This weekend was another three day weekend because of the Costa Rican Mother's Day. I decided to return to Nicaragua again and visit a beach there. I arrived at the Costa Rican side of the border just in time to stand in a long line. Then it was a 1km walk across the border where the line was far shorter. It was a short bus ride to the nearby city of Rivas, which had lots of old colonial buildings. Then it was a taxi ride to town of San Juan del Sur which is a town right on the beach.

The town is in a harbor which has historical significance. Before the Panama Canal was built, the easiest way to cross Central America was to travel down the San Juan River, cross Lake Nicaragua and move your stuff 20 km overland on a tram to San Juan del Sur. Now the town is a tourist town and has a lot of really nice restaurants and places to stay. My hotel was very clean and pretty and only cost 10 dollars. There was a really good pizzeria and a laid back cafe that served an excellent cinnamon french toast. The beach itself was somewhat crowded but had good waves that were fun to play in. I was initially confused because I assumed the time would be the same as Costa Rica because that's how it was the last time I was there. But apparently they have Daylight Saving Time from April to September in Nicaragua for some reason. Considering the sun rises at close to 6 am and sets at close to 6 pm all year round, I don't really get why they use it, but they must have some good reason. Another problem I had was my camera. Unfortunately none of the buttons work any more, and my camera was full and I was unable to delete anymore, so I was only able to take a few pictures in Nicaragua. Next time I have to remember to delete the pictures before I go.

An interesting event in Nicaragua is that the presidential elections are coming up in November. Politics are a big deal there and the newspapers were full of news about the election. The Sandanista party, which is hated by the States because of its Communist origins, is the front runner as of now. The party and the leader, Daniel Ortega, were in power for about 5 or 6 years during the 80's after they overthrew the former dictator, fought against the Contras, and instituted a democracy. Then they lost the subsequent elections. There were a lot of red and black Sandanista flags flying and a bunch of impromptu parades popped up when I was there. A lesser known presidential candidate for a different party actually made a personal appearance in one of the parades. It would be interesting to come back when the election is closer.

On Sunday evening I decided to take a tour to see the turtles. From July to November it is egg-laying season for the turtles and there is a beach about 10 km from San Juan Del Sur where they sometimes gather in the thousands to lay eggs. The group of about 10 of us took an extremely bumpy ride on an open back truck to the beach. We passed through one large Sandanista political rally and a large number of fireflies before arriving at the beach. It's impossible to predict when the thousands of turtles will come and when I went there were only a few turtles but it was still an interesting experience. The turtles are pretty clumsy on land so they need a flat beach with soft diggable sand. They used their flippers to dig the hole, lay 50 or more eggs, then clumsily cover the eggs back up. They didn't seem to mind the people too much, but you had to be very careful with lights or the turtles might get confused and head off to the jungle.

Coming back to Costa Rica on Monday involved a collective taxi to Rivas, a collective taxi to the border, zero waiting time at the Nicaraguan side, two hours of waiting at the Costa Rican side, a bus to Liberia and then finally a bus back to Bagaces. It's probably only about a three hour drive, but with all the waiting at the border and changing of buses it took 6 or 7 hours to get back.