Nicaragua: Part 1; Crossing the Border

We heard all the rumors and many many different stories about crossing this boarder so we were prepared for anything! And really it wasn't that bad, just long. After researching a lot of different options we decided the easiest way to get the 8 of us (we travelled with another family of 3) to our destination was to hire a drive.
So first, we drove to and parked our cars to the airport in Liberia (about a 2 hour drive), then we moved all our stuff into a van. We headed to the border (about an 1 hr and a half drive) and as we got closer we saw mucho, mucho, semis parked on the one lane Pan American highway. This made getting to the actual boarder very exciting as we used the other (wrong) lane and hoped for a break in the semis when another semi came towards us head on. We made it alive and had fun counting the hammocks hung under the semis for the driver to sleep in. Makes you wonder how long they wait!
Upon arriving at the boarder there was a rather long line so we found some "help" which included some cash and the handing over of the husbands passports to be taken to places unknown (scary!) As this child loving country will sometimes let women and children jump the cue, we came in a side door with our new "best friend" got our passports stamped and left Costa Rica. Thankfully, our hubby's passports were then returned to us also stamped and we carried on to step two.
We were able to drive a little farther but then had to empty out of our car to walk across the boarder. Yes, everyone has to "hoof it" with their stuff no matter what. So off we went with one pregnant lady, 4 kids, 2 surfboards, a stroller and some luggage to the Nicaragua passport office (about 800 meters). Here we found our driver on this side and repacked a van where we then waited probably 2 hours to get our passports stamped again. That explains the picture of our very sweaty friend Raynar who took one for the team and waited in a jam packed large cage essentially. I also got in trouble for taking a picture here so thought I better include it!
Did I mention we just happened to run into some other friends? That's Jorja with her friend "Mirabie" at the Nicaragua boarder. She was traveling with her mom and aunt. So we added them to our entourage and gave them a ride about half way as they were going directly to Granada. 11 people in our van good, thing we had air conditioning!
And just like that we were off to Rancho Santana in Nicaragua!