Near the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica lies a wonderful little surf town called San Juan del Sur. This happy little tourist town on the pacific coastline seems to have it all figured out. The food is good, the people friendly, and the streets are free from garbage. We even observed locals using garbage cans, which we had not previously seen in Nicaragua. We read in our Central America guide that just a short walk from Playa Maderas, the popular surf beach, there is another, less popular beach named Playa Majagual. We thought we'd check it out. When we arrived, it seemed like we had found paradise. We were two of maybe ten people, we found a beautiful tree to sling our hammock from, and the water was turquoise and warm. I even found a little spot to do some bouldering, something I've been craving since we left Monterey. Two days were spent here basking in the sun, playing in the waves, laying in the hammock, and doing absolutely nothing. Life was bliss, and when we moved on to the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, we didn't have a stressed bone in our bodies. Little did we know what awaited us there.

Now onto the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border crossing...The words disorganized, loco, and "Hey there's a line here!" come to mind when I think about that border crossing. Picture five ticket windows servicing 2000 people all forcing their way to the front in one giant blob of chaos. It was here that we waited for two hours to get our passports stamped. It was here that Genny nearly came to blows with an old woman who tried to cut in front of us after we had waited for two hours in the blistering sun. And, it was here that our friend who we met in line and were standing next to almost got pickpocketed when a rather large gentleman caught the theif and held him nearly suspended from his shirt collar until the police arrived. The Costa Rican border post (nearly 1 km away from the Nicaraguan one, and rightly so) took 15 minutes to pass through in an organized line where we were greeted by smiles and the door was politely held for us.

I guess life needs balance. We couldn't have experienced the serenity at San Juan del Sur without the chaos of the Nicaraguan border post. Given the chance, I wouldn't have sacrificed one for the other.