One Last Border

Bosco was not happy when we got in the car in Managua. For the past couple of days when we go to get in the car, he basically digs his little paws into the ground and uses all 17 lbs. to stop about 5 feet from the Jeep and not move. He’s usually so good on the leash, but nowadays, he will NOT listen when we try to get into Chivo. I get it, buddy; I don’t want to drive anymore either.

It has been a really long 13 days. We are ALL ready to be done. Luckily for us, it is our last day on the road. Hopefully. After the past few days of uncertainty and having to shift plans, we know better than to tempt fate.

So with another early morning start, we bid our Air BnB goodbye and hit the road again. Luckily, it is a short drive from Managua to the border town of Peñas Blancas.

Now, this is where I owe you all an apology. I have been the official documentarian of this trip – responsible for taking all the pictures while Nikk drives. As I sit and look back on the pictures taken over the two-week drive, there is a direct correlation between my enthusiasm for sitting in a Jeep with a dog on my lap and the number of pictures taken. During this last day, when I was just ready to be DONE, I barely took any pictures at all. And it was beautiful. So I am sorry I don’t have any pictures to share with you. 🙁 Despite heavy rains for most of the morning, we were treated to views of mountains (maybe more volcanoes?), green rolling countryside, and – as we got closer to the border – views of a giant lake, Lago Cociboca. The lake was so big you couldn’t see the other side of it, but in the middle (according to Google Maps), there is a volcano! The rains and clouds made it hard to pick out, but I think we caught a glimpse.

Mother Nature was on our side because the rains subsided as soon as we got to the Nicaraguan border. This was definitely a blessing since we had to go from building to building, and didn’t want to get soaked. The process to exit was pretty simple. Once again, cancel our Temporary Import of Chivo, then get our passports stamped out, and pay our exit fee. Easy peasy. “Not so fast” said the fate that we were trying not to tempt earlier…

Once we had all of our paperwork done, and just as the rains started to pour again, we hopped into Chivo and headed for Costa Rica! As we pulled up to the last check-point, we were sure that the heavy rains would keep the security guys in their little hut and they’d wave us along. But nope, they had us stop and then they gave each-other a look to say “Who’s going out in the rain? Not me.” I was surprised they didn’t draw straws in front of us! One unlucky chap grabbed an umbrella and headed to our window. He asked us for our cancelled TIP and passports. No problem, here you go. Then he asked us for a small 2-inch by 2-inch piece of paper, the receipt to show that we paid our exit tax. We found one… but we couldn’t find the second one (needed one per passport). Crap. We were frantically searching through our paperwork, on the floor of Chivo, in my purse, everywhere. No luck. We knew we paid it – they wouldn’t have stamped our passports out otherwise – but we couldn’t find it anywhere! They told us we had to go back. Nikk argued a bit with them and said we had paid it and just lost the receipt. It was a receipt for a $3 fee… I wanted to just give the guard a $5 bill and call it a day, but before we could offer it, he had us pull off to the side while he called the other office. Nothing is easy, right?? Typing this now, it feels like such an inconsequential thing to just go back and pay it again, but in the moment, it felt like going back would break us. We sat for what felt like an hour, but was probably a few minutes. Finally, the guy with the umbrella came over to Chivo, and told us we could go. I guess the other office remembered the gringos with the Jeep and confirmed that we had paid! So if you’re reading this and you ever plan to drive across international borders, remember to keep every single piece of paper in a safe place!

This was the most beautiful sign I’ve ever seen – we made it! Well, almost. We still had to do the entrance to Costa Rica crossing. So once again, we navigated our way around an area that looked like a truck stop with no signage, to find the Aduana (customs) and Immigracion (immigration) offices.

Here’s how this border crossing went: find immigracion -> get told to go pay Bosco’s fees first -> go to bank to exchange dollars for colones -> back to first building, try to pay Bosco’s fees in colones. Nope, you have to pay at the bank and bring back a receipt. Whoops. -> back to bank, laugh along with the guard as I walk back in, pay Bosco’s fee, get a receipt. Show that to the woman at the first building, who says I need to show it at the agriculture import window -> head to building to start immigracion, told that this building is Aduana and we have to drive back to building we saw earlier -> make drive and get to immigracion, get passports stamped in -> drive back to Aduana -> have to purchase car insurance; car insurance window is on lunch break; sit for a bit; purchase car insurance; attempt to go to Aduana window, he asks for a form we don’t have, says we have to get it at immigracion -> roll eyes, Nikk says a few four-letter-words under his breath; we decide that since Bosco’s “check in” place is right there, we should do that while we’re here -> walk over to the agriculture window, hand over copies of Bosco’s paperwork, get a stamp, all done with Bosco (never had to show the receipt… another eye roll) -> drive back to immigracion -> pick up form, fill it out, drive back to Aduana -> starts to rain again -> Nikk goes in, finally with all the paperwork needed, and gets the TIP for Chivo -> drive into Costa Rica. Phew!!

The crossing into Costa Rica was one of the longest (time-wise) of this trip, and we definitely got a little annoyed with the back-and-forth, but here’s what I loved about it and why I think we made a good choice to move to Costa Rica: every single person we interacted with didn’t treat us as if we were a nuisance. They were all helpful, even when they were (rightfully so) a little frustrated with our lack of Spanish-speaking abilities. Some people even smiled at us! There were no “helpers” running around, constantly telling us to go here or there, making the whole process feel chaotic. The feeling here was different in such a good way. It was apparent the second we entered Costa Rica, something we hadn’t realized we were missing, and definitely refreshing.

After the border crossing, we started driving toward our temporary home base of Tamarindo.

I don’t know if it was the long journey, the rain, the overwhelm of having completed our 10th border crossing in four days, or pure happiness, but all of the emotion hit at once and brought me to tears. I couldn’t believe we were finally here. After 16 years of dreaming, two years of planning, 13 days of driving, a few “bumps” (and a few hundred topes), we’d crossed more than 4,000 miles to get here. I don’t quite know how to convey the feeling of being awake and aware as your dreams start to manifest, but I was sure that this was it.