Beaches and Surfing at Last!
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2006
1
7
Trip End
Sep 08, 2006
San Juan del Sur,
Nicaragua
Friday, September 8, 2006
We were walking around town exploring and found a sign on a door that said "nacatamalies", which Eva clued me in about. They are basically a corn meal pudding (tastes kind of like creamed corn) with a couple of vegetables and meat in it, then wrapped in a banana leaf. We got a couple of them, had to buy plastic spoons from a little grocery store, and ate them in the park. I was still hungry, so we found the "chicken lady" which is in my guide book as a recomended place to eat. Basically, there's a woman that sets up a bar-b-que on the side walk in front of her house. She used to only grill chicken, which is where she got the name, but now she grills beef and pork, too. I got some beef with fried sweet bananas and salad. Damn, it was so good. I knew I'd be back here for dinner again. After dinner we went out dancing at the only disco in town, but even on friday night, no one was around. There were only 15 or 20 people in the place. We danced for a while, experienced the worst margarita we've ever tasted, then headed out. We walked down the beach and into a bar called the Iguana. We had a couple of drinks and decided to call it a night. The first day in San Juan del Sur was complete.
The next day, Saturday, we slept in, had brunch in the central market and decided that we really still just wanted to relax. There are beaches to the north and south, a big cross on the top of a hill to the north and a light house to the south that are all walkable within about an hour or two, but we really had no motivation to go on another hike... so, we went to the beach again. This time there were quite a few more people, which makes sense for a saturday. After playing in the water for an hour or so, we went to one of the many surf shops and rented boards and arranged to be taken to Playa Maderas, the closest beach with good surfing. After we got there, I was surprised to see between 20 and 30 surfers in the water. I was told that a little further north (you have to either drive a few more kilometers of bumpy dirt road or take a boat from San Juan del Sur) there are even better surfing beaches with only a couple of people there (if any) on most days, but this place was nice and I didn't feel like there were too many people.
It was Eva's first time surfing, so I gave here a quick lesson (really quick, like 15 minutes) and paddled out. Eva stayed in and worked on catching waves and standing up in the white wash. I went out and tried to drop in on a wave and proceded to get munched by a head high wave. The guy from the shop that took us out, Dario, said, "Don't worry, it's like riding a bike. You'll remember how to do it." Well, after about the third time I tried to catch a wave and just ended up falling over and getting tossed around in the white wash, I decided that I disagree with that statement. I sucked... bad. I used to be able to drop in, stand up and stay in front of the wave... I couldn't even stand up. I fell over every time I tried... but by the end of the day, I was able to stand up and drop in a couple of times before wiping out and getting lots of water up my nose.
We headed back at sunset (one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen) got dinner from the chicken lady and went out dancing. This time, the disco was full. We actually went to the disco a little early, then went to the Iguana again for a couple of drinks, danced a little there, then went back to the disco. Finally, the dance floor was packed... and there were hot girls giving away free beer inside. Sweet! While we were dancing, I met a girl named Lisa, a Canadian expat that's been living there for 10 months. She invited me to an after hours bar after the disco was done and I said I wasn't sure, but I'd try to make it. As it turned out, Eva met a cute Australian guy and wanted to take off to the beach with him, so I told her I was invited to an after hours bar and we went our seperate ways. I got to the bar and it was closed. There were a bunch of guys outside trying to get in, but the door guy kept the gate locked and kept saying no... I didn't know how I was going to get in, but then I saw Lisa inside and called her over. She came over and told me to hold on... After arguing with one of the bartenders for a while, then disapearing for a few minutes, she finally comes over with one of the bartenders and lets me in. You can imagine how unhappy this made the other guys trying to get it... oops. Anyway, I got in and she introduced me to all the locals including the guy that owns the Iguana. I had a lot of fun and met a lot of interesting people, but eventually got tired and had to call it a night.
The next day Eva and I decided to do the exact same thing again... get brunch, relax, go to the beach for a swim, then go surfing in the afternoon. We went out to some bars that night, but the party wasn't nearly as exciting as it was on Saturday night. Interestingly, I met a guy (I think he name is Steve) from Gig Harbor, WA that said he just moved down to San Juan del Sur to open a bar. What a small world. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned this before, but while I was in Grenada, I met another guy from Seattle. This was strange considering that I only met a few American's the entire time I was down there and two of them are from the Seattle area.
Anyway, every day was pretty similar. Lounging around the beach, sometimes surfing in the afternoons, walking around town, eaching cheap food in the market or at the "Chicken Lady's" place, etc. After Eva left (she need to go back to Masaya, the town she had been working in), I changed to another hostel that I liked better, but cost a dollar more each day ($6 instead of $5). It was called Arena Calliente and it's where all the surfers seemed to be staying. It is also a surf shop and run by three brothers, one of which is named Byron, so they all got a kick out of having a gringo named Byron staying with them. There were actually three guys named Byron living in this little beach town... amazing.
On Tuesday Lisa took me to Pelican Eyes, a nice condo resort at the top of the hill on the east side of town. She is a massage therapist and gets most of her work from this resort booking her to give massages to guests. She had a couple of clients that day, but a couple of hours in between, so I hung out at one of the three infinity pools, sipped on pina-coladas and swam in the pool for the afternoon. This place is nice. If anyone wants to go to San Juan del Sur and stay at a really nice place right in town, this looked like the best to me. Obviously, it's not cheap, but the food, drinks, service and especially the design and ambiance of the place was excellent.
On wednesday, my last day there, Lisa and I went on the Flying Frog canopy tour. She said that she always wanted to do it, but never got around to it, and I wanted to go, so off we went flying through the trees on 17 cables. About 2 km of zip lines in the tree tops with great views of the coast. It was fun, but for $25, I wouldn't do it again. I'd say it's worth doing if you can afford to spend $25 and if you really like hauling ass down a cable through the tree tops (and you're not afraid of heights). Otherwise, don't bother spending the money. Later in the afternoon, I rented a surf board and we strapped it onto her ATV and went to the beach. She brought her boogie board and we surfed and played in the water until sunset. We had dinner at a nice restaurant called Marie's (I think that was the name) which I also recommend to anyone going down the San Juan del Sur.
The next day, I was up at 7 am and soon on the bus back to Managua for my 1:40 pm flight. I had exactly enough money to make it back to Managua on the bus and get a taxi to the airport. After arriving back in Seattle, I just kept thinking how I was just riding a bus in Nicaragua in the morning and now here I am, all the way back in Seattle... Sadly, the vacation was over, but I know I'll be back soon.
