Welcome to Nicaragua – Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge, Río Frío, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica

The Río Frío serves as a riverine highway linking Los Chiles, Costa Rica and the Nicaraguan town of San Carlos. These days, the border is peaceful and boats ferry people across the line – mainly Nicaraguans who come to Costa Rica to work and to shop. Indeed, the only sign that there is a border at all is a welcome sign, a stone marker, an empty shack with a fading Nicaraguan flag.

It was not always so. In the more troubled days of the Contras’ war against the Sandanista government, armed guards with orders to shoot at sight patrolled the river crossings. It was not uncommon for escaping Nicaraguans to attempt to swim across the border through caiman infested waters.