Layne found a campground near the city of Leon. Hooray! We got our laundry done which was a huge weight off our minds and showed up at Ecolodge Rancho Los Alpes. The owner met us and said she used to work for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee and now has a house on St George’s Island on the Gulf Coast. Well, there you are…
We plugged in right away as it was blazing hot and humid and within 5 minutes we blew the fuse and melted the plug running our rooftop air conditioner. In our defense it was rusted out pretty badly before we got here.
Now we plug into the house and only charge our batteries. When we run the air conditioning we unplug and use our battery bank to avoid any more fuse box mishaps.
It is hot and humid with frequent afternoon downpours adding to the moisture. I rub down my calves and feet with insect repellent cloths to keep the no see’ums at bay. Our main relief is bursts of air conditioning and cold showers. The swimming pool is drained and the owner says until they figure out an affordable pumping system they can’t fill it. Electricity rates in Nicaragua are apparently very high.
We pay $20 a day with $5 extra for electricity. We can at least keep our 600 amp lithium battery back charged but much of the time we live with fans and await the cool night air.
Our plan such as it is will involve a drive south toward Costa Rica with some stops hopefully on a beach or two before for ing inland and crossing to Costa Rica.
The situation in Panama remains uncertain with many roadblocks which police have promised to clear no matter what. The Supreme Court has taken the mining law under advisement with a public comment period closing November 23rd. A decision on whether or not the open faced mine contract is unconstitutional will come any time after that. Until then some roads will presumably stay blocked.
We looked into shipping from Costa Rica and the ships agent quoted us $9500 for an open container (“flat rack”) for our over sized van to Colombia. Thanks but no thanks. He could ship our van back to Florida for $3500!
All we can do now is monitor Panama and see if the road closures ease up. The country is in a terrible state with the north provinces out of all basic commodities, in this third week of the general strike.
Hopefully next week we’ll be in Costa Rica and can keep a closer eye on the situation in Panama.
Meanwhile we sweat and wait and see what happens next. And wish the rainy season would end!
