San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Last night we caught the beautiful sunset in San Juan del Sur Nicaragua.  Then came the job of finding a place to sleep.  We went to 2 or 3 hostels.  They were pretty bad, even for us.  So we started looking at the slightly more expensive places.  We ended up a hill with a German man who was intent on selling us a room.  There were two problems.  The bikes would not be secure and he didn't have wifi.  The wifi I can live without, but I wasn't happy with the bike parking.  He swore it would be fine and it probably would be, but that man kept pushing me and pushing me.  Kevin left it up to me and the more the German man pushed me, the more I don't care what his deal was.  I'm not staying here.  

We started scouring the roads and out of the corner of my eye in the dark, I saw this sign with a motorcycle on it. We'd been down this road once already and missed it. Really nice man from Wisconsin married to a Nicaraguan lady.  Cheap room, wifi and secure parking. Done.

The sun comes up in San Juan del Sur.. I'm looking for my swimsuit.. Darn it!  Can't find my swimsuit, or my white shirt or my green shirt.. what the heck!?!  Oh man, I totally know what I did.  I took them off when I had a shower back in the little cabin on the island.  When my bike was fixed, we were in a huge hurry to catch the last ferry and I didn't do a double check of the room before we left.

We managed to call the little hotel/resort place on Ometepe and they had my belongings.  After a few back and forths,  I figured it's best that I just get back on that ferry and get them.  I know it's not much to lose, but in reality to replace the things I left behind is time consuming and more difficult to do in a foreign country where you don't know where to look.  I know my clothes, I like them, and I don't want to go shopping to replace 3 things.  Against Kevin's advice, for me it would be easier just to go get them.  So I made my way back to the ferry dock. 

While I was waiting at the ferry, this man tried to sell me tours.  He speaks really good English.  Once I explained what happened, he came up with a brilliant idea!  For one, he usually sells tours to stay at the place we did, so he knows the people there well.  He called them and asked them to deliver my things to the next ferry coming our way and we'd collect them on this side.  This way I don't have to ride the ferry again!  And in the meantime, he talks me in to having a traditional Nicaraguan lunch.

We waited and waited.  Can you call the hotel again and make sure they put my clothes on the ferry?  He did.  This guy as really cool, very passionate about his country and their food.

And would you guess, it is the second time a man asked me to marry him since El Salvador!  Now I get to pick!! ;-) No thanks.. but I did enjoy talking to this man about Nicaragua and his young daughter.  Who is like most young girls I know.. begging Dad to top up her mobile phone credit.

The bugs around here are crazy and I'm quite keen to get back to San Juan del Sur (SJDS). I hope that ferry gets here soon.

I like these photos.  How good is the camera to pick up these little bugs? They are loving my bike and bag, and they are all over my back.  Must be bug effect from the Lake Nicaragua.

We decided to sit on the lakes edge and watch for the ferry.  I couldn't help but notice how much fun the locals were having in the very windy weather.  The lake waves were huge!

I also couldn't help to notice the lack of beach patrol.  How close can we park our cars to the water competition!

We sit and watch the ferry slowly... so slowly, make its way to us.  Then I am nervous. Did they get my package on in time? Not so nervous about the clothes, more nervous that the guy got me to sit here so long waiting, when I could have gotten my clothes myself.  Did I waste the entire afternoon?

Oh, thank goodness.  I see Hector walking off the ferry with a bag of clothes. Hallelujah number 2 in 2 days!!  It was such a stupid mistake.  But I have no need to get upset about it.  Even though it's Christmas day, I'm only too grateful that the ferry is actually running.  And I got to learn a lot more about Nicaragua while waiting.

I'm feeling guilty again that I left Kevin to wander alone on Christmas day.  But he found his way to a little 2 or 3 hour cruise from some info we found the night before.  He said it was okay, not great, not bad.

But when I got back to town, he made it clear that it is Christmas, and if we do nothing else, we are going out for the best meal we can find.  He asked everybody where that place is, and they all said for the best meal in town, go to El Colibri.

First we sat around with the people at our Hostel.. having pre-dinner drinks.

This American man at our table was cracking me up!  He was carrying on about me being a woman riding around the world, and his jokes were so funny.  I had enough to drink that I can't tell you what the jokes were, but we had so much fun.

Off to El Colibri we walk.  We asked for a table for two.  "Do you have reservations?"  No,  I guess we should have thought of that.   There was only one table left.  It was right at the front entrance. 

We both ordered the best.. the best steak, the best wine.  It was truly Christmas in Nicaragua!

One of the owners, Mary Jane, came to us during our meal and apologized for us having to eat near the front door.  We didn't know what she was on about.  The front door is not really a door, it's open and there are exotic plants everywhere, Christmas lights, wood carvings.. we were happy!  We thanked here and told her not to worry. The food was awesome the service was awesome.  Perfect.

Kevin and I had a very long meal and one of the last tables to leave. When the time came, Kevin really wanted to thank Mary at her table. He has been in the service industry, and when he gets exceptional service, he likes to say so.  The group was great and they invited us to sit down with them.  We were not there very long, as I said they were finishing up for the night.  But we strongly connected with each of these people.  Mary Jane and her husband Gianmaria, owners of El Colibri, their daughter Molly, Michele and David from the United States.

Michele sent me this photo from her phone. She has my card and is so fun to talk to because she is quite the motorciclista herself!  They were all fun to talk to.  It was one of those encounters with people who you feel you have known your whole lives, but it's only been like 10 minutes!

Since we were all finishing, they wanted to walk with Kevin and I back to the hostel as they were keen to see our motorcycles.  Mary talked us into posing and took this photo.  I think we both have very sloshy wine eyes.. ;-)

Next thing we know they invited us for the day out tomorrow (Boxing Day).  We'll meet up in the morning.  We are going to follow them to some special places along the beach that they know. We had already talked about riding the bikes along the beach roads, so this is Great! Even better with our new friends!!

There's a heck of a lot of cows on the road out here.  Watch out baby...!!!!

I got a chuckle out of Kevin's comments from when he posted this photo on his facebook page.  "If you want to make riding a dirt road covered with cattle, carts and cars a little more challenging. Try taking a photo of it with your throttle hand" 

All I could say is "you gotta do what you gotta do!" Probably not the smartest thing to do, but we were going really slow.

These animals are just beautiful!  So majestic to me.

It's been a while since Gianmaria and Mary had driven out here.  We took a left turn and ended up at a dead end.  It's not where they intended, but it was so pretty we decided to have a little look around.

As soon as we walk in the door of this place, Kevin spots the hammock.  The man loves a hammock!!

Michele and Kevin.. looking good!

We wondered what happened to David. We spotted him down in the water!  So close to where the ox are being used in the sand. 

We all decided that we can't let David have all the beach.. so we run down for a swim too.

I can honestly say I've never been on the beach with a team of ox working away. I'm talking to Mary and telling her I can't watch.  I'm feeling really sorry for these oxen to move that trailer full of very large rocks through the sand AND the water.  Even with as big as they are, it's too hard!!

We got in a for a swim.  I took this photo just before the first wave hit.  Once it did I was scraping the bottom and those rocks are sharp.  I ended up with 2 fairly good cuts on my feet and I got out.  The others lasted one more wave and that current was just a bit on the scary side of strong.

 Back on the beach and those ox are still being pushed to pull through the sand.

Young Molly and I go exploring on the rocks instead.  She loves the ocean!!

I do too!!

We went back up the cliff to have some lunch.  This isn't where they planned us to have lunch, but we are too in love with it to go anywhere else.

I'm loving Michele's fire tatoo.  I took a photo to remember in the event I want to copy it someday.. !! ;-)

 Santa took a detour to the beach..with a beer of course..! Smart Santa..

Mary decorates a puppy for Christmas.. or more like New Years? ;-)

This is one of my all time favorite photos that Kevin took.  The baby puppies are so sweetly asking to play and the kitty cats are clearly not interested!!  How could they ever say no?!?  It doesn't get any cuter than this. Their little tails are wagging so fast the camera couldn't even catch it.

Next, they want to show us the hot springs.  A local favorite around here and not many tourists know about it.  So far off the beaten track.  Locals bring their washing along.. Darn!  I wish I knew, I would love to wash my clothes too!

I'm feeling a bit guilty having a motorized vehicle here.

Incredible really.  We have seen these large Oxen being used everywhere today.  They all work so hard and it's just part of life here.

We decide not to follow the others in their car.  We love the dirt roads and they are easier to do a bit faster.. as long as we are not facing a bunch of cows!

We've had our therapeutic dip in the ocean.  We've had out therapeutic dip in the hot springs.  We've have our therapeutic drinks..  We are so happy we met our new friends!  What a perfect day.. what a perfect Christmas!!