March 14, 2008

Border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua and Morgan’s Rock

Dear Dad,

My last letter ended with the six of us, Jimmy and Lisa, Flip and Soo, and David and me on our way to the Costa Rican border in the north.

Although we were six adults and lots of bags, we all fit comfortably in David’s Nissan Patrol.  The bags were all packed tightly in the very back of the car and Jimmy had a pull down seat to sit in.  He assured us that if he could get to his bag and his stuff, he was comfortable.  He also has his own air vent blowing cool air. 

Flip, Soo and Lisa were in the back seat and David and I were in the front.  The car was full, but we were all comfortable. David’s car has full extras with leather seats. I had a bottle of water cooling in the tiny cold box. 

Our voyage took us out of the city of Liberia in the northern province of Guanacaste traveling on the Pan American Highway and heading north.  The highway cuts through Santa Rosa National Park.  Alongside the busy highway we passed more of the beautiful Roble Trees in full bloom covered with pale pink flowers. Because there were no flower petals on the ground we knew we all were experiencing one of the many amazing sights we see in Costa Rica – the once a year spectacular show of all the trees that bloom in the dry season.

The trees are shorter in this area and most have been bent because of the strong north winds that blow from November through May. The other plants are very scrubby looking, with thick leaves.  To our right we saw more mountains in the distance.  One volcano, dormant, looks a lot like Mt. Tamalpias

When David and I crossed the border for the first time in 1973, the roads were red because of the material used to pave them, which made our first look at Costa Rica even more impressive.  ¨Follow the red paved road ¨we sang. Now the roads are black except on the surface of the old bridges..

The ride to the border took about an hour.  As soon as we got close we passed about 100 semi-trucks that were parked on the side of the road waiting inspection so they could continue north.

David was looking for a parking spot near a building that had a line of about 20 people

waiting to have their passports stamped in Costa Rica so they could cross the border.  There were also two busses, one public and one private. The road was narrow with just enough room for one car at a time to pass through because of all the trucks parked alongside the road.

I guess this is a good time to tell you that I mistakenly let David handle the documents and was given  ¨one of those looks¨ when I asked him if all the documents and permissions were in order before we left on our trip. He let the office staff do the work and should have double checked but didn’t.   

After traveling to and from Miami just a few weeks earlier, David and I were surprised at the chaos at the border.  Money changers, beggars and the scammers trying to ¨help¨ get you through the mess of immigration and customs for a little cash.

Thinking all was in order, the six of us waited in line to have our passports stamped.  We were given forms to fill out. What a shock it was to discover that our Costa Rican passports had to have a visa to get into Nicaragua and the US passports (the ones David and I left at home) did not.  The Americans only had to pay $7.00 and their passports were stamped.

This is when speaking good Spanish helps, not to get what you want, but to understand why you won’t get what you want.  David and I needed a visa to get through.  Not only that, the car is in a company name and although we had permission to take the car out of the country, we needed to have power of attorney to show that I – as the owner of the company – give permission for the car to pass through.

Our friends looked at us with disbelief and the mess we were now in.  There was no time to drive back an hour to the Consul in Liberia and get the necessary visa, they would have been closed by then so we did the next best thing.  What?  ¨Who do we pay and how much?¨

(We had all prepaid for two nights at Morgan’s Rock – all inclusive -and even with our discount it was $199 per person.  If you multiply that by 6 people it is a lot of money to lose.)

David drove on and was directed to a parking area in front of a building where he went with the papers to clear immigration..

A man with a white shirt came to the rescue and ¨had the map¨ of what we needed to do and who to see to get it done. First we worked on the car papers.  David and I were directed to a lawyer’s office back down the road.  It was about a 10 minute walk dodging on coming traffic. 

After a phone call to our office (both David and had our cell phones – thank God) who then called our lawyer who then sent a notorized power of attorney by fax to the office where we waited.  After a payment of $30.00 to the lawyer, he covered the fax with timbres or stamps (they look like postage stamps and all legal documents have them – it is a way for the government to collect money without handling cash that seems to disappear)  and notorized it too.

Now we had the necessary car papers to show at the border.  Because it was a faxed copy we paid another $40.00 to someone our helper took the papers to inside a building for the stamp we needed. At least we bypassed the long lines of people.

All during this David had an attack of sever diarrhea. If you have ever been to a border crossing, you know that it is not the place to have to look for a clean restroom

One of the money changers took don David to a locker area for truckers.  There he found clean bathrooms, was given a handful of toilet paper and returned a few minutes later to continue with the document; or lack of  - dilemma.

Where did David eat something that gave him Montezuma’s revenge? Since he had it all morning and was the only person who ate the gallo pinto at breakfast, we all thought that maybe the beans were sour.

The supervisor on duty was unbendable and even when I explained that our friends had traveled all the way from New York to go to Nicaragua she let us know that it didn’t matter – no visa, no crossing the border L

We called the office once again to get copies of our American passports.  I remembered that the travel agency we use has a copy of mine, and I thought a copy of David’s, but no

Bryan brought our passports to our office and they were copied and faxed to the border.

The copies were terrible; but I pointed out that our signatures were the same on both the Costa Rica and American passport. 

Flip was feeling bad too and all he wanted to do was get to the hotel and rest.  Soo had vapors coming out her ears and Jimmy and Lisa too were growing impatient. ( I could tell that Soo was just concerned about Flip especially since he had a full set of tests before leaving Florida and the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong.)

Soo wanted to call Morgan’s Rock and get a car to pick up part of the group, the smart ones that had the correct passports, but the price was about $250.

Our helper, a guy named Eric, convinced us to wait until after 4:00pm when ¨the woman¨ would be getting off work and assured us that with a ¨donation¨ we could get our passports stamped when the person who took her place arrived.  This is just what we did.

David changed $100 with the man who took him to the trucker rest area numerous times to use the bathroom. ¨He is a nice guy¨  David said, ¨he really helped me¨ and David wanted to do something nice for the man who helped David by finding the clean truckers’ bathroom..  What we didn’t know until later, that when changing the money,  instead of giving David 1800 cordobas for the $100 he only got 1080. 

David continued to make numerous trips to the bathroom.

It was hot and after spending more than 2 hours to get through Costa Rica immigration, we were now at the mercy of the Nicaraguan government and a whole new set of ¨helpers¨

Between the borders we paid another man $5.00 to have the car sprayed with some toxic chemical.  Even with the windows rolled us we could smell the horrible smell of what ever had been sprayed. Brain cells popped.

I brought along two bags of lollipops because the last time I crossed the border there were a lot of little kids.  We didn’t see any this time. I also had almonds and some tiny chocolate Easter chocolates that were getting soft.  I passed them out to our friends. I tried to be funny and patient, but after a while no-one was buying it.  At least nobody expressed their true feeling about the situation.

Once at the border in Nicaragua, we parked the car again and gave our papers to another  man who assured us that he was the only person who could get us through. He read the stack of papers, looked at all the passports and thought for a few minutes and finally

suggested we make up a story about our trip. This is what he said.  ¨Tell the comandante- the second in command, that you are taking prospective buyers of property to Granada ( a colonial city in Nicaragua) and will be gone only two nights.¨ Sounded reasonable and David went into the office and told his story. The comandante listened and then David was directed upstairs to talk to the  ¨main man¨ or the Coronel who I am sure has heard and seen it all.  David told us later that the Coronel asked if he gave permission to cross the border did he have David’s word that we were not going to fly back to Costa Rica but drive back.  David assured him that he wasn’t going to leave his precious car in Nicaragua.  ¨If you do fly, we are all going to be in big trouble.¨, were the Coronel’s last warning words.

By this time everyone wanted to go home and pretend they didn’t know the two people who should have known what was needed to drive to Morgan’s Rock. Of course they were right.  By this time the six of us were all talking very politely and we all new that if we didn’t get through soon and to the hotel ASAP, blood might be spilled in an attack of frustration.

Finally after 5 hours of frustration and a lot of talking and paying – no ¨making another donation¨ of $50.00 we were through the border.

As soon as we were a few miles from the border we could see the two big volcanoes in the center of Lake Nicaragua.  Flip told us that the lake was once full of fresh water sharks, but with no restrictions on fishing, a lot of species are gone.

We passed through a cloud of insects that covered the windshield of David’s car.  It happened in a few seconds and even using the windshield washer it was difficult to wash them away.  Right behind the bugs were swallows flying like kamikaze pilots diving swiftly to get a mouthful of the tiny insects eating to their hearts content.

It was getting dark when David made the turn off to the west coast and Morgan’s Rock. With a car full of frustrated navigators, it was amazing we found the place at all.  David made numerous turns trying to find the correct dirt road to the entrance.  ¨Look for blue rocks with the letters MR on them¨ were the instructions we had.  This is not easy in the dark, but after a frustrating few miles, Flip spotted the first rock.

The only thing that was going to cheer up this crowd was an ice cold drink, preferably more alcohol in it than anything else and a great dinner.

David pulled up to the gates and a guard asked for our names.  He didn’t find them.  Soo finally had enough and got out of the car wanting to do battle.  All the rest of us were on edge.  Reinforcements finally arrived and the reservations were found under company names on the guard’s list and the gates magically opened.

Finally, finally David drove through the gates of Morgan’s Rock.  The manager, a nice man greeted us and  told us to leave our bags that they would be taken to our rooms and the car would be parked then directed us to the bar / restaurant area.  He wanted to give us an orientation of the area so we would know where everything is and I thought that if I didn’t speak up and let him know of our ordeal all afternoon and all we wanted was alcohol and food he might be in danger of getting killed.

We sat at a table and waited until our drinks arrived.  Flip was barely hanging on, his fever had returned.  The bartender was slow and we were impatient, soon, but not soon enough, the drinks arrived.  David ordered a martini with no vermouth and was served warm gin – he sent it back.  Cocktails were swallowed in one gulp by the rest of us and we ordered another round.

A nice waitress came and took our orders for dinner. She asked each of us our names and repeated them.  She was to be our waitress during our stay. We began to feel human again and relax and take in our surroundings.

 The bar restaurant area was huge and covered in thatch.  The thatch is applied differently in Nicaragua than it is in Costa Rica.  Where we cut long palm boughs through the center lengthwise and lay it on cross beams, first going in one direction and then the other, building from the bottom to the top going around and around the building; the palm used in Nicaragua is much shorter in length (about 2 feet in total length) and wider and is placed one by one, side by side and row by row.  It makes it easier to replace a bad section of palm because you only slip out the bad part and insert a new palm. The palm was used to cover the tile roofs and not only makes it more attractive to look at it actually helps keep the inside of buildings cooler.

We could hear the roar of the ocean in the distance.  The restaurant area over looks an infinity swimming pool located on a terrace below. We sat at the table and had a delicious dinner.  The menu was limited, but someone in the kitchen knows their stuff and the plates were attractive and the food delicious.

After dessert it was time to go and find our cabins or villas. Morgan’s Rock is built on the curve of a cliff with the villas scattered in a semi circle along the mountainside. We needed our space to forget the ordeal of the afternoon.  Before we left the dining area, we signed up for early delivery of coffee.  No food is allowed in the rooms.  Morgan’s Rock is located in the Dry Tropical Forest and is troubled with ants.

All the hotel guests left at the same time and walked single file heading towards our villas.  A suspension bridge more than 100 meters long and about 1 ½ meters wide gapped the valley to give access to the villas dotted along the side of the mountain.  We climbed lots of steps and after a good 10 minute hike, we were at the door to our villa.

The architecture is amazing.  Each villa faces the ocean and has a sitting area with a double bed hanging by rope that swings.  Our room had a king sized bed that faced the ocean.  The bathroom was spacious too. All the pipes are made out of copper and have been curved up and around posts and this made the room very attractive. The front door and the door to the small patio where the hanging bed was located are wide and have door catches made out of wood.  Everything is varnished hardwood, even the floors. Most of the walls were half walls and the upper part was screened in.  Shoes are to be left at the entrance and we could see this was a good idea because the trails were made of soft dusty dirt.

Morgan’s Rock is only 4 years old.  It has not been discovered yet.  The upkeep and maintenance has to be incredible. The king-sized bed was comfortable and with only a fan the room was a perfect temperature.  It was nice to take a shower and stretch out on the bed and relax after an amazing day.  We had wanted to get to the hotel at about 1:00pm on our first day to enjoy lunch and the facilities that we had paid for; but it just didn’t work out that way.  Oh well.

The roar of the ocean below was even louder once in our room.  It sounded like 20 ft waves were crashing against the shore. We didn’t know haw far away the ocean was until dawn the following day. It was difficult to get to sleep and once during the night it sounded like even bigger waves crashing.

In the morning coffee was waiting in a thermos in a cubby hole in the door.  It was strong and delicious but not at good as the coffee in Costa Rica.  David and I sat at a small table near the swinging bed/chair and I read aloud the information about Morgan’s Rock from a hotel information book left in the room.  We both wanted to learn more about the owners and the designer. Was this hotel really named after the infamous pirate who terrorized the Caribbean coast?.  I copied down the information knowing that you would be curious too.

Did you know that the Panama Canal was originally going to be built in Nicaragua?  Supporters argued that building a water route through a country that offered an optimal canal terrain composed of abundant bodies of water and flatter lands, was a great alternative.

In the 1900’s, plans were even drawn for building a canal that would cross from Rio San Juan (Atlantic side) into Lake Nicaragua and cut across the strip of land between San Juan del Sur and Rivas (Pacific side) the latter being the area where Morgan’s Rock Hacienda and Eco Lodge is located today. The plans were actually completed and approved by the American Senate.  However, the canal never became a reality due to political and economic interests that favored a route through Panama.

An Alabama Senator by the name John Tyler Morgan (1824 – 1907) often referred to as the ¨champion¨ of the Nicaraguan route, believed that building a canal in Nicaragua would create a more efficient transportation route than in Panama.  Larger business interests tipped the scale towards the Panama route.  Despite Senator Morgan’s tireless efforts supporting a Nicaraguan waterway, fierce lobbyists defending the Panama Canal won this controversial debate.

To commemorate ¨the canal that never was ¨Morgan’s Rock Hacienda and Ecolodge was named after Senator Morgan.  Nicaragua would have had a completely different history if the canal that never was would have been.

Side note:  Some may think that the name Morgan’s Rock refers to the infamous Caribbean pirate, Captain Morgan.  While the lodge is not named after him it is interesting to note that Captain Morgan actually sailed up Rio San Juan in 1665 and occupied the colonial city Granada, located only 1 ½ hours away from the hacienda.

The property of the hacienda is vast.  We learned that they raise everything that is served in the dining room including the beef, chickens and lambs.  They have a dairy and make their own cheese too.  Also the owners are doing a big reforestation of hardwoods native to the Tropical Dry Forest, plus plant more trees to be used for construction now and in the future.  There is a thin line in there someplace.

We could see big trees that have been used in construction. We were told that some of the trees are Eucalyptus; but they looked like Cocobola trees to David. .

We all had a good night’s sleep and met at breakfast the following morning. Breakfast was delicious and everything fresh. We had seen lots of fruit stands during our drive with the fresh harvest of the basketball shaped fruit.  We ordered it for breakfast and the watermelon juice was sweet and refreshing.   We met some of the other guests sitting at nearby tables.

Flip and Soo have been to Morgan’s rock several times and had commented that the body surfing was wonderful. While sitting at the table we could hear someone laughing and having a good time in the water.  It is all the push needed to go and check out the surf.

Everyone headed for the beach, a climb down the hill.  I sat by the pool until Soo returned for me and cold water, Bloody Marys and Margaritas  Soo told me that there was shade and lounge chairs and hammocks at the beach; it wasn’t hot or buggy and the climb easy. That convinced me to leave my lounge chair by the side of the pool and follow her down the hill. She was right.

Soo showed me her bracelet, a gift from Celiece when David traveled to Martha’s Vineyard in October.  Soo never takes it off and after showering several times with the bracelet on, because it is made from seeds, three of them have begun to sprout. Funny.

I watched as our group went body surfing.  What was a big roar in our rooms was not so loud at the shore.  It must be a sort of eco due to the curve of the mountain. The hacienda had paddle boards and towels for each guest. 

I had to try it and walked down the beach and into the surf.  It was amazing the strength the water had.  The waves we rode were made of foam caused by the crashing of the big waves, but strong enough to lift us and carry us towards the shore really fast.  It was impossible not to shout out loud with glee with a big grin on your face.  It was the best of the best of body surfing, every wave perfect - even for me.

Soon a young couple joined in the fun.  They told us later that when they saw us heading for the water, a group twice their age, they had to try it for themselves. We were a group of Abs – the young couple - and Abs not – our group (abs being abdominal muscles) I think the roar of the water is so loud that it frightens most people until they try body surfing personally.

We did this until all of us were exhausted and it was time to go and have lunch. The meal was wonderful.  Flip was still feeling poorly and he and Soo left to take a nap.  David, Jimmy, Lisa and I headed for the beach again.

That night at dinner we had the waiters put the tables together to make one long table that all of the hotel guests could sit at. It was time to properly introduce ourselves and find out where everyone was from and how they got there.

We met the nice young couple from Canada: Justin and Nicole, Justin is a banker who works on profit and loss and is not happy with his job and wants to do something else.  Nicole is in collage studying Environmental Science.

Two women who are life long friends: Geradine is president of Midlife Allience for North America and is finishing a book about mid wives from around the United States and Marta who works for Detroit Public TV.

Also at the hacienda was a couple who didn’t speak a lot of English, only the wife spoke a few words.  The husband is recovering from a stroke and we watched as he did his best to master the stairs and climb up and down to the beach, limping and using a cane.  

Dinner was a lot of fun. Each of us in turn gave a little personal history.

Sleeping was difficult with the sounds and roar of the ocean all night. I got up early the following and went in search of coffee. It was in the cubby hole located in the center of the front door and although I opened it carefully I knocked the bowl of sugar to the ground.  In seconds the area was covered in ants.  I went for water and watered down the front step.  I understand better the rule of no food in the rooms.

We were told to have our bags packed and ready to go by 11:00am and someone would take them to the front desk area. .  David and I had ours ready early and left them on the front step and headed for breakfast. We didn’t want to make the climb up the steep stairs to the room more times than we had to so we packed a day bag instead.

After breakfast I sat with the two women and we watched a meeting of the owner and his employees, about 25 of them.  It was the first visit by the owner, a French man, in four months.  Everyone looked bored and the meeting went on and on. Watching the body language, I think everyone stopped listening after a few minutes.

We had watched the employees doing their jobs since we arrived and they all seem to know and do their jobs and keep busy.

Wanting to leave at noon because David wanted to drive all the way to Puntarenas and get there before dark (about 250kms) we stopped long enough to have a nice cold cucumber soup. It is made with freshly ground cumin and mint, very refreshing.

While paying the bill, we met the owner and he told us that he used to live in Costa Rica and has been on the Calypso Cruise twice.  How about that?

David wanted to use the cordobas ( Nicaraguan money) as tips and this is when he discovered that he had been short changed.

After saying goodbye to our new friends, we left and headed back to the border. The return ride went much faster.  David stopped so we could take a photo of the volcano and a few minutes later, once again we drove through a cloud of bugs, but not as bad as when we drove through at sunset two days earlier. 

Returning to Costa Rica was another bad movie.  The authorities wanted to know how we managed to get permission to enter Nicaragua and David showed the signature of both the Comandante and Coronal and finally we were stamped and headed for the Costa Rican border.

David was asked to pay another $3.00 for the toxic spray to spray our car again; but the money was returned because they were out of the poison.

 J We looked for the money changer who ripped us off (only about $50) but he was no where to be seen.

Once again we passed a long line of parked semi-trucks.  At least there are people to direct the drivers of cars around them so we didn’t have to wait in long lines. I think next time we will fly into Nicaragua.  The stress of crossing the two borders even with all the papers in order is just not worth it.

It was a very long ride to Puntarenas.  As soon as I could I started making calls to the office and the Captain.  We had been expecting the new engineer to start that Monday but his old boss in Panama wanted him back.  We had paid for some legal documents needed and the old boss promised to return the money.  I knew this before we left but didn’t want David to stress out about it and let the Captain handle the situation of getting the money and finding a new engineer (remember we fired the old one because he made too many expensive mistakes by not doing his job as told)

It was almost sunset when David finally pulled off the road into Puntarenas. We had been in the car too long.  I could no longer keep quite about the noise of Soo’s gum chewing and made her spit it out.  She was equally annoyed with my numerous phone calls.  I  knew we needed the sanctuary and peace of Punta Coral and time to relax ASAP before tempers flared.  We had no food but I knew that I had an emergency package of spaghetti and sauce saved at Punta Coral for just an occasion.

We called Bill and Ana and asked them to shop for groceries.  They were due to arrive the following day. I had asked the Captain to drop off fresh fruit, beer, wine and ice that morning.  I really didn’t want to wait for the 8:30 pm ferry, more than a 2 hour wait, and  then have to ride with a hundred strangers, babies crying and noise from the TV, etc. etc especially with the border nightmare we had experienced twice.

 I had our captain call Luis and ask if he would taxi us to Punta Coral in his panga/dingy.  He wanted $80 but I offered him $50 and he said yes.  Off we went.

You are probably wondering why we didn’t have the Amapola to take us across.  The starter motor was being fixed and our choice was the ferry or water taxi.

The ride across the Gulf of Nicoya was smooth.  We saw all kinds of fishing boats and Luis had his mate watch out for nets that seemed to be everywhere.  The plankton in the water lit is up like underwater lights.  Needle fish jumped out of the way.

I remember years ago when Mario picked us up at the ferry and told us that the Needle Fish were mating and insisted we place our hands around our necks during the 20 minute ride to Punta Coral.  Why?  Needle fish have long pointed mouths and if you are unlucky enough to get hit in the neck by one of them when they are jumping all around you, it could be deadly. 

We had a man on a tour take a kayak out and he went around the corner only to return a few minutes later with his upper arm bleeding and a Needle Fish dangling from his arm.

We knew Mario was correct to warn us.  When he finally pulled up to the dock, there were 7 of the fish inside the boat.

I wanted to kiss the ground as soon as I set foot on Punta Coral.  I was so glad to be there. 

We would have still been waiting for the ferry to leave port if we didn’t pay Luis to take us.

All the beds in the casona or big house had been made up; but when I took Flip and Soo to the casita or little house the bed was not made.  I keep sheets for the bed in the Armoire but they were missing.  I have no idea what happened to them and didn’t want to ruin my good mood of being at my favorite place on the planet. Besides I had another set of king-sized sheets in the casona.  Whew.

While at the border, everyone bought their favorite beverage and soon we had cold cocktails and the six of us were sitting on the beach in lounge chairs under the stars.

Poor Flip was still battling a high fever that came and went with cold sweats too. He is a real trooper and managed to stay up for a little spaghetti dinner and finally went to the little house to sleep.

Bill and Ana took the 3:00pm ferry and David picked them up in the Amapola.  The repaired starter motor arrived that morning when Manta Raya passed by and Little Mario installed it. Bill and Ana had arrived with the needed groceries just in time.  

Misael had surprised us by removing the collection of drift wood that had been piling up and stored at the bottom of the mountain near the kayak rack. I don’t even remember seeing the area clean of the drift wood and logs before and knew that it must have been a big job to throw it all into the water, corral it with a long net and tow it all by panga/dingy out beyond the point so that the ocean would take it away. 

Punta Coral worked her magic on the six of us and the next few days were spent relaxing in hammocks and reading or hiking and swimming.  Lisa baked a batch of her delicious scones.

We swam in the crystal clear water during the day and sat under the stars at night.

Butterflies of all colors entertained us.  We watched the little wrens building their nests in two of the palm trees on the emerald green colored front lawn. (they always build two nests, one false and the other real, for protection)

Flock and flocks of Pelicans flew overhead.  It was wonderful to see them return to the area after almost 100% had been killed the summer before. Small fishing boats put-putted by with the Magnificent Frigates hovering overhead looking for something to eat. Even the submarine ducks (cormorants) dove for fish in the water along the front of the property keeping us entertained. The Kingfisher was at the top in his favorite tree acting as a lookout and a young Green Heron walked the beach.  Little Sandpipers looking like they have head phones on, moved their tail feathers up and down to a tune only they can hear, walked carefully in the rocky shore looking for insects. The temperature was wonderful, not too hot. There were no biting bugs The gentle waves that hit the shore soothed us to sleep each night.  A night blooming flower scented the air. Everything was perfect.

All too soon it was time to leave and return to San Jose.  Flip and Soo, Jimmy and Lisa were flying out the following day.  We had a wonderful time together, lots of memories and now that we can look back maybe we will find some humor in our adventures at the border.

I hope all is well with you.

I love and miss you.

Besitos,  Cecs