Costa Rican Border, Beaches Coco and Hermosa

View Entry's Photo Album

Back to Journal Index

Made the border by around 2pm. Getting out of Nicaragua wasn’t terrible: get the truck inspected to ensure it’s the same vehicle, get the cop to sign off on it, and take all that inside. In that building is the immigration, and customs. Start on the left, work toward the right. Pretty easy.

Since I still had plenty of cordobas left, I ambled over to the duty free shops and stocked up on Flor de Cana rum. But don’t forget the exit fee to get out of the country, it’s around $12. They’ll be waving at you on the left, and you can’t get out of the country without it.

Make your way to Costa Rica. There’s a large building with a cafeteria where the immigration is. No problem. Go to the little room with the photocopier and make copies of all your documents, titles, passports, etc. About $10.

Then go across the street to a little building, which is the first Aduana. These people won’t give you too much trouble.

You’ll think you’re done, but you’re not, so don’t start doing a jig, yet. A few hundred meters down the road, there is another building with a tiny driveway, set off from the road. This is the other Aduana and takes forever. The guy on the right is for you, and if you go inside if he’s busy, you’ll probably get yelled at. I’d suggest going in, anyway, just to make sure that you’re noticed (if there’s not a line).

That took another 20-30 minutes, and then it was go time!

Soon after the border, the differences between this country and the others were immediate. We stopped at a food court, with BK, Papa John’s, Church’s Chicken… Hilarious, really, and it was a very heavy meal compared to what you have been eating.

We decided to first stay in Playa del Coco. Got there around 8 or 9, and finding a cheap place wasn’t the easiest. Checked the place down on the water, it was $10 per person, 3 beds/room, fans, but there were bugs on the beds and it was pretty disgusting.

The other cheap place was full. Finally we went to the Coco Palms (I think) and they wanted about $120 at first, so we sent Monique and to talk to the owner and he cut the price in half. Pretty sweet.

The town in general wasn’t particularly cool. Beach wasn’t that great. No waves. Beach restaurant for breakfast served me huevos rancheros that was more stew than plate. Odd.

We all decided shortly after that it was time to go.

However, it’d be a shame not to jump in the water. So we cruised down the road to Playa Hermosa, which is the north Hermosa, not the one that’s near Joca, and supposedly the surfer-cool spot.

Hermosa was beautiful. Black sand and trees on the beach. I don’t know how a tree can grow on the beach, but there they were. And that makes for a good time for many people that don’t like the oppressive heat and sun of the beach. Definitely a neat place.

The food and drinks were completely over-priced at Hermosa. Beers were 1200, which is 2.40 or so. In the States, that’s a fair deal. In Central America, that’s just crazy, even more expensive than Belize.

We had pizza at some place down the beach called Cosmic Pizza, or Magic Pizza, or Hippie Pizza…. Good and expensive.

After playing in the tame surf, we packed it in around 4, and got to La Fortuna around 9.