Not sure if we are just lucky or what?
So we left on the 22nd, Caroline finally felt better and up to the task of a day of riding and border crossing. Amazing how strong and fast the sickness was. After a big breakfast for the strong and the recovering, we were once again on the road. Shortly before 1pm, we reached the border. Immediately, we were asked by the police to pay a local tax of $1 each even before entering the border area. We had heard from the French people that they had to pay it too so we did. Our receipts in our hands, we were about to leave but a custom agent close by, while enjoying his lunch, told us we had to stamp a boletito first for each bike. Ok, since it is free, why not... He tols us we would then have to go to customs and the police after clearing immigration. This is when we drove into the “jungle”, tons of people, trucks and buses everywhere. We parked our bikes and started going through the process of exiting Nicaragua, deciding we did not need a helper. This is when two female British motorcycle riders came to say hello: they were doing a similar trip but from South to North and had just exited Costa Rica to enter Nicaragua. Just the exiting process had taken them four hours! We looked at each other and thought we should better keep going. We exchanged a few words of advice with the women, each side giving their tips for the upcoming portion of he others' trip. Now, let's start the work.First, we went to immigration and stood in line with all the other people. After probably twenty minutes, we were checked out of Nicaraguan and paid each our $2 exit fee. We then had to go to the customs; we had to ask a few people before finding the right building. As we waited in line, a few “helpers” were trying to pass us but Chad told them to back off, which they did. We saw them later working their fast magic for the gringos that were paying them. So, good to go for us? Not really, we had to find a police agent to sign our boletito. After asking, it looks like it was any guy that wears a blue shirt and had a badge. We found one and he signed our paper, that was all we needed, and went back to the customs and were cleared to leave Nicaragua. Indeed, we rolled up with our bikes to the gate and let go.
Now, working the Costa Rican side. Right away, we were stopped at the fumigation station: for $3 each, our bikes were now cleaned to enter Costa Rica and for us to start the fun process. We went to immigration and got stamped in right away: no lines, no fee. We were off a good start! A policeman indicated us where the customs were: we inquired there and were told that we needed insurance first, which was only a few meters away. Five minutes later and for $15 each for 3 months of insurance, we walked back to the customs with a copy of our drivers' license, the title, the insurance, the immigation stamp in the passport and the passport. All papers were looked at quickly, stapled together and we got a receipt with a number. We should now go with all this 50 meters further to the right with our bikes and get the importation form. We drove there, again no lines, gave the papers and a few minutes later, had our form. Yes, we were now done with formalities! So it ended up being easy, about two hours total and before leaving, we thought we would enjoy a banana and some water. Amazing but once again, the border crossing process had been easy. Can't imagine doing it without speaking and understanding Spanish though...
Chilling out in Costa Rica before the family comes
It was quite exciting to be in Costa Rica, only two days away from Xmas. The road was good and the landscape beautiful. We could see from a distance, far away from the plain, the multiple volcanoes still active. As we stopped in the first city to get some local currency, we immediately noticed the difference with its neighbor countries: much higher standards of living here, more cars and big ones, more solid and elaborate houses, nicer shops and as we drove, lots of American fast food chains. This must indeed be the tropical backyard of the USA and what a difference with Nicaragua! As we reached Liberia, where we would stay the night, we also realized quickly that the prices were much higher here. It is definitively not a cheap country.Having an extra day to enjoy before having to be in Alajuela, we stayed a day at the beach. We had a great time, just lazing around in the sun and having fun in the Pacific Ocean, even if Chad got stung by a jelly fish. We both read our books in the shade and enjoyed a nice lunch on the beach. As we were ready to drive back to Liberia (we had only taken one bike), Chad noticed he forgot his drivers' license. Caroline had to drive back to avoid any trouble with the police: it was quite entertaining to see mini her and tall Chad on the back. We got quite a few surprised looks on the way and made it safely back to the hotel.
We woke up this morning both excited that we were going to see the family to
night. The drive to Alajuela took much longer than expected given the amount of traffic we had to cope with and also the fact that once again, Chad got pulled over by the cops for passing on a solid yellow line. Not much we could do about it as he was in fault but somehow, the Xmas spirit was with the policemen today as they let him go without a ticket. As we thanked them for the nice present they just gave us, they said we should be careful as the next cops we may encounter will probably not be Santa Claus as well. Glad we wet these guys, our first Santa Claus under cover as a oliceman! After a long and tiring day on the road, we are now in our B&B, waiting and excited to see the Becks' soon and celebrate Xmas together. 
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