Nicaraguan Adventure #1: PYL In-Flight (Jun 1, 2021)

Welcome Back My Trusting Passengers:

It was such a relief to see Christy waving to us on the other side of the Nicaraguan immigration parking lot. At this point I was able to breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we’d made it through all of the difficult hurdles, starting with a negative covid test (for Nicaragua but not Costa Rica), health insurance and lodging insurance requirements for Costa Rica, and transportion, to get into a third world country.

It was pretty smooth sailing but as things came up, I just threw money at the issues to keep us moving along.

Note: my mom’s Medium account got hacked so you all are getting the Nicaragua series instead of the typical PYL In-Flight. If you hate or love this, thank or blame my mom. :)

After spreading out sushi bar purchases at one of the two restaurants open in the SFO international terminal (really, WTF!) to sit comfortably for 2 hours, we easily boarded our flight to Liberia, Costa Rica.

It was not a full flight and was pretty uneventful despite being delayed for 15 minutes as we waited for passengers coming in from Phoenix. BTW we’d hit the duty-free store to stock up on wine, champagne, chocolate, soap, tequila, vodka, and gin. (That reminds me; it’s hot. I’m itchy. I keep sneezing and my nose is running. I need another beer. Mercury is in retrograde too).

Wearing a mask for over 6 hours on the flight wasn’t as bad as we expected. Food was pretty terrible, even for United. Fortunately we’d packed some snacks and we will make sure to pack better snacks for the return flights. I don’t know if this was because of Covid or something else. If you have the tomato/mozarella or chicken or snackbox options, choose the snackbox.

When we arrived at the Liberia airport, we were the third and fourth people off the plane and at the immigration window. Unfortunately I’d only purchased three days of Covid health/lodging insurance and had to be escorted to a back room to purchase two more days. It was $11/day for each of us which was nuts given that we were going to be in Costa Rica for less than 12 hours. Yes, this felt scammy.

We tried to catch the shuttle to the Hilton Garden Inn that was about a mile from the airport but it was late and we couldn’t find it and we didn’t want to wait. I gave the driver $10 which was more than I needed to but I was so relieved to be there I didn’t care.

I was able to understand the guy at reception enough to know the restaurant was open for another 30 minutes, our room was on the first floor, and I’d prepaid the room so I was all set. Everyone we encountered at the hotel was lovely and after a quick dinner of salad, veggies, and hummus we crashed and set alarms for 6:45 AM to make sure we made it to breakfast before Sunday’s adventures. Finn got a shower. I brushed my teeth and washed my face.

(Aside: I haven’t showered since Friday but I did go into the pool yesterday. Maybe that’s why I am itchy.)

We had a lovely breakfast by the pool at the hotel where I was able to take a breath and enjoy the beautiful weather and the way my skin felt with the humidity. I was also reminded why I probably shouldn’t have bothered bringing a hair dryer and flat iron.

Christy arranged for us to be picked up by a trusted resource to be taken to the border.

Maiko was lovely and spoke as much English as I spoke Spanish. Throughout all of this, Finn tried to speak Spanish and kept lapsing into French. We had a fantastic Spanish lesson on the 90 minute drive to the border. At one point he turned around and pointed out the monkeys in the trees. There were about seven and they were pretty high up but it was still great to see them.

We were no longer in California or the US.

He asked if we had a transit stamp in our passport. Of course we did not so he said it was going to be an additional $20. Slightly annoying but if this and the insurance thing were going to be our biggest challenges, I was going to be very happy.

Near the border I had to get out of the car with Maiko to have our passports checked and get the required transit stamp. It took about 3 minutes and the gals were lovely. We went a little further and had our passports checked again. This time it cost $2 and both of us had to go inside the official looking building and stand behind a rope. The person was behind a plexiglass shield.

We wore our masks the entire time and everyone we saw was wearing their masks as well.

We went a little further and Maiko parked his car and helped us with our bags. I paid him $80 (more than quoted because he was so delightful) and he said that was as far as he could go. This was a little unnerving but Christy had told us what to expect so I refused to get nervous.

While we were having our docs checked by what I assume were the Nicaraguan immigration folks, this gentleman asked if we wanted help with our luggage.

Initially I said no and then remembered that Christy said there would be guys to help us with our luggage, possibly by wheelbarrow or bicycle. I asked him if $10 was enough and when he nodded at my pathetic Spanish, he put our luggage into his cart. I am so glad I accepted his help because we didn’t realize just how far we were going to have to drag our two rollers, one rolling duffle (gifts for Christy), two backpacks, one softsided bag, and two SF bags full of alcohol (see picture above).

Once our passports and negative Covid test results were checked yet again, the super helpful guy pushed his cart to the other side of the border where we unloaded the cart. He motioned for us to take our luggage into the immigration building.

Our documentation was checked again by someone behind a plexiglass window (per Finn, she wasn’t wearing a mask), a confab happened in a glass room without us, our pictures were taken, and I paid another $26 to get through to the xray machine where the woman checking baggage was falling asleep while she watched the screen. I think I woke her up when I said gracias and adios.

The (tired? hot?) gentleman with the cart, met us on the other side with the cart and started walking so we walked with him as I tried calling and texting Christy because I was unsure of where we were going. He seemed to know what to do. Once I saw Christy waving to us, I nearly ran to her to give her a big hug.

I’m sure you can see the relief on my face.

The guy unloaded his cart and we loaded Christy’s truck and began the 1.5 hour drive to Hacienda Iguana taking in the scenery and Christy’s commentary as we drove along.

I’ve been to Mexico quite a few times. Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Zihuatanejo, Manzanillo. This didn’t feel that different although I don’t think I’d seen a cow transported like this before.

And I’d never seen a purple Jesus statue in a roundabout.

While it was Memorial Day weeknd in the US, it was Nicaraguan Mother’s Day which they seem to take very seriously in terms of partying and red / white balloons.

BTW, all of this was done before noon so my next post will be about the rest of the day. Christy’s place is lovely and looks out over the golf course that you can see behind me and Finn. The sunrises (ok, I’ve only seen one) have been spectactular and the stars…you would not believe the stars.

Four years ago today I was flying into Necker Island (by helicopter) for the second time and that was the last time I saw stars like I’ve seem them here. But more on that later.

With much love and gratitude,

Terri

P.S. Take the controls and be the pilot in your own life. It’s a beautiful day to fly, and you are cleared for takeoff.

Song: Milkshake by Kelis
This song is for Finn and Christy…we couldn’t remember the lyrics but talked about it earlier today as we walked around Iguana. TM

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