Costa Rica: Liberia

The journey from Granada to the border went surprisingly smoothly, and we quickly reached our destination. As soon as we arrived there, we were approached by a Tica-Bus employee, where we were able to book our onward journey to Liberia. Although Tica-Bus had suspended international trips through Nicaragua, they were already waiting at the border to transport travelers to various destinations in Costa Rica.

After our arrival, we spent the afternoon in Liberia, but there really is absolutely nothing to see there, except maybe the ugliest church in the world. Otherwise, it is just a pretty run-down, hot, and ugly place.

However, what we immediately experienced in Liberia was what we had heard from some other travelers: exorbitant prices and lousy service. Our tiny little room in the outrageously expensive hostel (the cheapest one available) didn't even have a solid door, just a better quality window shutter.
Costa Rica is often called the Switzerland of Central America. This certainly applies to the price level, but otherwise, absolutely nothing.
This became even more evident in the supermarket. The same rum from Flor de Cañas suddenly cost 20 USD per bottle here, while we had paid about 4 USD for it in Nicaragua. Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, we didn't think of taking a few bottles along as provisions for the road. But all other products were also massively more expensive in Costa Rica, a gallon of water suddenly cost twice as much. One wonders how the Ticos (as the Costa Ricans call themselves) can even afford to eat when considering that the average income is about 600-700 dollars per month.

We didn't actually plan to visit Costa Rica on this trip, but since we were already here, we wanted to make the most of our time and see as much of the country as possible in the remaining 10 days. So we decided to rent a car in Liberia. Done and done, this time we even booked a car with a 4x4 drive, as recommended by various sources, as unpaved roads are to be expected in Costa Rica.
One big advantage of having our own car is definitely being able to throw all our luggage into the trunk, we can even save ourselves the packing hassle. And so we loaded up our stuff and set off on the great journey through Costa Rica.