TRANQUIL LITTLE SAN JUAN DEL SUR ON THE PACIFIC
We got into town and found a little hotel to rest our weary traveled bones after the 13 hour journey… but not for long because we were hungry. Found a spot on the beach to watch the outrageously beautiful sunset and to get a snack. We ended up at Big Wave Daves a bit later because Jim was jonesing for a good burger. We met Big Wave Dave himself and a Canadian couple, Anita and Chris, who are sailing from Florida to Baja Mexico for three years.
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| San Juan Del Sur – Nic Trip – June 09 |
Our first full day there we checked out the small quiet town and then hiked up a very steep cliff to see Jesus. It was a religious experience so to speak. There is a huge statue of Jesus overlooking the town and ocean, you can see it quite well from the beach, but noooo, we had to see Jesus up close and personal! And all in the afternoon heat! Jesus’ view of the town, bay and ocean is wonderful. We also enjoyed seeing all of the big houses on our hillside walk back down to town. They are probably owned by drug lords and corrupt politicians as Nicaragua is supposed to be the poorest country in Central America. How could any citizen own such a grossly big house?
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| The Hike to See Jesus – San Juan Del Sur, Nic – June 09 |
That night we met up with Anita and Chris for the sunset, then we had dinner, and to end the evening we went to open night mic night at Coquito Bar. Okay, that was one of the best open mic nights we had ever been to! I was so excited by the music, I jumped up to see the musicians play, not seeing a huge stump/stool in the middle of the pathway (who puts stumps in pathways?), I fell knee forward. How many scraped knees have you had this year? This is my second time for both knees. Anyway, I heard the young owner of the bar actually auditions the musicians, what a talented little town. And for added entertainment an attractive older, alleged ex-porn star lady, with screaming long red hair danced and shook her maracas. I repeat I said, “alleged.” I looked up her name and porn, and did not come up anyone who I think fits her, but it makes for good reading!
Our second day we found ourselves up early due to 4am fireworks. And not the colorful oooh aaaah variety, but ones solely for the obnoxious boom they make. The funny part for us, in our sleepy stupor we were trying to decide if it was fireworks or a shootout, and at one time Jim was convinced it was a shootout because he thought he heard different caliber guns! Although the official day of the town’s patron saint was 2 weeks off, they felt the need to start the celebrations that morning at 4am. This act is common in Catholic towns and it seems some towns have a lot of patron saints!
Late morning we went to visit Anita and Chris at their dry docked catamaran. What a lovely and spacious boat! We loved it! They gave us a tour, made us some French press coffee and then we chatted for quite awhile. Really enjoyed their company and just maybe it will work out that we take a trip with them up the coast to El Salvador in November after Hurricane season. With my hurricane luck, I do not need to be on water in a small sea craft…we would be like a hurricane bulls-eye!
Later that day we went fishing off shore with another couple we met, Terra and Corey. The water was a bit rough, but nothing we could not handle. I was worried a bit about Corey since he has a fear of the water, but he braved through it. We had heard the fishing was awesome there, but not on this particular day. Jim was the only one of us that caught anything, a Grouper. So we had Grouper for dinner. It was a fun afternoon, the staff were so personable and funny. They liked to play jokes, like the time they had me almost tasting some old yellow Styrofoam because they said it was a dulce (a sweet). What I would do for sweets! After fishing and our nice fish dinner, we met up with Anita and Chris again, but had an early night to ready ourselves for our big upcoming day.
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| San Juan Del Sur Fishing Trip – Nic Trip – June 09 |
Our last full day in San Juan was quite eventful! We went surfing! And yes, we actually surfed. We had a group lesson that set us back a whopping $24.00 each (nothing compared to the $90.00 a day cost we saw quoted in Costa Rica) and in the water our Peruvian teacher, Alfredo, worked closely with two people at a time. Jim and I were the first, and by far the oldest in the group! But we showed the youngins’ how to do it. We stood up on the board within the first few tries! It was awesome! We kept at it all day, okay not all day, we took breaks. The water was really rough and to just get out to where you could catch a wave was more work than our 40-something bodies have seen in quite awhile! Needless to say, the next day we were sore and bruised, and the following day a little more sore and bruised, but we were still high on our surfing experience so we did not mind!
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| Surfing Day – San Juan del Sur – Nic Trio – June 90 |
Sore and all, we were off to Leon, Granada’s liberal northern nemesis. Again our bus kharma was working and we got there without any delays, breakdowns, mishaps or road closures!
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.WE.ARE.GNOMADS. 
Hello
I know you are free to write anything in a blog, but I am asking you in the future to be more careful about perpetuating negative rumors. Well, I am here doing nothing but volunteer work, including setting up a women’s shelter and giving free English courses. Something like what you wrote can truly damage my reputation here.
I was a techncial writer all my life working for the semiconductor industry. Now I have retired early to San Juan del Sur and like to go out on Thursday nights where I can let loose and play maracas, sing and dance. I just like to have fun and it’s very sad when someone (a stranger!!!) chooses to say negative things about someone that could hurt their lives. I hope you don’t do this to others.
Okay Bonnie, I wrote, “alledged.” I am sorry if I hurt your feelings and I just added another line in that part of my blog to make it more clear. My husband and I really really enjoyed how much fun you were having that night! Ha, I am usually the one up dancing shaking her maracas…and most of the time on top of something! I am volunteering with children here in Honduras, and I have wrote a ton about my partying and the such. Just like I do not think what I wrote about a red head dancer, using no name mind you, will harm you, I do not think my carrying on around Central America will harm my work with young boys. I really do not think what people write on their own personal blogs is taken seriously by others. I did not make up what I wrote, I just passed on what I heard and did not say it was true. Thank you for your volunteer work, anywhere in the world. And I am jealous you got to retire to such a great place at such an early age! I will take what you say into consideration.