Border Run to renew the Visa

It took us about 2.5-3 hours at the border. There were hardly any lines going into Nicaragua, but the lines coming into Costa Rica were huge. Talking with the people who work the little booths, they say the best times to cross into Costa Rica are extremely early, so we planned to return to Costa Rica  at 7am. When we hit the border, we had about 25% of the necessary documentation completed. Luckily all of the work was stuff we could do locally and we didn't waste a complete day.

When we came to the initial border crossing, we had our titulo de propriedad, permiso para salir con carro, Marchamo (car registration we just paid) and another exit fee receipt paid to a bank in San Jose. Each of these documents was important in our preparation to leave the country. If we didn't have any of these, we would have had to return to Liberia (about 1 hour from the border) to get the documentation. So we drove past the building where there was a line of people waiting to enter Nicaragua, but no-one was stopping us or telling us what to do. We came to the "border" and the guard asked us to go back and make a copy, in very poor spanish which was almost impossible to understand. So we went back to Costa Rica, through a huge "fumigator" that vehicles coming from Nicaragua pass through to ensure no bugs from Nicaragua get into CR. After asking about 10 different sets of people, I found a little shop that made a copy of the permission to bring the car out of the country. Mission accomplished, We headed back to the border guard. He looked at our documentation for the vehicle, gave us the thumbs up and sent us across the border. About 100 yards later another guard stops us and asks us to see our passports. He asks us where our stamps were since we were departing from CR, we told him we didn't have any, so he turned us around again. We drove back into CR, through the fumigator and parked in the same spot, but this time the owner of the house where we parked comes out and tells us to park there, he will watch our car. I was told to be leary of the people around the border, so I had walked off, but Angie and Alena were somehow roped into staying and talking with the guy. We came to find out that what he was really offering was long term parking if you want to leave your vehicle at the border ($4/day). In the future, it actually might really be a good option. So we parked at the house and went back to the official building and waited in line. 15 minutes later, we were at the front of the line and the women tells me that I need to have a form to fill out for each traveler, basically the same form you get on the airplane as you travel internationally. So we get the forms and start filling them out for the 7 of us. Luckily there was only a few traveling to Nicaragua at the same time as us, so we only waited a few more minutes and got the departure stamps on all of our passports and paid the departure fee (around $25 a person). As we returned to the car, I got more information for the future in case we want to park long term.

We headed back to the border, by now the first guard just waves us through and we make it back to the second guard. We spend another 10 minutes as he checks all of our passports and I engage in small talk about the people who work the border and ask where most of them live (Liberia, about 1 hr
from the border). He stamps his approval and we are into Nicaragua, but first we have to stop at their fumigation station. It is 2 guys who are holding high pressure wands and start spraying the car with some foul smelling mixture. We have to scramble to get the windows up in time to avoid having been sprayed ourselves. They then proceed to have us stop at the "building" (looked like a snow cone trailer in the states) to pay for the fumigation ($3.50). After waiting in that line for 20 minutes, they have more pressing demands (truckers and commercial guys), they send us onto the Nicaragua side. I need to explain the border area a little. It looks like both Costa Rica and Nicaragua don't want to claim the area. It is a dirt expanse where all the travelers traverse on foot or car and neither country has invested to make the area anything other than a fenced in dirt parking lot (about 1/4 of a mile long).

We had completed all of the necessary steps to exit Costa Rica, we were officially nomads, being in limbo is somewhat of a surreal experience. You realize that you have exited CR and if you don't make it into Nicaragua, you have nowhere to go. As we drove up to the Nicaragua side, a guy comes running up to us. I have heard the horror stories of others, so I just shake my finger at him and keep driving, but there are 2 commercial trucks blocking the way. The kid (about 25) comes running up with forms that we are going to need to fill out and so I bite and ask him to help us through the process. Probably the best decision I made all day. I ended up paying him $40 and giving him another $60 for bribes to expedite the process, but he took me through the steps to enter Nicaragua, and without him, We would have spent much more time figuring out the process. His name is Javier and
he told me he can help us in the future if we need him.

Step 1, finding the correct location to go through the next immigration process (he guided right into our parking spot)

Step 2 filling out the correct forms. He brought us the forms we needed to fill out individually and 1 for customs

Step 3 going through the lines. Nicaragua is so funny about how to do this. If you are traveling on foot, there are 2 lines you will need to enter the country. Line one is for some random tariff to get into the country $1 per person. Line two is the actual migration tax ($12 per person). If you are on foot, then I assume you are done, but we had the car, so there are many more steps

Step 4 Getting the car ready to be legal in Nicaragua. This has many sub steps, so here we go:

1. Have the cars documents reviewed, making sure you have Marchamo, permission to leave the country and the drivers licenses and passports of those who will drive the vehicle(20 minute line)
2. Have the inspector validate the vehicle matches the car's documents. This was a really funny experience because you just follow around a guy and there is no line. You are at his mercy, thus the first need for a bribe, so he will bump your priority. Even with the $20 bribe it takes about 4 car inspections and 20 minutes to get through this step.
3. Pay for insurance to drive in Nicaragua ($12 for liability and $5 for vehicle theft, but not exactly sure that means replacement insurance, but more like reporting fees to the police if something happens) This is 2 separate lines in the same building. Because there were fairly few vehicles, this only took about 10 minutes.
4. Back to another inspection by another guy, a big group of us following around another inspector, $20 bribe and 10 minutes later we were done with him. I watched him have another vehicle take out all of their luggage and open it up to validate there wasn't stuff in them (something that the bribe spared us from hassling with).
5.  Last step before heading to the exit check was to have the vehicle inspected by the Police. They are looking for drugs and they literally did thorough searches of other vehicles, but with the help of Javier and Ben Franklin, he just walked over to our car, stamped the sheet and we were done.(10 minutes waiting following him around with other flock of travelers).

Step 5 Exit check. They look at your passport for the correct stamps. They look at your permission to drive for the correct stamps and signatures from step 4 and boom they open the gate and you are out of there.

It was a fascinating experience that I will always remember.