I have crossed the border from Nicaragua to Costa Rica and feel I have time warped from a third world to a first world country. In Costa Rica there are mucho gringos, rental cars, roller bags, pricey hotels, screened windows, hospitality workers who speak english, and actual bus stations. I have hot water, an indoor shower, AC, ice, cold water, and you can toss the toilet paper down the toilet – convenient, boring stuff. The electricity or water has not stopped working once, a daily occurrence in Nicaragua.

There is less dust, wind, trash, and minimal ants, fewer hot crowded buses, not many horse-pulled carts, less constant Spanish, no dogs under the table at dinner or pigs and cattle in the roadway, nor motorcycles pulling through the restaurant and into the attached casita with no doors, not as many chicken buses, and scant backpackers and hostels – most likely due to the higher cost of travel in Costa Rica. Life is tame.

I am missing the adventure and flavor of Nicaragua.