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Border crossing number 1. Apparently the most intense border we'll cross! Costa Rica to Nicaragua. The first leg of the journey is a long and winding road which is interrupted by some very inconsiderate building of windmills. After a little confrontation by our driver we make an hour detour and eventually reach the border! The sun is blazing and we don our large backpacks and walk a mile or so between leaving Costa Rica and entering Nicaragua. Perhaps the wildest part are the people creaming at you through the fence in an attempt to eat you to exchange your currency with them. It's slightly intimidating!
A few passport checks later, all sweaty we make it on to our first chicken bus (the nickname for the public buses that locals take). Our wonderful CEO Alonzo buys us all our first Nicaraguan beer and our next adventures begin.
Another public bus and an hour and a half on a pretty wild boat (which had to have water pumped out of it half way across the lake). We're on lake Nicaragua, central Americas larger lake, heading to the island of Ometepe, one of the largest islands in a fresh water lake (or some epic claims like that). Arriving on the island we head to the local community of women for our first homestay: puesta del sol. A community of 18 families that house us foreigners for a couple of nights. In exchange we bring in money and allow for the development of the community and show some different views of the world to the youths of the community. They also grow hibiscus (Jamaica tea) there from which they make a vey sweet wine (think port meets mulled wine).
Our family for the next two nights is a single woman in her 40s named Alba. Her sister joins us for our first evening meal where we eat rice, beans and plantain. Delicious.
The following day we do a tour of the island, learn about some local legends, and visit some ancient ruins. We bought some chicks as a gift to the community for welcoming us and our final evening there we all eat a big communal dinner with all the families.
Our room during the stay is very basic. A building built specifically for people coming to visit, it's cement walls with a corrugated iron roof and about a foot gap all the way around. The heat and humidity is intense. To use the bathroom you have to walk through a dark area which is not quite indoors and not quite outdoors. Cooking is done over a stone fire in a poorly lit cement area and we get a very real look at the Nicaragua.
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