Surf's Up in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

We have been surfing hard in this little paradise and slowly building our surfing skills.  I don't vomit saltwater and sand at the end of each session which means I'm improving.  We have surfed at Remanso Beach and Maderas Beach and both have some good beginner waves.  We have been surfing with Arenas Caliente and they are a good group of guys.  Board rental and a pickup truck ride to the beach and back is $13 for the whole day, can't beat that.  The other day I went out at 5am, surfed until 9, then had breakfast, and went out again at 11 until 5p.  It was great, hit two different beaches and each one has little food stands where you can get $1 beers and quesadillas and stuff.  The only drawback to surfing here and now is that it's peak season so the waters are full of Gringos, and like me, they don't know what they are doing.  Many of them have longboards in excess of 9' long.  When one of these comes out of a wave at you it's good.  So not only do i have to watch what i'm doing, I have to watch what everyone esle is doing.  But so far no major contusions are clashes with other surfers. 



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Surfboad racks are for wimps.



There are also some good Yoga studios here so we can get the kinks out at the end of a hard day.  Lots of great food here too, we frequent the Barrio Cafe for good coffee and breakfasts, the Black Whale for $1 mojitos at happy hour and it's also the home of the Black Whale monster burger that i ate the other night.  It was massive. 

I have also discovered the 'michelada' which is the illegitimate child of a beer and a bloody mary, thirst quenching and delicious and makes cheep beer very palatable.

El Colibri is the best place we have found though and tops all others.  They serve Mediterranean food in a cozy garden that is an oasis of tranquility.  I had the chicken curry the other night and it was off the charts.  They also sell jugs of Sangria that will keep you smiling.  Across from them is Alladins where you'll find Jed serving up strong coffee and cinnamon rolls in the morning.  Jed has a colorful work history and will happily sit and tell you about the litany of highrollers, sheiks, and shananegans he has worked for all over the world.  He has good insight to Nica culture as well.  We are currently staying at Buena Onda Backpackers built by a frenchman in the eastern barrio of San Juan.  It has a great view of the bay and wonderful breezes at night but the barking dogs and crowing roosters and squeeling pigs make sleep at night rather difficult.  Best thing to do is exhaust yourself surfing and playing in the sun so you don't notice.  They do tend to quiet down around 4am though.



We shall post up here until next Monday, Jan 2 and then head for Isla de Ometepe, a volcanic protrusion in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  There we shall rent a motorbike, circumnavigate the island and climb a few volcanoes. 

Poaching pooltime at Pelican Eyes Resort

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

The border crossing was a muddy and confusing struggle as hoardes of Nicas streamed across from Costa Rica for the holidays.  During the war here in Nica many locals fled to Costa Rica so returning over the holidays is the thing to do.  We stoood in line for about an hour and walking across the border took awhile as well since it's quite a ways.  We say tractor trailers lined up for miles and i imagine some will wait in line for the better part of a week.  Crazy.  You have to pay $12 per person to enter Nica and you have to buy your departure paperwork from people standing around for $1.  It looks dodgy but everyone was doing it so we went with the system.  Then a "cab driver" drove us to San Juan del Sur for $25.  It was really just an old guy in a beat up car with a lot of silver in his teeth.  He was nice though and told us about the area and the economy as we drove.  He reckoned Bush was better for Nica than Obama as US aid has dropped off with the new administration.  I told him we gots wars to pay for now so he'll have to get in line, maybe sell a tooth.  With much grinding of gears and gagging diesel smoke he got us to the tropical beach paradase of San Juan del Sur.  We ended up staying at Casa de las Olas which is a magical place on top of the hills overlooking the area.  Unfortunately the owners are filling the place with their own family over the holidays so we only got to stay 2 nights and then we moved into town and are now at Buena Onda Backpackers.  It's nice and brand new but the dogs in the hood bark from 2-4 am nonstop.  Tonight I will find out who they are and give them steak laced with Benadryl.  If that doesn't work I shall be forced to club them like baby seals.  I gots to get my 40 winks.
Days here are spent running, swimming and surfing.  Overlooking the bay is a 40' stone Jesus so we run up to him each day, he doesn't say much but his outstretched hand is comforting and the wind never messes his concrete hair.  Food in this town is excellent as will, fresh fish, stone oven pizzas, and great burritos.  The rainy season has held on a bit longer this year but it's hot rain and should let up any day now.
We will hunker down here through the New Year then head for the Atlantic Coast and the Carribean, maybe, have to see what we can work out.
Feliz Navidad amigos!

Tamarindo - surf, sand and cervezas

i met Angela at the airport on Tuesday and we jumped on a city bus to downtown San jose, 5 minutes later the driver cut a corner too sharp and we scraped the length of another bus.  There was a terrible screaming of metal but in the end there wasn't much damage.  The two drivers got out, took a look, shrugged, and decided to keep on going.  Hostel Bekuo turned out to be a great place and i highly recommend it, very friendly vibe and the owner Brian made a point of making sure everyone felt welcome.

We caught a bus to Tamarindo the next day at 11:30am.  The ticket lady said it would take 5 hours but it was closer to 7 and a half.  The bus was comfortable and air conditioned but 7 hours is an eternity.  The trip cost $10 each so the price was right.  The bus also carried packages so the closer we got to our destination the more we stopped.  During the last half hour two guys got on the bus and sat down in front of us, then got up and sat behind us, then stood for awhile.  It was pretty suspicios so I went on alert.  A few minutes later i watched my bag start to scoot along under the seat towards the guy in front of me, i grabbed it and pulled it back and put it in my lap.  He sat up quickly and pretended he hadn't been doing anything.  There was an american to our left and i told him to watch his stuff.  The bus ride finally came to an end and we got off.  The two guys boxed the American in and dropped some stuff on the floor in a classic distract and grab.  He saw it coming though and just pushed past them and got off the bus with everything intact.  They were big guys so we all just took off, jumped in a cab and went to the nearest hostile.

Tamarindo Beach at Sunset

Tamarindo has a bit of an identity crisis.  it is half hippy surfer town and half old people/expat community with a sprinkling of rich hotels.  Food in the restaraunts and bars is the same price as the states, more in some cases, but that's Costa Rica, not just Tamarindo.  The beach is nice and at the end there is an estuary with Caimans swimming in it so it's worth the $1 to pay a fisherman to take you across in his boat.  Apparently people do get bit.  on the other side is playa Grande and it is very Grande, about 2 miles long with perhaps 10 people along the whole stretch.  There are hotels stuck back in the jungle and parts of the area are national park.  We would have moved to playa Grande but there aren't too many food options and getting in and out is an expensive cab ride.  The accomodations are incredible though with far more charm than Tamarindo.

We are currently staying at la Botella de leche, which has a black and white cow motif.  not as bad as it sounds and the rooms are clean.  Lots of Argentinians own property down here and the owner is a 400 year old woman who is very nice.  Her son runs la Oveta Negra just down the street which is also a big surf hangout.  he either partys a lot or likes to pour glass shards in his eyes because they are blood shot 24/7.

We have spent our time here walking and running the beaches, eating some nice local fish dishes, and fantasizing about how much cheaper Nicaragua will be. 

Tomorrow we tackle a string of buses that will hopefully end in a successful border crossing.

Touchdown in San Jose, Costa Rica

Rain is pouring down outside but it's 70F rain, in December, which is nice.  I landed a few hours ago in San jose, Costa Rica and caught a taxi to a nice little hostel called Bekuo, no idea what that means.  Getting past the hoards of taxi drivers was easy as i pointed to the first one i saw and 20 minutes later i pulled right up to the place.  (incidentally the shift key for my left hand no longer works on this keyboard so you will notice a lack of uppercase letters in some instances.  i apologize to all you english teachers out there)  The taxi driver filled me in on the local economy, pointed out local landmarks, and was generally a very decent chap.
So i don't have much to report at this point. First impression is good, San jose doesn't look like much but it seems to be billed as a crossroads so we'll figure out where we're headed next and get out of here quick.  This hostel is clean, quiet and has wifi so me likey.

Due to ticketing constraints Angela will not join me until tomorrow so i will navigate the bus situation to meet her at the airport, should be fun.  off to sleep now.