boat ride to visit. We will be visiting again for sure and just had such a fantastic trip. Sophie had a blast walking all around, playing in the pool, sleeping through the night (yes sleeping though the night), watching all the entertainment, talking to herself in the mirror and going absolutely bananas in the stand up shower. Visa run #1 was a giant success. We arrived home around 4pm and the house was super clean, the pups were happy and well taken care of, and Alexis even washed our car. We feel really blessed to have this opportunity and go on these adventures. We have met so many great people and hopefully continue to do so. Now enough of the rambling… slideshow below.
