By myself. From the boarder of Nicaragua. And yes, I was scared shitless. I wasn’t intending to hitchhike. Solo female traveler, foreign country, language barrier, aggressive men…this was a potential recipe for disaster.
The morning started off in Granada, Nicaragua. I was up at 6am and on the back of Edwardo’s bike headed for the Costa Rican boarder. The cold morning air smacked me back to reality as we sped toward Punta Cana. The past few days had been like a dream. An unbelievable motorbike tour through Nicaragua, amazing new friends, and memories that will last a lifetime. I didn’t want the adventure to end but unlike the others, I had a company to run and needed to get back.
But did I? Lesson #1: If you are trying to work from anywhere, travel with a laptop! Had I brought my laptop and figured out a phone line I could have stayed. STUPID MISTAKE that will not be repeated. Every trip, and I mean EVERY trip, I’m left wishing I could stay longer. I need to realize this going in and make it easier to extend my travel. Instead, I was left rushing back to Costa Rica to make a 3pm conference call.
Two hours later I arrived at the boarder. It. Was. A. Zoo. Complete chaos, no direction, people trying to hustle you everywhere…I was left utterly confused on where to go next. Lesson #2: Always carry a guide book. Duh, right? Well, in this digital age I thought I could get by with the internet on my Blackberry. Wrong. You need a cell tower to get internet and in 3rd world countries those are hard to come by. When entering the country, Eva’s copy of The Lonely Planet had given us explicit directions on where to go, what to expect, what we needed, etc. I so desperately longed for a guide book at that moment. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Exhausting my limited Spanish, I found my way to customs where I waited in line for over an hour only to discover that in order to leave the country I needed to pay a $2 exit fee. A what?!? Yup, you must actually pay money to leave Nicaragua. And here’s the kicker, it must be paid in US dollars…not 40 Cordoba, the equivalent in Nicaraguan currency. Seriously? Lesson #3: Always keep a $20 tucked away. You’ll never know when you may need it. I trudged outside and reluctantly let myself get ripped off by the swarm of money dealers preying on the ignorant tourists (AKA – me). Ugh. It was almost 11am and I was in the back of the line again.
Finally through the boarder, I ran after the dust tracks as the bus took off for Liberia. Is this seriously happening? Maybe I’m being punished for having too much fun??? Up until this point I had remained pretty calm but missing the bus was the last straw. I could feel the heat rising in my body and it took every ounce of effort to push back the tears and collect my thoughts. While slowly exhaling a deep breath I ran through my options. They all sucked. I had no way to reschedule my call, buses would take too long, and taxi’s were a fortune.
At that point I had reached a state of defeat. It was somewhat of a calm realization that brought me to Lesson #4: If shit’s going to happen, it will happen, and there is nothing I can do about it. Fuck it, I decided. I’m hitching. May as well roll the dice and see where it takes me! I bravely marched toward the road and held my thumb up high as I saw a car approaching.
Upon closer inspection I noticed the car was filled with guys and quickly retracted my arm. Ok, I’m a wimp. Guys, I hate to be sexist, but you can be intimidating…especially in groups! I look for the good in everyone but as a female I think we’ve been trained from a young age to not get in cars with strange men. According to my mom, possible consequences include being raped, chopped up into small pieces, fed to the sharks or all of the above. Not pleasant. This whole hitchhiking thing was going to be trickier than anticipated.
The new plan of action was to linger curbside and throw my thumb up at the last minute if I noticed a female passenger or an expensive car…only law abiding citizens drive expensive cars, right? Brilliant. The problem with this plan (and there are many) was that without my glasses it was impossible to identify gender until the car was too close to stop. Nonetheless, I attempted this move for a good 20 minutes before realizing how idiotic I must have seemed.
Finally a light bulb went off which brings me to Lesson #5: Just because a car stops doesn’t mean I have to get in. Yup. Just realized that. Did I mention I’m naturally a blonde? With a new found confidence I held my arm high until a car finally pulled over. My luck had turned. You can’t imagine the relief that ran through my body as two gringo women rolled down the window of their SUV and asked where I was headed. “Wherever you are going! Take me! Please!!!” …well that thought ran through my head a least. Turns out we were headed to virtually the same destination and they happily took me in as their passenger.
I’m continually amazed by the challenges life throws out and how all the pieces miraculously fit together. And while I realize many of these challenges were self imposed, they were challenges nonetheless. I made it back to my place in Flamingo Beach with 15 minutes to spare and that call resulted in a new client. Lesson #6: Things have a way of working themselves out. Keep a positive attitude and they tend to work out for the best.
Adventures in Couchsurfing 