I'm in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua's premiere beachtown, basking in the afterglow of a idyllic beachside sunset. San Juan is quite a bit like Costa Rica in a lot of ways: The prices, the appearence of the people, the kind of tourists who are here, the "vibe." I would say that it's a good transition spot for passing from Nicaragua back into Costa Rica.

Yesterday, we arrived here after having to make our way through a big transportation strike. The taxi and bus drivers are on strike to protest the government's lack of action on gas prices and they were enforcing their strike yesterday, blockading the highway to all public transportation. So, when we arrived to the edge of town in Rivas, on our way to San Juan del Sur, we were confronted by a mob of taxi drivers who surrounded our vehicle, started to shake the car, and ordered us off of the road. They had barracaded the highway with big planks of wood and tire treading and made us wait an hour in the sun before, for some reason unbeknownst to me, they decided that we had been delayed sufficiently and let us go.

It was kindof a strange feeling being on the business end of a strike (double entendre). I had always tended to be on the workers' side, in theory, and would theoretically support strikers. But, in this case, the striking affected me directly and was quite annoying. It was interesting to find myself resentful of the striking workers instead of supportive.