And I Don't Particularly Like Beaches.
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2006
1
94
110
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
San Juan del Sur,
Nicaragua
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The shuttle bus went smoothly, but the driver had a hard time finding my "hotel," because it isn't really one and doesn't get a lotof guests. Called the Rayito la Luna, it is a house that has been converted to a hotel, and it is not bookable on-line. It is co-owned by a Norweigian guy Jens and his mother, who both also live there. As I was the only guest there for both nights, I took the master bedroom with its stunning view and hung out with the owners for awhile.
Then I wandered the town, which is not much - maybe 15 square blocks with a lot of surf and internet shops and everyone spoke some English
A Room With A View
. The beach itself, though, was ratty. Brown water from rainy season runoff and so much flotsam and jetsam that a bulldozer mowed the crap into piles every day (see pic). Plus, the sand was a dirty brown and the beach was so flat that there was no where to sit on it because it stayed wet all day without much tidal action. There were meantto be nicer beaches both north and south, but when I tried to take a water taxi, I was the only interested customer and they would not go without 6 people or me paying to charter the boat by the hour. So I had grilled lobster at a beachside restaurant and watched some Euro 2008. Now, since it almost goes without saying that watching soccer on TV sucks ass, I should explain that Sweden was playing Greece, there were three Swedish girls watching the game, and I was not really facing the TV.After a nap, I had a medicore pizza and watched Game 3 of the NBA finals at a typical beach Reggae bar, followed by an arduous trek all the way acrossb the street to Iguanas, the most popular bar in town. Nothing particularly exciting happened beyond meeting a couple of blokes until I was leaving the bar as it was closing around 1:00 a.m, when Jens was just pulling up (having driven 3 blocks from the house). He then dragged me along to a birthday party for a local at another bar, which led to going to the final, secret, still-open after hours bar untilclose to 4:00 a.m. I lost Jens at that point, when he dropped me off at the house/hotel before going off with still more locals in search of either food, chicas, or drugs
Beach at Sunset
. (Hetold me the next afternoon that his mother woke him from the couch in the TV room at around 7:00 a.m., noodles strewn across his belly, saying "Go to your room before your guest sees you." Like I would care, other than if the noodles still looked edible.That mornig, I failed again to catch a water taxi to one of the outlying beaches, so I ate the world's biggest mega-ceviche of shrimp, lobster, octopus and two types of conch before taking another nap. Life´s hard. After that laborious day, I shot the shit with Jens and his Moms some more I heard a rather amusing story about some Norweigian friends of his visiting and yelling at the top of their lungs at a bar about wanting hookers and blow (with two uniformed cops in the bar) and wanting to bring them back to his place, andI learned a little bit about Nicaraguan taxes and/or how not to pay them.
Jens, however, was hurting and could not be convinced that a little hair of the mangy street mutt would help, but he sent me to "Pelican Eyes," the nicest hotel in town, which has a happy hour on Wednesday and Fridays that every gringo and expat frequents. So, as you might have guessed, I met somegringos and expats, which then led back to Iguanas. I tried to hit up on this chick who was a dead ringer for a certain Cal doctor (a few years ago, sorry) that some of y'all know, but she shot me down as well as that certain doctor has and will.
That's mostly it. Only two days, but one interesting note from driving out of town
Fine Art
. After I wrote my last screed about the relative safety of Nicaragua, I read an article in the local English-language rag about problems with petty beach theft, plus increasingly brazen armed robbery in and around San Juan del Sur, to the point that it was scaring off potential tourists and condo buyers. And then, I endedup sharing a cab with a kid who had rebuffed a dude who tried to rob him with a piece of wood as a weapon. This kid (to me) said he hit the dude 10-12 times (anb he had some road rash and bruising on his hand and arm) and waited around for the policia, who were apparently understanding, but told him to leave town for his own safety because the thief and his friends would likely be looking for him.Again, no problems for me (going on 12 months of doing this), but buyer beware. As for San Juan, unless you surf, ther are probably better destinations, but if you do come, stay at Jens'. For me, it is now to:
San Jose, Costa Rica
