Esteli to Alajuela and Back

This is the story of our adventure traveling to Costa Rica and back. Besides being "just a story" there is some useful travel information, particularly about crossing the Sapoa/Peñas Blancas border.

On 15 June, at 7AM we headed out by car with a planned destination of Alajuela, Costa Rica. I was planning for a 12 hour trip. We made it is about nine and one half hours. Everything was very uneventful from Estelí to the border except for a gas station/cafetin in San Benito where they didn't have a key to their own bathroom.

At the Nicaragua side of the border we had two things to deal with—finding the always missing cop to get him to sign off on the car and dealing with me, a Nicaragua resident traveling on a U.S, passport which is supposed to mean needing a "Visa de Salida". As for the cop, the next time I will bring a bag of rosquillas to go with the coffee that the TransNica bus driver bought him. I don't call it a bribe, just a convenience fee.

Once the car paperwork was signed off, I filled out the little "crossing the border" paperwork and handed it to the guy at the first window along with my passport and cedula. I was thinking about the car paperwork which I needed to hand in at the next window and hadn't asked anything about getting the Visa de Salida. He entered something on the computer, stamped my passport and handed it back to me. No questions, no forms and no C$70. In addition, the DGI guy didn't even ask about what was in the car of look at it. Easy.

On the Costa Rica side, the drill was the usual including the guy who might check the car not even asking where it was. The only hitch was that in the building where you get your temporary permit for the vehicle they had a new computer system. It was designed to handle CA-4 vehicles different from others which makes sense. But, it couldn't deal with a CA-4 vehicle with the owner being a usano. After much discussion they fudged the entry and we were on our way. The guy also told me on the way back I could just "wave the paper" outside his office rather than wait in line and the return was very quick.

We arrived in Alajuela mid-afternoon and showed up at La Familia B&B which is half a block west and half a block north of the fire station. Nice location as it is very central but not on a main street. Decent room, great people and WiFi plus breakfast for two. Not bad for $30/night. (That was the rate for a week. $35 for a single night.)

I dealt with my business stuff, Ana bought shoes and all went well. We have been looking for a new girlfriend for Carlos and I had looked in La Nacion on-line before we headed to CR. There were samoyed puppies for sale. We called and then headed out to look at them. We ended up with Baruffa. But, we had four more days to stay in the B&B. Well, the folks at the B&B were ok with this 8-week old puppy staying there. It really is run by a family and they all fell in love with her which was a good thing.

In particular, Oscar was the person in the hotel during the day. When we were out and about, he took care of her. With the exception of one other guest who "only likes cats", we all got along fine.

Our return plans were to head to La Cruz on Saturday and then cross the border early Sunday. The goal was to "smuggle" Baruffa across the border. We left a 9:30AM for our leisurely trip to the border. But, by 12:15 we were in Liberia. We ate lunch there, did some shopping and realized we could still make it across the border that day. So, we re-packed our junk so it looked less like a car full of plastic bags of Costa Rica stores and headed to the border.

Ana had been training Baruffa to stay on the floor under her legs. Her plan (I had a different one) was to just sit there with the dog on the floor if and when the car got inspected. We did the CR paperwork for us and the car and crossed over to the Nicaragua side. She had filled out the customs declaration form (saying we had nothing) and I got out to look for the DGI dude. I found him and he decided he wanted to look in the car. The windows were rolled up (we had been using the air conditioning) so I reached inside the front door to unlock the left rear door.

Ana peacefully sat there with her purse on her lap (and a dog under her legs). He chatted with her asking why so much luggage and such. "We were at the beach and have towels and stuff", she lied. He asked which beach and she responded, "Tamarindo". He was happy, closed the door and signed the form.

She doesn't even need to get her passport stamped so she stays in the car. I do the car paperwork and, once again, hand them my passport and cédula along with the little "I am here" form. No questions, no fees. Stamped again like a normal Nicaraguan.

By a little bit after 7PM we are in Estelí and Carlos is introduced to Baruffa. All seems well.