Exit Costa Rica - Enter Nicaragua
#1 All Roads Lead to Penas Blancas
Bus from Liberia to Penas Blancas ($3, 2 hours). The bus picks up and drops off passengers along the road, so depending on how many stops the bus makes, the ride took just shy of 2 hours.
#2 Exit Costa Rica (30 minutes)
Once off the bus, go to the first official looking building on the left side of the road, which is the Costa Rican departure building. There were only a few travelers at the time, but there were cones that form a queue out the door, which suggest that there could be a long wait here.
Entering the building, go to the first available agent and ask for a form to fill out. Remember to bring your own pen!
Pay the $7 departure tax at the machine in the departure building. Credit cards only. Along Dusty Road suggests that there are other ways to pay if the machine didn't work, but luckily there was a staff on hand to help. The trick seems to be that you have to swipe the passport and the credit card at the right speed (fast-ish) in order for the machine to read them.
Return to the agent with the filled form and exit tax receipt in exchange for a stamp in your passport.
#3 Enter Nicaragua (1 hour)
From here, it was confusing as there are no signs on where to go next. Exit the departure building and continue walking on the road for 5-10 minutes towards Nicaragua. Stay to the right side of the road to go through several passport check-points that checks for your exit stamp. Walk past the soldiers with automatic rifles, walk past the man with the handheld cannon, and walk past the building on the left (though you'll come back to this building later). The Nicaraguan entry and departure building is off to the right. The near side of the building is for departing Nicaragua, so you'll want to go around the other side of the building for entry into Nicaragua.
Pay $1 (USD, colones and cordobas all accepted) to enter the Rivas area. There was a really long wait, but once you get up to the counter, pay another $12 for entry into Nicaragua. This is a good opportunity to change USD for cordobas if you pay with a $20 US bill, then you'll get enough change in cordobas which should be good for the rest of the transport fee for the day.
After you get the entry stamp in the passport, head back towards the building that we walked past initially. There is a small gate just before the building, which is the entrance to Nicaragua.
#4 Catch the Bus to Rivas or Granada
Once out of the border zone, walk 100 meters and the bus to Rivas or Granada will be in a parking lot on the left. The bus to Rivas (20 cordobas or $1, 45 minutes) is an old school bus whereas the bus to Granada is newer that looks more like a tour bus.
From Rivas, I shared a taxi to San Jorge ferry port. Avoid the non-official taxi drivers as they are ready to rip you off. Even if you come to a negotiated price, the taxi drivers will change the price midway in the drive, threatening that if we don't pay more, we would miss the 3:30pm ferry. There was no 3:30pm ferry. After an hour's wait, I caught the 4:30pm ferry. An hour ferry and a 45-minute taxi ride later, I arrived at my hotel on the Santo Domingo beach at 7pm, eight hours after I left Liberia. A long day....
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| Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name derives from the Nahuatl words ome and tepetl, meaning two mountains. It is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua. |
Last tips:
- Have food and water for the long journey
- Have small coins to use the restroom in the border zone
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