I arrived a day early and set up camp on the beach in Montezuma. It was a nice spot on solid ground well above a nearby creek and with a great view of the beach break (surfer lingo). That evening and into the night it absolutely poured. The lightning and thunder rocked the van and lit up the otherwise black sky. It was awesome. The rain wasn’t stopping and at about 11:00 that night I couldn’t help but think of my previous experience with high water on the Caribbean side. I decided to get up and take a look around camp. Getting out of the van I stepped into about 2 inches of rapidly flowing water. So much for high ground! I looked at the creek where it flowed into the ocean and while it was torrential is was at least 2 to 3 meters below the van. I then walked up the hill to find out why the water had chosen a path through my camp. The problem was at the bridge where the river had risen and was flowing over. The bridge was acting as a dam and creating a standing wave at least 1 meter high. It was from this that the river branched with one tributary flowing through my camp. After a careful (but not too close) inspection I decided that if the water continued to rise it would break over the bridge and only impact my camp with another foot or so of water. A minor problem really as my camp was clean and my escape route straight ahead. I set out a couple markers so I could monitor the water level from my van and went back to bed. I didn’t sleep until I heard the storm easing and I saw the water levels recede from my markers. The next day I drove back to Tambor Bay for the tour of the property Pernell asked me to look at. After meeting the people and telling them my story they told me that it rained over 6 inches that night. That was way down from the record rainfall they had the week before of nearly 12 inches.
From Tambor I travelled north almost to the Nicaraguan border and stayed at the Santa Rosa Park. It was far and away the nicest official camp spot I have stayed in while visiting Costa Rica. It was a perfect bay with calm water, clean beaches, and good facilities. As I was out of groceries I only stayed the night and continued on to Nicaragua the next day. In Nicaragua I camped the first night in a nice park and then continued on to Granada for some fine dining, cold beers, and to catch some futbol on the big screen. A couple of days later I continued from Granada and travelled late into the afternoon. I was getting a little concerned as I had checked out a couple of unsatisfactory places to stay and the camping potential was very limited. Finally I crossed a pretty river down the hill from a little house in the campo. This is where I met the farmer’s daughters. I drove in and spoke with the man of the house and for a couple of dollars he let me set up at the base of the hill and near a nice pool on the creek. Later on I was practicing my Taekwondo at the creeks edge and I caught the attention of the whole family. The father came down with his wife and 2 daughters to check things out. We all practiced with the long staff together until dad and his wife left and the girls stayed. OK readers… shift gears (see photo, adorable, but 30 years to young)! I practiced my Spanish with them and went about preparing my dinner. On the first day they mostly sat politely and smiled endlessly. They assumed I knew what they were talking about when I repeated their words and as their confidence grew so did the conversation and craziness. Like many of the local people I meet in the country they were all very curious about my kitchen and where I slept. I BBQ’d chicken and peppers with my little audience of two watching every move I made. They devoured everything I feed them. Once the chicken was down to the bone they passed the carcass back and forth until it was eaten or the hard parts spat out on the ground. They were so happy to help clean up after dinner that they beamed with delight. While I had my bucket of ‘shocked’ water for dishes they ran down to the creek with my dishcloth and dishes and promptly did my dishes in the town effluent. I was disgusted and I tried to explain, but what could I do? They just smiled back at me, absorbed my praise, and looked for another way to be helpful. I just told myself… burn the blue wash cloth, add extra bleach to dishes rinse cycle, and smile. Later, when I converted the back seat into my bed the girls ran off to the house to return with their dad and their dolls. Dad was impressed by the conversion and the girls were excited to tuck there dolls into the foot of my bed. At this point they were in and out of the van as if it were their own playground. I was a little uncomfortable with this at first but again everything I said seemed to get lost in the translation. Finally dad ushered the girls back to the house and after a night cap I called it a night. The next day I was awoken by a bump in the van. I woke up to find two little girls standing on my bumper and peering into my window before they set off to catch the school bus. The girls spent most of the day at school but when they returned they promptly went to work. They swept the camp area clean of debris, washed any dish or utensil left unattended, washed and reorganized the inside of my van, while the whole time smiling back at me and seeking my approval. 
It was adorable, but I couldn’t find a damn thing in my van for the next 3 days. That evening we shared my spaghetti and the next morning we all had French toast with syrup and cinnamon. Mom was equally as eager as the kids as we devoured a new loaf of bread and all my eggs. They couldn’t get enough, and if I had more bread I know they would have eaten it all. Mom later came down with farm fresh eggs to replace the ones we ate.
At this point I was pretty close to the Honduras border so with an early start I was able to pass through Honduras and into El Salvador in the same day. Getting into Honduras was easy (other than the seat belt infraction while moving the car at the border crossing), getting out of the country was a repeat of my earlier fiasco. It only cost me an extra $5.00 so I can’t complain too much.
