San Juan del Sur is Nicaragua´s version of paradise. The town itself is nice but what is really amazing is the surrounding area with pristine beaches and minimal accommodations. Of course the pictures do not really do justice to what it was like to be there but they will give you some idea. First some background on how this trip came about. Halfway through when me and Mark were first planning our trip to Nicaragua we were not really thinking about going to San Juan del Sur. It is in the south and we were planning on just being in Managua and northern Nicaragua. At some point during our trip Sarah who is Mark´s girlfriend from Sweden bought a plane ticket to meet us in Nicaragua. So that meant that maybe we would do some more touristy things in Nicaragua. But I did not want to be the third wheel so I invited Emily, who is a friend of Mark and mine who is working in Nicaragua and needed a break from Managua. Then when we were in Managua I found out that Eric the guy who was here when I was volunteering here five years ago was here. He was supposed to leave Nicaragua the Thursday before we went to San Juan but after hearing us talk about the trip his friend Ana convinced that if she changed her ticket he should change his and we could all go to San Juan. So there ended up being 6 of us heading down there plus Eric and Ana had some friends who were there already.
Eric, Ana, Emily and I met at the bus station to head down to San Juan. Mark and Sarah were to meet us there. Eric and Ana´s friend had been staying at a small beach a little north of San Juan so we arranged to up there. We managed to get to San Juan and I picked out a language school to go to for the next week. Then we headed off in taxi to the beach. Lucky us we got the last hotel room on the beach as far as we could figure. The place was pretty rustic small rooms with a bathroom and a grill for cooking. The guys who took care of the place said they could lend us some pots and pans but we would have to find our own fire wood. First things first we headed to the store down road to grab some things that we forgot in San Juan. After some tense negotiations with the owner of the pulperia she decided to lest us take the five gallon water jug by putting a deposit of 8 dollars on it. Carrying it back was not much fun but collecting firewood along the way we felt like a normal Nicaraguan family out getting fuel for the evening meal. Dinner being set up we hit the beach and although the water was cold managed to get some good body surfing in before the sun went down.
Dinner consisted of friend potatoes onions peppers and eggs. We were pretty proud of ourselves for making a pretty decent dinner with out many implements. We even seasoned it with sea salt which worked pretty well. For breakfast we made a mango-pineapple-rum sauce and made french toast to put it on. Which turned out excellent as well. The picture is Eric and Emily cooking the French toast. That day we rented a boogie board and tried our hand at bogeying. When the sun got to hot we lounged in the hammocks or took naps. Our nights consisted of a fair amount of Flor de Cana (the local rum) and sing alongs with Mark playing the guitar. On Sunday we had egg in the hole for breakfast (and we even managed it with out the College Hill Cook Book). We got in one last swim before heading out. Most folks went to Rivas to head on to Managua, Ometepe, and other locations and I headed back to San Juan del Sur to meet my new host family and teacher and begin my new life as a Spanish student.
San Juan del Sur is Nicaragua´s version of paradise. The town itself is nice but what is really amazing is the surrounding area with pristine beaches and minimal accommodations. Of course the pictures do not really do justice to what it was like to be there but they will give you some idea. First some background on how this trip came about. Halfway through when me and Mark were first planning our trip to Nicaragua we were not really thinking about going to San Juan del Sur. It is in the south and we were planning on just being in Managua and northern Nicaragua. At some point during our trip Sarah who is Mark´s girlfriend from Sweden bought a plane ticket to meet us in Nicaragua. So that meant that maybe we would do some more touristy things in Nicaragua. But I did not want to be the third wheel so I invited Emily, who is a friend of Mark and mine who is working in Nicaragua and needed a break from Managua. Then when we were in Managua I found out that Eric the guy who was here when I was volunteering here five years ago was here. He was supposed to leave Nicaragua the Thursday before we went to San Juan but after hearing us talk about the trip his friend Ana convinced that if she changed her ticket he should change his and we could all go to San Juan. So there ended up being 6 of us heading down there plus Eric and Ana had some friends who were there already.
Eric, Ana, Emily and I met at the bus station to head down to San Juan. Mark and Sarah were to meet us there. Eric and Ana´s friend had been staying at a small beach a little north of San Juan so we arranged to up there. We managed to get to San Juan and I picked out a language school to go to for the next week. Then we headed off in taxi to the beach. Lucky us we got the last hotel room on the beach as far as we could figure. The place was pretty rustic small rooms with a bathroom and a grill for cooking. The guys who took care of the place said they could lend us some pots and pans but we would have to find our own fire wood. First things first we headed to the store down road to grab some things that we forgot in San Juan. After some tense negotiations with the owner of the pulperia she decided to lest us take the five gallon water jug by putting a deposit of 8 dollars on it. Carrying it back was not much fun but collecting firewood along the way we felt like a normal Nicaraguan family out getting fuel for the evening meal. Dinner being set up we hit the beach and although the water was cold managed to get some good body surfing in before the sun went down. 
Dinner consisted of friend potatoes onions peppers and eggs. We were pretty proud of ourselves for making a pretty decent dinner with out many implements. We even seasoned it with sea salt which worked pretty well. For breakfast we made a mango-pineapple-rum sauce and made french toast to put it on. Which turned out excellent as well. The picture is Eric and Emily cooking the French toast. That day we rented a boogie board and tried our hand at bogeying. When the sun got to hot we lounged in the hammocks or took naps. Our nights consisted of a fair amount of Flor de Cana (the local rum) and sing alongs with Mark playing the guitar. On Sunday we had egg in the hole for breakfast (and we even managed it with out the College Hill Cook Book). We got in one last swim before heading out. Most folks went to Rivas to head on to Managua, Ometepe, and other locations and I headed back to San Juan del Sur to meet my new host family and teacher and begin my new life as a Spanish student. 
3 comments:
Wow! lanugage school on the beach--great combination. Hope your langauge school is a good experience and that you will keep up the blog. We have really enjoyed it
Say Hi to Sarah for us. We look forward to seeing Mark next week.
Diana and Len
Sounds like fun. It's snowing here. Very pretty, but 17 degrees and windy....
So was that your goodbye to Mark? You're on your own now?
How is Emily doing?
~SGK
you're very funny jacob: "On Sunday we had egg in the hole for breakfast (and we even managed it with out the College Hill Cook Book)."
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