Surf and Sandcastles: Nicaragua-San Juan Del sur

San Juan Del Sur

Once again we did a seemingly dodgy border crossing, between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We paid our hostel $175 for all of us to be taken from our hostel over the border and dropped off at our hotel in San Juan Del Sur. Went pretty smooth, only two different vehicles this time, an easy 5 minute walk across the border and we were in!

Border Crossing from CR to Nicaragua

We arrived at our beautiful (but overpriced hotel), overlooking the bay of San Juan Del Sur. Quickly dropped off our bags and went for a walk. The strange thing was there was a small river that you had to cross to get into town 5 minutes away, the hotel had a small little boat and for .60 cents you climbed in and he pulled you across using a rope, sounds totally sketch- but it was quite entertaining. On the shuttle from CR we met some new friends from Australia, Germany and Switzerland. We all said farewell and promised to meet for lunch later that afternoon. Walking around the small community everyone was a little surprised at how dirty the beach was. The whole town all looked a little run down and remnants of the damage caused by the hurricane a few weeks ago was still present.

The sunset from our hotel

The view from our hotel

A boat washed up onshore, now beached

This was a small river next to our hotel, every day we had to pay .60 to cross it to get into 10, only a 5 minute walk or so...made things very interesting

Originally we were going to stay for 3 days then head to Ometepe, but we had had enough after 1 and decided to leave the next day. We met our new friends for lunch and then again at a pub later that evening, (it was a Canadian pub called the Loose Moose-go figure!). They convinced us to give San Juan one more chance and stay an extra day to check out the nearby surf beaches that San Juan is famous for.

The "Loose Moose" in San Juan Del Sur- (best poutine ever!)

The next day we took another shuttle, torn between the two famous beaches (Hermosa and Madaras)..we went with Madaras because it was a little closer (and cheaper:). It was a nice beach with perfect waves, I can see why it's a surfers paradise.

Playa Maderas

Shuttle to Playa Maderas

We left San Juan 1 day early as we heard that Ometepe was spectacular and worth the extra day, we were not all that impressed with San Juan, but I can see why 20 somethings would love it, great party atmosphere and cheap accommodations and restaurants.

We arranged for a taxi to take us directly to the ferry, and arrived by lunch on the beautiful island of Ometepe. I can't really explain it, a combination of many things perhaps, but all of us felt an instant connection to this place and knew we would love it.

We were staying in Moyogalpa at a guest house called Soma- it was so amazing, I highly recommend anyone heading to Ometepe to stay here (owners are lovely and CANADIAN:)

Arriving on the island our taxi was waiting with Johnny's name- his first "name on a sign" greeting

Our beautiful accommodations

\Hospedaje Soma

Our first tuk tuk

There is such a cool laid back vibe here- we were close enough into town we were able to easily walk every night to grab a bite to eat- food was amazing and quite cheap. We hired a driver for our first day to tour the island- we did the San Ramon waterfall hike- which we all loved- it was just challenging enough and the reward was a beautiful, cool waterfall to have a quick dip before we headed back down. We also visited Punta Jesus Maria, (the best place to watch the sunset) and Ojo de Agua (a spring fed natural pool in the middle of the jungle).

San Ramon Waterfall

Ojo de Agua

Sunset at Punta Jesus Maria

Vocano Conception

The hike up to the waterfall

Over the next few days we enjoyed the restaurants of Santa Domingo (normally where the nice beach is, but because of wet season the water was quite high so the beaches were almost non existent). Johnny and the girls did some more zip lining. and we went back to Ojo De Agua. The rest of the time was spent just bumming around. WE absolutely LOVED Ometepe and for sure want to come back....maybe even retire there:)