Stuck in limbo

AHHHHHHHHHHH. So the best part of this blog is that once I´ve written something down normally it seems a lot funnier than when it actually happened...which for a ridiculous day like Saturday, will be a blessing. ALLRIGHT, border trip to Costa Rica. Foreigners aren´t allowed to be in Nicaragua for more than three months, so as my three month date is almost here (time flies, sort of) last weekend was the last time I had to cross the border. While I had heard that you have to be in Costa Rica for 72 hours before entering Nicaragua again, I had also heard that it wasn´t really necessary (and have friends that have done the trip in one day, which I planned to do). So I took the bus early to la frontera, the border, which actually wasn´t as far as I thought it would be. Due to how easy it was to get to the border, I figured I was in for an easy breezy trip...also thinking I would be back by noonish which would be awesome. I definitely thought wrong. Once you get off the bus you´re swarmed by all these people who have the papers you need to fill out before crossing. It´s overwhelming but I stuck with one guy who had a badge, he seemed much more official than many of the other guys, seeing as he had clean clothes and shoes on. He helped me through this hole in the fence and helped me to get my exit stamp for Nicaragua. It´s about a kilometer between the Nicaragua immigration office and the Costa Rica office, so he walked with me as far as he could without a passport, which was very nice. This limbo land between the two borders was quite interesting, as it was basically a huge truck stop. I felt like I was at a highway truck stop in the States, there were a million trucks either driving through the border or parked and hanging out there. At this point I was vaguely amused with the whole experience, until my official guide man left me and I was on my own. About halfway between the two stops there´s more immigration guides, that only let you through if you have the appropriate stamps. After I went through this check point and walked in the truck parade another 1/2 K, I got to the Costa Rica side. Unfortunately this was where my LUCK CHANGEDD. I stepped into a line that was long enough that I figured it was for the immigration desk, when another guy stopped me and asked where I was going in Costa Rica and if I needed a taxi there. I told him no, I was just going to enter and exit Costa Rica so I could get my Nicaraguan visa. Here´s where Operation "Scam Alysse" begins. He told me I had to be in Costa Rica for three days, I said no that´s not true, he said yes it was and on and on until I walked away. Proud of myself for escaping a scam I went up to a guy at the immigration desk and asked him about the 72 hour rule. He told me that yes, indeed, I did need to stay in Costa Rica for 72 hours, and that the rules just got stricter. A little dicouraged, I left the desk and sat down trying to figure out how I was going to stay in Costa Rica for three days, when the first guy came up to me again, saying that for $60 he could call a friend he has at the desk and get him to give me a stamp to exit today instead of three days from now. I told him I only had $30 and he said fine, ushering me to the front of the line, and his friend, who gave me the stamp. Now maybe it´s not well known to anyone except Jake (who argued endlessly with me about this) but I really don´t like bargaining, so when I said I only had $30, I wasn´t trying to drop his price, I really had only $30 on me. However, I had my credit card on me so I figured I was good to go (as it costs $7 to get your stamp to enter Nicaragua). So I walked back to the Nicaragua side of the border, and oh man, my card doesn´t work, and some guards told me that the whole 72 hour thing isn´t true, so I´d been had. Significantly worried at this point, I walked back to the Costa Rica side of the limbo/border/truck stop from hell and tried that bank. And to my dismay, my card didn´t work there...and the bank manager informed me that there were no other banks inside the border zone. Nice. At this point I was pretty much a wreck...and was crying too. So I was a crying wreck, that ended up wandering between the two borders trying to figure out what to do. When the guys between the two borders tried to stop me for not having the right stamps to keep going back and forth, I literally just sobbed until they nodded me through. At this point I see the guy that took my $30, and when he asked me why I was crying I said "BECAUSE YOU TOOK ALL MY MONEY AND NOW I´LL NEVER GET BACK TO NICARAGUA"...perhaps a little dramatic but I think it got my point across. Now being the strangest scammer I´ve ever met, he gave me his number and the process to go through to call collect, and told me to call him in a little while if I still handn´t found a bank. So a while later I called him, we met up, and I figured I´d just sob until he agreed to give me back at least enough to cross the border and get home. Well he was in the process of trying to get money from two other Americans/gringos when I found him. By this point I had passed through distraught onto furious and I butted in and told them not to pay anything. They asked me what happened to me, and I told them I was waiting for this guy so I could argue with him to get enough money to get out of this place and go home. I turned around to go and they told me to wait, and put $10 in my hand. This is one of those situations where I wish I could write them a novel of thanks, or nominate them for a Good Samaritan award because I don´t think they have any idea how extremely kind they were...except that I started crying of happiness and gratitude so maybe that gave them an idea. So when I got back to the Nicaraguan immigration desk, I saw my nice official badge guy, and when I told him the story he was FURIOUS, and got a description of the guy at the immigration desk who took the money and lied to me and was telling all his other official badge friends. Another award to hand out here, because he filled out all my immigration papers for me, marched me through the hole in the fence before leaving Nicaragua (which is another $1 fee but he just marched me through telling them that I had no money and therefor wasn´t paying), plopped me on a bus back to Jinotepe and gave me a big hug. Awards all around to everyone that was so kind to me. I ended up meeting somone on the bus who was equally as angry as I was, because he had paid for a work permit to Costa Rica that ended up being false, so was denied at the border when he was trying to get back to work...so we ended up venting to each other for two hours until we were both calm and could talk about something other than how much we hated the border. Now I remember observing/complaining to Jake when he was here that for some reason a lot of people I meet tend to feel the need to take me under their wing and take care of me, which at times makes me feel like people think I don´t have a clue. But at this particular moment, I am very very very grateful that I instill this need in people. 6 more weeks here and I promise I´ll try to stay out of trouble.