The boy was still quite weak from whatever stomach bug he caught before arriving in Nicaragua. We needed him to save energy for the grand finale of the trip: a night tour to Volcan Masaya and the smoking Santiago crater.
Since walking around town was out of the question, we decided to spend part of the day at [...]
Archive for March, 2009
On the road: part three
Posted in Nicaragua, travel, tagged artesan market, Granada, Laguna de Apoyo, national park, Nicaragua, scam, Volcan Masaya on March 26, 2009 | 3 Comments »
On the road: part two
Posted in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, kids, travel, tagged Costa Rica, Granada, Hotel con Corozon, Nicaragua, wind turbines on March 21, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Nicaragua and Costa Rica are starkly contrasting countries, as much for their respective landscapes as for their inhabitants, history and culture.
While Costa Rica is a well-developed paradise for sun-seekers, it is mostly bland in local colour. Nicaragua, meantime, offers a less developed tourist infrastructure but is teeming with native culture and unexplored adventure opportunities.
Despite its [...]
On the road again
Posted in Costa Rica, travel, tagged Costa Rica, driving, fees, Granada, Liberia, Penas Blancas border crossing on March 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Three days. Hundreds of kilometres. Two border crossings. Two minor swindles. Two incredible cities. Two sick kids. One gem of a hotel. One incredible smoldering volcano. Swimming in one spectacular crater lake and one positive close encounter with Nicaraguan policia.
Phew. That was fun, I think.
In truth, our trip to Granada was amazing despite a few bumps [...]
Going to Granada
Posted in Costa Rica, tagged border crossing, Costa Rica, Granada, Masaya, Nicaragua, visa run on March 13, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Every three months since we arrived in Costa Rica we’ve made the obligatory three-month “visa run,” leaving the country for the requisite 72 hours and buying ourselves another 90-day tourist extension.
Outside of obtaining resident status, a complicated and usually expensive process, this is the only way to legally live in this Central American country.
This is [...]
To school or not to school
Posted in Costa Rica, family, kids on March 7, 2009 | 5 Comments »
We put our kids in a local school almost a month ago.
The almost six-year-old is in prepa, the equivalent of kindergarten, while the almost four-year-old is in preschool.
It’s their second time attending school since we came to Costa Rica last August. Their first was a private international school of some repute just outside the city of Heredia, where [...]
Bye, bye beach house
Posted in Costa Rica, tagged beach, beauty, car jacking, corruption, Costa Rica, Pacific, Punta Leona, Pura Vida Waterfalls on March 2, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Our month of having a beach retreat for weekend escapes has come to a bittwersweet end; like all things in life pleasure never comes without pain.
Let me explain.
We set out earlier than usual on Friday on account of the kids having a day off school. The drive to the Pacific coast from our mountain town is [...]
