Surf Lesson.. WOo Hoo

What better place to take a surfing lesson then a big surf town. Apparently, while we were there.. there was a big swell? if you will... So the surf was very strong..

There are three beaches in total by San Juan del Sur.. One in the town.. one that is north and one that is south. We went for our surf lesson on the beach to the south.. with a goal of heading north aftewards.

The lesson didn't exactly go off with the best start, seeing as how I could barely carry my board.. SOOO I guess I need to start strengthening my guns!

Our instructor was from Peru.. and had been surfing lord knows how long... was very leathery looking.. missing some teeth... we aren't sure if his hair was as blonde as it was from the sun or from dying it. He was quite the character. He called us his students and amigos. He was very helpful and an amazing instructor..

I got up... but... not for long!! I really ended up just getting my ass kicked and giving up because I can only swallow so much salt water and get pushed around so much.. it's just very exhausting!!!!

It was a beautiful day at the beach though.. money well spent... and I guess I could of put more effort in then I did... NeXt Time!!!

Surfs up!!

Adult Beverages Please!

After arriving in San Juan del Sur and settling up at our hostel.. good ole Casa Oro.. we immediately changed and headed to the beach...

It was so nice to be near the water again and have my toes in the sand. We were so happy and there was a lot of body surfing going on. Which I realized I had never really done before this trip. It was an OK experience.. sometimes it was fun.. but sometimes it just gets a little to rough for me.

After the beach the girls decided that we would like to have a cocktail while watching the sunset. We only seemed to need one and were having a fabulous time goofing around. The sunset was gorgeous as it went down outlining the boats in the bay.

It was a perfect commencement of the evening!! No better way then to relax overlooking the water and sunset. Perfections!!

Casa Oro

Casa Oro was the hip place to be in town. This was the hostel that the guide books recommended going. They were very orderly and structured and the place was relatively clean and nice. We stayed in the upstairs dorms for $1 more and had the most incredible breeze I have ever experienced!!

It is definitely the place to go if you are wanting to meet a ton of people and tourists. Otherwise... it wasn't all that great! We had some great roommates.. and some other not so great... Other people had some things stolen.. etc. Needless to say we moved the next day.

Some of the people I was traveling with were in a different dorm and were surrounded by Australian boys who would sit and blurt out weird noises.. the entire night. As annoying as it was... we were unable to stop talking about it the next day and even for the majority of the time we remained traveling together. They ended up being quite legendary!

Casa Oro did seem to have a good location and was relatively inexpensive... although there was definitely cheaper accommodations around town.

San Juan del Sur

San Juan del Sur... what a relief it was to arrive in this town. It definitely helped me realize what a beach and ocean does for my soul. It is a cute yet very touristy town in the southern part of Nicaragua, about an hour or less from the Costa Rica border.

I loved the town and could totally live there. It's very small.. maybe a bit larger then Cahuita, or at least has more buildings and activities. Only downside... very expensive and too touristy.

It was nice to be back there and I immediately felt better.. although I think part of that had to do with the amount of salt water that had gone up my nose and thankfully cleared my sinuses!! WOO HOO

Beautiful and I recommend going!!

Commador Anyone?

All I kept hearing this group talk about was the local commador (spelling) (a restaurant that was maybe 2 seconds from our hostel and the only one for miles and miles and oh yeah.. MILES!) After our incredibly long hike.. we stopped there and some people had something to eat.. and I chat with some people I had met in Granada.

They were so pleased with their food that the decision was made that we would return there for dinner that evening. We had a lovely time.. the man who was weighting on us.. was HILARIOUS!!! He was this skinny little man who wore the tightest jean shorts I have ever seen, a tight little top... eye makeup.. and a baseball cap. I wanted to capture this image for you all, but felt that it would be a tad offensive for me to take a picture.. I could barely look at him without laughing.. He made my day! I have never seen anything like it and definitely never thought I would in Nicaragua!!!

A little Pick Up?

After we got back down from the volcano, we still had to hike another 45 minutes back to our hostel. Four of us decided that we would just sit and wait for the local bus, which I was immensely thankful for!! Seeing as how I was going to just fall over and die.

A truck came in front of us and said hop on. This was my first hitchhiking and probably the last. It was soooo much fun and I was sooo excited. We held on to the back of the truck!! It was such a blast.. I kept saying this is sooo amazing.. I kind of felt like I was going to fall off the majority of the time and have never held on that tight ever! I felt like a kid and could not stop smiling! I think they thought I was a bit loco in the cabeza!!

WOO HOOO YEAH!!!!

OHH Ahhh A Waterfall!

The following morning, after having slept around 10 hours, I was feeling as though I could do anything! The group of individuals traveling alone.. kindly asked if I would like to join them. They were hiking to a waterfall that was "near" by. I contemplated what the best move was. I couldn't say no.. I had been dying to do this waterfall hike, and figured this would be a good way to determine if I would be able to hike the volcano.

About 5 minutes into the hike, I realized this was probably not the best decision I have ever mad. For basically the entire hike, I had never felt more out of shape and on the brink of dying in my entire life! I was about 5 minutes behind the group the entire time. Kindly some of the guys would take turns being slow with me and talk with me. In my head I kept going they have no idea how sick I am! They just think I am being dramatic!

We reached the waterfall and thankfully it was a beautiful sight. Not much shade... and not much of a swimming pool to swim in... but it was worth the hike. I was pretty much sure that I was just going to live at the waterfall the rest of my life. I did make it back down. The views were incredible and I was ultimately happy I had joined them.

This is how sick I was... I had to ask the guy walking next to me, to please wait to talk to me until we got to the waterfall. I could not muster the strength to physically talk.

This is a picture of me.. with the boys mooning me in the back ground!!! I made my accomplishment.. this was my climb of the volcano.. since the waterfall is on the volcano anyway... We hiked a total of 5 hours that day!! WOO HOO YEAH!!!!

One of the guys in the group.. hated when people would said "woo hoo yeah!" He felt it was a very american thing to do and it would just ruin the atmosphere... I had never heard any american ever say this before.. but if you get a good amount of energy into that woo hoo yeah.. you just feel soooo good!!! The rest of the trip we couldn't help but say it all the time, which ended up being very american as we would shout it down the streets. Just try it.. wherever you are sitting WOO HOO YEAH!!!!!!!!