There is a sort of property gold rush going on here and the Pacific coast in all the CA countries is being ruined by holiday home developments. Every town is full of real estate agencies advertising new developments as the destruction moves back from the beach and up into the hills. The best hotels are full of Americans talking property prices. Give them a few more years and they will have made this bit of the world into a carbon copy of all the other resorts.
Our principles don't stop us creeping in and using the pool at the 5 star hotelIt is really difficult finding a room over the holiday period. In San Juan del Sul we were glad to get a room even if it had a blocked sink and the overpowering smell of sewage.
Eveywhere in Costa Rica was full for New Years Eve but we eventually found a lodge with rooms miles from anywhere and with no public transport. On top of this the Nicaraguan, Costa Rica border is notoriously slow and chaotic - 2 hours being the norm and 8 at holiday times
In the end our luck really paid off
Deciding to cross on New Years Eve was a good move, I guess everyone was already where they wanted to be and we got across in 40 minutes.
We met an American who gave us a lift to the the turn off from the Pan American Highway. A truck took us to the last village on the paved road. It was tiny, no taxis and the no public phone. Marilyn´s mobile doesnt work here but a Swiss guy happened to stop and used his to call the Lodge and persuade them to send a 4X4 to pick us up. We had come about 50 miles from the border in less than 2 hours
New Years Eve SunsetThe Lodge was lovely, lots of wild life, zip wires, canopy walks, hot springs and mud baths but the best was a very fast, 500m water slide built into a mountain and running through the forest.
The lodge catered for mainly friendly American tour groups and one group of miserable Engish buggers.
Met a really nice American couple who had a hire car and gave us a lift out of the National Park to the nearest big town
We are now in Tilaran in the middle of amzingly high winds that are ripping roofs off and uprooting trees. Still when the elecrtricity is working you can get expresso
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