beyond tired until it's funny!

The morning of our departure for Nicaragua began super early as we were warned that it was imperative to catch the last Ferry out of San Carlos at 2pm that day to take us across Lago de Nicaragua for our ultimate destination, Granada. Otherwise we would be stranded for another 3 days in this port town with a very bad reputation for crime and theft. There are only two ways to cross over the border legally and due to our location at the time in La Fortuna Costa Rica, it only made sense to try our luck in moving forward via this more challenging route as opposed to hours of backtracking. So the plan was 2 buses that should technically clock 2 hours 45 minutes then a 45 minute riverboat to get us into San Carlos, Nicaragua where we catch the 2pm Ferry. We figured by catching the 6am bus to start our journey should leave us plenty of time to play with.
Our good intentions of sticking to the schedule was immediately thrown off when we realized all our food for the long day ahead which we carefully prepared the night before was locked in the communal kitchen! That only left us with one option: break in!!!
MIssion accomplished and loaded with fuel for our journey, we just managed to make it on time for the bus which happenedto leave 10 minutes early. The trick about travelling on these local buses is finding the right place for our backpacks so that we can keep our eye on it the whole time. Not any easy task when the bus is full. Our belongings are a major target for theft considering that most travellers carry with them different forms of electronics which can easily be sold on the street.
We catch the second bus which will take us to Los Chiles where we check in with the passport office and buy our ticket for the riverboat to cross the official border. This bus however takes an extra hour for different reasons, one being the couple of spot checks along the way, yet we are still on schedule as far as our calculations go. Next step, get our passports stamped. Now we are beginning to understand first hand the severity of the problem with Nicaraguans trying to cross over to Costa Rica illegaly to find work. Mostly, it is farming jobs that they pick up under the table for a few months which serves both nations: cheap labour for the farmers and food on the table for the worker. It is very sad to witness what is the meaning of survival for these people which is enough to humble any soul. Reality for them is pure poverty and sometimes desperate measures to make ends meet. On this particular day however, what this means for us is chaos at the passport office which is further complicated by the fact that nobody speaks any English to help us figure out what resembles some sort of a form of a line-up for something important?! Just when we were feeling at the point of peak frustration along come our saviour to swoop us into safety with one amazingly powerful and much appreciated tool: language! He spoke perfectly good English and also happened to be the captain of our boat!
So things are looking up for us as we purchase our tickets for the boat with what we think is PLENTY of time to get us over and safely onto the Ferry to Grenada. One thing to know about travelling through Central America is to not count on any mode of transportation being on time or according to schedule because chances are, there is no schedule to begin with. So it was almost comical when we found out that our efforts to be on time are totally in vain because this boat only leaves when it is full!!! That could mean anything at this point and slowly as time passes it becomes more apparent that we were out of luck. After 3 hours of waiting until finally the last broomstick and garbage bag full of stuff was loaded on board, we felt fortunate to even have a seat as our last hope of catching the Ferry completely diminished. There was nothing we can do but it really didn't matter as perspective took over and what seemed like a problem to us actually disintegrated along with any other expectation I may have had about things going 'as planned'. These people were being rejected from another country, denied the opportunity to work; they were being turned around to break the news to their families that once again it was beans and bread for dinner. Our situation, not so bad.
As we arrive in San Carlos, it is confirmed that the Ferry has left.....it is just after 3pm after checking in with customs and we are stuck. There is an undeniable thickness in the air and I am suddenly aware of what it is that I am feeling, as if I am stepping into the boxing ring only to find out that my opponent is Southpaw and I have no game plan! Similar to that nightmare where I am trying to scream and nothing is coming out! We don't know much about this town except we MUST get out and fast before dark sets in. It takes 45 minutes of questioning, calculating, probing and almost pleading to find out we have only 2 options and we have about 2 minutes to make up our minds. 1) Undo all the travelling we had done that day to attempt at an even longer day of travel to the other border tomorrow, or 2) take a 1hr $40 cab ride to the next port town with hope to catch the Ferry at 5:30....it is now just after 4pm so this requires absolute trust that what these strangers are telling us are with good intentions.
We choose option # 2 and and are immediately whisked off into the unknown territory of bad driving on what is a really bad road when suddenly the back hatch flings open to forcefully spit out one of the two backpacks which were so hastily stuffed in amonst all the urgency. In unison, the three of us were screaming, "WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAA" until the cab driver finally realized what happened. We all just had to laugh, and really hard especially as Danny chased down the tumbling mass of what was still to be his belongings for the next month of travel.
We arrived safe after a very wild ride and abrupt introduction to the next country of choice mapped out on our itinery. Final and longest leg of travel: 12 hour Ferry ride across the second largest freshwater sea in the Americas at 177km long and 58km wide. Piece of cake:-)