Happy Thanksgiving! -- We’re in Costa Rica now at the Finca Cañas Castilla run by the Swiss couple Agi and Guido Sutter.Monday, we left Emilio’s hospitality in Tegucigalpa and drove to the border at Las Manos (Honduras/Nicaragua), only to find it completely closed and swarming with police. We thus retreated into the nearby town of El Paraiso, where we obtained a safe camping spot in the yard of Instituto Hondureño del Cafe.
The border was open again Tuesday morning, and we crossed into Nicaragua fairly easily. The roads were good, and we arrived at San Jorge on Lake Nicaragua in the early afternoon. The lake was full to the brim after the rainy season, and there was no beach for camping. We looked around and found “Hotel California” just a 5-minute walk from the lake. The hotel is run by Floridian Frank Ingram, it is clean and quiet, and we can recommend it as a great place to stay (it even has WiFi).Wednesday, we faced the only border crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica at Peñas Blancas. It is busy and convoluted, but Marcela waded through the mess with determination and without paying a penny to one of the pesky “tramitadores” (swarms of young men trying to make a buck helping you navigate the border), and she got us through in 2.5 hours.
From there, it was only a 10-mile drive to the Swiss finca (turn-off just before Sonzapote bridge), where a friendly welcome awaited us. Also on the welcoming committee were howler and spider monkeys, a sloth, big blue butterflies, many birds, and even a crocodile.Today, we’ll go to La Cruz to post this, and tomorrow we’ll head to Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
Children: What are the names of the two volcanos on the island in Lake Nicaragua?
2 comments:
Well looks like pretty upscale field there in Tegucigalpa, ....and do I detect another sloper there in the background??? does look like choice setup even on the slopes.... but maybe had to watch out for the SAMs.....no paper airplanes there!!!
And yeah sounds like things still little testy in Hondurus and Nicaragua.... sounds like string of "trampeadores" sprinkled with some good flying........
If you get stuck in Costa Rica give a holler, got some good friends here, soon heading home for the holidays.....
Was an interesting week for me, actually saw a 'nispero' in bloom in Woodburn this week, ......and was chasing some plant/people references, for a Didier M in Geneva, CHE........and saw a Dieter M. credited for 3 samples in the OSU Herbarium, alumni of '85, funny had the same name.....with a degree in "Wildlife Sciences".... I bet...... ah sweet youth.... but outta curiosity what were they....
Well not sure if you guys had pavo yesterday, but it's okay ate enough for three people..... and still eating pumkin cheescake..... pretty tasty
later Jim
Well, we WERE stuck in Costa Rica, but luckily in a great place; now we're in Panama, where due to the flooding we'll have to stick to the Panamerican... suddenly, our trip is almost over.
I had forgotten about those samples; there are a few more in the mammal collection.
Dieter
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