Anecdotes of a Globetrotter: Day 92 – 93 : Rivas & Getting to Monteverde from Nicaragua

Why Rivas?

I had originally wanted to stay 1 more night in The Landing at Ometepe, but they were fully booked. As I had already covered all the things I wanted to see, I decided to head back to the mainland.

All routes to the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica will have to go through the town of Rivas.

Staying in Rivas was a means to an end - I didn't have to wake up extremely early to catch the 6am ferry from Ometepe and minimised being time pressured with wrong information by exorbitantly priced taxis, which I had heard happening to many.

Getting to Rivas from San Jorge can be easily done by taking one of the collectivo taxis for USD1.

Not too much to see in Rivas, and seems to be a town mostly catered to the local community.

Advice : There’s no laundry services in Rivas. I learnt it the hard way after walking through almost the entire town looking for one!

Where to stay?

There are some hostels in Rivas, though not much information can be found about them online nor in guidebooks, and some don't look very appealing to stay in either.

I chose to stay in Hospedaje Lidia, which was ran by 3 old ladies, whom had converted their house into a small hotel with about 14 rooms.

The room is small and basic, and at USD10/night for a private room, it's averagely priced.

What I liked about the place is that they had kept the whole place very clean, particularly the toilets. Pretty good wifi connection too!

Getting to the Border from Rivas

Option 1 : Private Taxis

At Rivas, taxis charge USD 15 for a ride to the border (same cost if taking a taxi from San Jorge to the border). Don’t trust the taxi drivers advise. They will always push you to take a private taxi and may even tell you that there are no buses or collectivos to get to the border.

Option 2 : Luxury Buses

Taking one of the luxury buses direct into Costa Rica, costs USD28.75 to La Irma (stop for changing on to another bus to Monteverde).

I had heard there could be long waiting time at the border, as the bus will need to wait for everyone to complete immigration before they could leave, and preferred taking separate buses to the border and another after the border crossing.

Option 3 : Chicken Bus (Cheapest option)

Take a chicken bus, which costs only NIO20. It can be taken from the main bus terminal in Rivas, located next to the Mercado Municipal, or at the bus stop opposite Maxi Pali (a big supermarket), along the Pan-American Highway.

It leaves every hour from the Maxi Pali bus stop, starting from 6.30am.

Option 4 : Collectivo taxis

While planning on taking Option 3 from the bus stop opposite Maxi Pali (closer to Hospedaje Lidia, and less chaotic than being at the main bus terminal), a couple of Taxis drove by, and I decided to ask one of them the cost.

He quoted me USD5 for a Collectivo trip to the border.

It was definitely a more comfortable ride, and because the driver could not get any other passengers to share the taxi, I had the whole back seat to myself. The journey took only about 30 minutes on the taxi.

Crossing the border

Departing Nicaragua was quick and easy. Before I could get to the immigration counter, I had to pay $1, which seems to be only imposed on foreigners.

At the immigration counter, I had to pay either NIO43.79 or USD1.51. Not sure what the math is behind the figures.

The counter staff was asking if I had any Cordobas left, but I had given my last cent and dollar to the taxi.

However for some strange reasons, I had exactly USD1.51 available. The staff was surprised, as it doesn't seem like they had seen quarters and 1 cent before.

The exiting of Nicaragua immigration took me only about 15mins.

The chaotic part is when I was looking for the Costa Rica immigration. Signs isn't very much available here.

I saw a really long queue, and thinking that it was the queue to get into Costa Rica border, I went to the back.

Thankfully I was told that it was the queue to get into Nicaragua.

That queue would had taken at least 3 hours of waiting!

Apparently because it's nearing the weekend and it's Christmas, many Nicaraguans working in Costa Rica had decided to return to Nicaragua for the holidays.

The Costa Rica immigration still took me about 1 hour to get through. I was very surprised that the television inside the immigration hall was playing Korean drama!

Bus to La Irma

Just next to the immigration building are a few stands selling bus tickets, such as Tica bus, Nica bus company etc.

I bought my ticket on the public bus, which costs about USD4.50 or CRC2,260.

I was expecting one of the chicken buses or a crappy looking bus without air con.

So when I was told to board a luxury looking, double decker air con bus, I was very pleased.

Seats are assigned, and the staff are well organized and gave proper tags for the bags.

The journey takes about 2.5hrs.

Strongly recommend mapping out La Irma on Google map before hand, and reminding the driver when the bus is approaching La Irma, as the get off point is in the middle of the highway, next to a Uno petrol station.

Bus to Monteverde

The bus stop is located on the perpendicular junction where the driver had dropped me off at La Irma.

There are only 2 departures a day to Monteverde – 10am and 3pm. There were a few other travellers who had the same plans on getting to Monteverde on this route, and we had a good conversation while waiting for the bus to arrive.