So I took a chicken bus from Managua (Nicaragua) to the border. I stood in line for an hour to get my exit stamp from Nicaragua. I then walked for what seemed like bloody miles (with my backpacks now including multiple heavy books from diving WHYYYYY????) in the sweltering heat of midday by now....I arrived in Costa Rica and queued for TWO more hours to get an entry stamp for costa rica... followed shortly after by an exit stamp from costa rica. A nice man in the queue helped with my big backpack by the end as I think he could see I was wilting.. I was halfway back to the Nicaragua immigration when an official man stopped me and told me I had to wait in Costa Rica for 3 hours before I can re-enter Nicaragua NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! By this point it was 2.30 pm and so I wouldn´t have time to get a bus back to Nicaragua but I really was not in the mood to face discovering another country just yet. The man was adament that I must walk back 50 metres, sit down there and wait.
We ´conferred´ for quite a while and somehow I managed to charm him?! I showed him by mashed up toe (oh yes. I walked into a speed bump whilst drunk in utila I hadn´t mentioned that, ripped off a bit of my toe and by now it was covered in make-do plasters..it looked a bit of a mess). Anyway I gave him a bit of a sob story; batted my eyelashes; he asked if I was single - I said yes. He let me through? Go figure.
I then spent another TWO hours in a seemingly non-moving queue to get my stamp back in to Nicaragua. Keeping my backpack on was a BAD idea. My back and shoulders were dying. The boy in front of me laughed that we were in a ´´queue for the queue, haha´´ HA. HA. I was not impressed. Hopped back on a chickenbus and headed back towards a new town... Got offered a massage on the bus followed by the offer of a kiss and sex. This was after I told the boy I have a boyfriend who I´m in love with and that a massage would be out of the question - but SURE sex would be fine?! Actually it was quite difficult to say no to a massage as I was so achey!! But no thanks sleazy boy. My stop came and somehow managed to flash everyone my underwear as I leaped off the still-moving bus -oh great - my little shorts fell down whilst I tried not to drop my bags. Oh well I gave a huge group of boys something to talk about...the glamour of travelling...
Anyway by now I´m a sweaty dirty disaster and would quite like a shower and food. All I had eaten was a bit of bread I bought off a kid on the bus as no-one else was buying and he looked sad. Of course the lady who owns the ONLY recommended hostal in my book was not there. Of COURSE!! I saw a couple of other hostals and no-one was there but finally had luck.
I ate, bathed and was ready for bed. What a party girl.
The following two days I spent in Isla de Ometepe which is an island in the middle of a lake with 2 huge volcanoes. I wanted a bit of a rest and ended up doing a full day volcano hike - what is WRONG with me?! We sat in the crater of the volcano which was quite cool but the hike was tough enough for me with my dodgy knee and mashed up toe... NO MORE VOLCANOES!
I spent a couple of days in Granada which is a lovely city... partied hard with free tequilla involved, oh dear...met a Swedish girl called Stephanie and we decided to go to Corn Islands together.
