The loading of the luggage cage..

Swano' Preparation for Nica border cross

So most of you might be saying...Good on ya Swano! No reason to plan for a 3rd world border cross with your family..you will figure it out your a world trevelor....

Well, the moment we arrived "close to the border" the chaos began. The budget rental car guy couldn't speak english so he drives up and there are about 20 Costa Ricans with big wads of money in their hands slapping them in our face..With my muey poquito Espaniol I figure out they are trying to sell us money to exchange our colones...to cordovas. Now when you are a seasoned travelor you realize this is just a way for these dudes to make money. They love Americans because we have a ton of bags and usually dollars!!! Extra exchange value for them.

After that mini chaos subsided, Swano figured out we had to go in and get our stamps to leave Costa Rica. At that point we just had to put all out bags in the big metal cage that some dude was pushing and walk to the border...simple!!

Because our cage was filled with over 8 bags, the guys kids, amigo's, boss, boss's wife, their daughter, her boyfriend all decided we required help. So here we are..this gringo family this cage of 8 bags and a small army walking toward the border..simple!

Now we actually get to an area that looks like a border. There are a million dudes running around yelling at you and pulling at you to give them your passports. Do we trust these dark, no english speaking boys? We just lost our passports in Costa Rica so Swano is staring at these guys with the sight of a ghost and then spinning his head around to look for a glimps of someone that can make sense of this....No luck.

Finally Tim sends this little Nica kid that speaks decent English to tell us he is on the other side of the border. Swano gets smart and asks if he can be taked to the "border Wall" to ask a question.

Tim reveals that these guys trying to take your passports can help..they are just looking for a tip. So here we go..the process begins these guys take Swano and the passports and starts the wild chicken dance for getting our passports stamped and approved to cross the border, all the while Hanalei and I have to stand by the cage to be sure our 8 bags dont get clipped...

Let me set the stage...It's about 90' 100% humidity..there are about 300 Nicaraguans and Costa Ricans standing at this border and running around like a circus taking people through their process. Swano's eyes are bulging out in a fish like stare at these guys becasue he has no idea wht they are saying to him.....until we finally get through the line and the guys says...NO entry, your passports require 6 months left on them and you have 3!!!! (Oh yea, our computer bag got stolen in Costa Rica and we had to drive 8 hours, miss a ferry, stay in a grungy hotel and go to the US embassy to get new passports. They only gave us temporary passports because we didnt have time to wait...)

OMG! your kidding, we can't cross? It's been 2 hours and we have no ride anywhere and Tim is on the other side. Uno Momento the guys says..lets go talk to my Boss, after another line of heat and chaos the guy says, ok let them through...we go back in the first line to get the stamp..another hour, all the while Hanalei and I are standing next to the cage watching the bags and flipping coins in the air with some Nica dudes.

Its finally time to go pass the border..Now after this nutty 3 hours of chaos and procedure, I am expecting this massive border passing. Oh no, its a little gate with some chick asking for a $1 for us to pass. We give her our $1 and we walk through. The dude and his whole family grab our bags and walk through too. WHAT!!! I went through all of that for this? 3rd world process...its rediculous.

They drop our stuff at Tim's car and everyone and their amigos stand and wait for a tip!!! This part was so hilarious, I could only watch. Swano was handing out cordovas to all these dudes and only 1 agreed to help..he was so stressed and sweating I just sat and cracked up....

Last Day in Costa Rica!!!

We have had a great time in Costa Rica..But it is time to go!!!!

We are heading out to Nicaragua this morning and our buddy Tim Sullivan (AKA..PBR) is meeting us at the border. Now of course we have no idea how this is going to work. I am only imagining us getting to the Nicaragua border with our bags, kid and surf board and looking around for Tim..

Like a stranded orphan family looking for our new parents in another country! I'm sure it will be fine, but my anxiety is present because this is the part of the trip that Swano said" I'm taking care of", now this is always against my better judgement, not that he can't do it, he's just not as thorough as me..(duh!)

For example..I asked him this morning if he had arranged with the rental car company where we should take it, what time we can drop it off, how we were getting to the border..all the obvious questions and he said, I'll figure it out! Well we leave in an hour and a half...get figuring it out already..

All will be good, I'm confidant of that. It's just so fun to talk about it!!

Costa Rica Month in Review

It is hard to believe we have been in Costa Rica for over 5 weeks now. I can truly say we are living Pura Vida. We have been at the same house in Langosta for most of the time, with a 5 day stay at the J.W. Marriott, Tamarindo for a business event.

Allot has happened in this 5 weeks, let me list them out.

1. Brian pounded his head against the wall for the first 3 weeks because the surf was crappy!!! We also declined renting a car because we were so close to Tamarindo (10 min walk) this was Brians idea so I had no mercy for the first week. 2nd week we finally got a car, the brightest electric blue Toyota I have ever seen, non 4WD. Now for those of you that have ever heard, seen or experienced the roads once you get into Tamarindo, Costa Rica you know what I mean. The pot holes are almost big enough for this little car to fit in and your kidneys are kicking you when you stop. (Yea Brian, way to wait to get a car) I have fallen in love with the wonderful machine though!! So as they say "There is always a silver lining to everything"

2. We made a tough decision to leave our company of 4.5 years and switch to "THE COMPETITOR" now for those of you that have corporate jobs, this may sound like an everyday thing. But let me tell you...when you are an entrepreneur in the home business industry...its like war!! So we avoided bullets and daggers for a few days and snuck in to the new companies "Destiny Event" to see if they were really legit.

Wow! Can I say that when you don't know what your missing...You really don't know. Being part of the Life Path Unlimited "Destiny Event"was powerful and transformational...so we were happy to bite the bullet and leave Liberty League. Nothing like being in your 8th month of a world tour and have to start a new business...but hell if you guys know what we went through with Real Estate last year...this is a cake walk and all is good. Real Good.

3. Swan finally got some good surf at Avellana's, (Lil Hawaii) right in front of our hotel and we met up with some of the most powerful and amazing people at the event.

4. Hanalei is a jungle girl!! She is loving it here, and our Nanny Eugenia has been a god send. She comes every morning at 10am and stays until about 2 or 3 when Hanalei takes a nap. Allows us to get our jogging in, surfing and business. We have truly been blessed everywhere we have been with amazing people that love our family. We will miss her when we go to Nicaragua next week.