STREET SCENE

 

We spent a lot of time on the road yesterday driving north from the Costa Rican border into Nicaragua. This is the southern town of Rivas. Some general impressions: Nicaragua is notably poorer than CR. The houses are mostly smaller and in rough shape. The cars are older and more beat up, and there are fewer of them. Lots of horse-drawn carts. In more populous areas, there are many autorickshaws, like you see in parts of Asia. Busses and some truck are as festively painted and religiously decorated as in India. Few if any of modern strip centers that are now common in CR. Many fewer supermarkets; our guide said they are too expensive and people prefer to buy from local roadside vendors. Flags are everywhere, with more of Daniel Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front than the national flag.

The day was exhausting and we took yesterday off. More of this to come.             

IT'S NOT EVERY DAY . . .

 

. . . that we watch spider monkeys on a volcanic island in Lake Nicaragua, eating fruit provided by tourists during a boat ride. As I mentioned, this is a big lake (19th largest in the world), with volcanoes in and around it. Some big blow sent huge chunks of black rock through the air, creating a group of islands in the northwest corner. This pair of monkeys were settled here, we were told, for rehab purposes.

Late post today. The tour company picked us up at 4 AM and got us back at 9 PM. Now a slow day.                     

FATHER AND SON

 

Another scene on Playa Langosta. Dad needs to keep a careful watch among the waves and rocks. Looonnnggg day trip up into Nicaragua  today. They are picking us up at our condo at 4:15 AM. Hope we can drag ourselves out in time.                  

SURFER'S PARADISE

 

Back to our old haunts on Playa Langosta. Lots of surfing here and at next-door Playa Tamarindo.The waves are big enough to be interesting but not so much as to be dangerous - with one exception. This was shot just short of high tide. Lots of the beach has sharp, black volcanic rock, mostly submerged at this time. You really need to know where you are going or wait for low tide.               

THE BEST I COULD GET

Stefan asked for pictures of volcanoes, among other things, when we got to Costa Rica. The route into the airport at Liberia, where we always go, comes down the  western shore of Lake Nicaragua, which is pretty darn big. It contains an island with two volcanoes, the larger one called Ometepe, which last erupted in 1983.

I can usually get some good shots when we arrive early to mid afternoon. But, remember how our Friday flight was four hours late? Well, yesterday's flight was four hours late for reasons I won't begin to discuss. It was hazy and the sun was setting as we flew through here. I hope to get much better pictures Tuesday when we take a long day trip into Nicaragua.                      

IT COULD BE WORSE

 

Gate C 12 yesterday afternoon at beautiful Lambert St. Louis International Airport. (No one today knows who Lambert was.) The plan was to fly to American Airlines' biggest hub at Dallas-Ft. Worth, spend the night, and then go on to Costa Rica this morning. However, our flight to DFW was four hours late. As usual, the gate agents know nothing, see nothing and say nothing. Later, a flight attendant who worked the flight into STL said there was an air leak in the back of the cabin that created a terrible noise. It got fixed after a long time.

Lots of people missed connections but no one freaked out. We had a hotel room waiting for us so it was okay.         

WHITE, GOLD AND OUTTA HERE

 

Maybe not the best picture from Art In Bloom, but it's a travel day. Flying today to a giant airline hub and spending the night. Saturday morning down to our home away from home in Costa Rica. I think it's +/- our twenty-third visit to the country over some decades (we obviously like it). Anybody want to see pictures of beautiful Dallas - Ft. Worth International Airport?