10-16-09

I just returned from a successful trip north of the boarder with my new visa. It was long, boring, and irritating but otherwise good. I didnt get a chance to post something before I left because Victor called me abruptly on Wednesday and told me that the bus needed to be on was leaving in 45 minutes, so I had o run out the door. The original plan was for me to go on Wednesday and return today, but on Tuesday when I called Victor he said Thursday to Friday would be better. So when he called me on Wednesday afternoon I was unprepared to leave, but I didnt really have to much choice as he was getting me out of a three day manditory vacation in Nicaragua.

When I got on the bus I thought I was going to the wrong place, I was heading in the right direction, but the name on the bus wasnt Ciudad Quesada. After an hour of worrying/ telling myself Im not THAT stupid I realized that here Ciudad Quesada is San Carlos. When I arrived at the bus stop in San Carlos/Quesada it only took me a few seconds to find the man screaming Los Chiles before I was on my way. The bus ride wasnt too bad, but it turned out I had missed the ¨direct¨bus which meant that I was on the one that stopped every 50 feet to let someone on or off. So the 1 and a half hour trip that Luke and I took to Los Chiles turned out to be 3 and a half on the bus. The nice thing was that when I fell asleep and woke up Victor was sitting next to me saying ¨you really shouldnt sleep on the bus, youll miss the stop¨ instead of a stranger trying to steal my personal belongings of little to no value.

In the morning Victor and I walked around Los Chiles to various lawyers and government offices which was nice because most of them were airconditioned. He was getting a permit to buy more land around his house, which consisted of going to a lawyer, paying 50 cents for a stamp of some sort, going to get a photo copy of the new stamp, then to the government office, then to the lawyer for another stamp. We did about three rounds of this before we were done and both sweating like crazy. There is some local bullshit in Los Chiles that goes ¨Its not that hot here, even though everyone in Costa Rica says this is the hottest place in the country theyre wrong and we know because we live here¨. Its a crock of shit because Los Chiles is like a freaking oven and the people who live there are nuts. I had to say that to someone and since half the police live in Los Chiles this is probably the best forum to do so.

After Victor got his property thing all stamped and photocopied we headed off to the Rio Frio to head up to Nicaragua. The boat ride took around 45 minutes and then we were in the big Lake in Nicaragua, no one told me the name and if you care enough to know im sure there are plenty of google entries about it. The lake is absolutely huge and it was like being on the ocean, the waves were pretty small, but still big enough to feel on a little boat like the one we were in. Victors wife also came along as she was the reason I could get away with going to Nicaragua for 3 hours instead of three days. She got my passport all stamped up and then we were off to visit their realitives that live in San Carlos (the port town on the lake). After we made the rounds we went and ate lunch at a restuarant on the water, it was amazingly beautiful and I ate some shrimp that live in the Rio Frio. The shrimp that live in the river are HUGE like bigger then your head huge, and let me say that a shrimp that is bigger then your head has the texture of hardboiled tire. Plus the ¨salsa¨that they (or it) were served in was warm ketchup mmmmmm.

After lunch we went to the market and bought a bunch of strage looking fruits and a pound of the root that morphine is extracted from. ¨you cant feel your body when you chew it¨ Victor told me, strange info coming from a police officer buying strange drug like substances in a foreign country, but who am I to judge. We got back on the boat and headed back to Los Chiles where we ate some of the strange looking fruit (one was like a coconut, but the inside was purple, was the texture of avocado, and tasted like chocolate fruit. Amazing) and KFC.

This morning I got on the bus at 5 am and arrived in Fortuna at 11. So now I am going to sleep until I have to get up and teach tonight in 4 hours. Pura Vida, or as they say in Nicaragua, Pues