I'm going to try and make these travel days short and sweet to make up for lost time. Niki and I woke up Wednesday morning and decided to hit up The Garden Cafe one last time to try the veggie bagel we had been eyeballing since our first day there. We ordered smoothies and a toasted bagel with cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, and tomatoes and it was all delicious!
We met back at the hostel about noon to meet the boys and the other two girls and headed toward the bus station. We boarded a hot and crowded school bus that would take us back to Rivas, the ferry town that we were at to ferry to Ometepe.
Getting off the bus in Rivas, we said goodbye to Matt and Trent and assured them we'd be seeing them soon because they are from Holland, Michigan.
Us girls loaded into a small taxi that would then take us from Rivas, to San Juan del Sur. San Juan del Sur was a bit of a backtrack for us because we wanted to make it to the clown festival, but didn't want to miss this town either. In total, it was only about three hours total out of our trip, and we were fine with that because people insisted we visit this awesome surf and party town.
Our taxi driver dropped us off in front or our hostel, helped us with our things and continued on his way. We started by checking out hostel La Fogada, which we had a few people recommend to us from other hostels. Walking into the place, the first thing that went through my head was "I don't know where these people have been staying to call this place nice, but they're crazy." Us girls were polite as we took the tour and listened to what they had to offer, and then team huddled outside. The other girls were just as disgusted, thank God, and so we headed over to Hostel Elizabeth next door. This hostel wasn't much better, so we decided to walk around and check out a few more places. In our search, I pointed out a sign that said Nina's Guest House or something like that. Niki thought it looked creepy from the outside, which I didn't really see, so we checked it out anyways. Walking past the rocking chair on the front porch, and into the house where a little local lady in her sixties greeted us, our judgement had quickly changed. The house was extremely clean and homey feeling, like any Grandma's house would be. Rather than selling her place to us like the other hostel owners, Nina just kindly showed us around. Walking through what was her living room and kitchen, she led us upstairs where there was a large balcony landing area with clotheslines, two chairs and three doors. The doors to the left and the right were bedrooms and the middle door was a small bathroom for sharing. Everything was so clean, Nina was so kind, and the price was right so we booked it!
We set down our heavy bags on the balcony and rock, paper scissored, to see which set of girls got the room with two beds. Niki and I won, so we set our things in our rooms and headed out for some lunch so that we could break our big bills and pay Nina.
We ate at a little one window food booth that actually became our most favorite place to eat in town. It was called Taco Stop and was a little more "chain" than what we had eaten at other places, but it was so yummy.
We returned to Nina's, paid for our rooms and changed for the beach. It was only about a three to five minute walk from our guest house to the beach. The beach was nothing like Costa Rica's coast though which was disappointing. The beach was a bay with a ton of sailboats and fishing boats anchored with firmly packed sand shores. Restaurants and bars lined the beach which was a nice change. We scoped out a spot to lay out and chill for a little while, but didn't last long with the sand blowing all over and in our faces. Sitting in a chair by one of the restaurants sounded a lot better so we headed towards a bar called Henry's Iguana. That is where we met our new guy friends for the next couple days and the way we met is kind of funny.
Walking toward the restaurant, Nicki was speaking Spanish to Erin, so the guys on the second story must have thought we didn't speak English. We hear something along the lines of the guys calling dibs on each of us and we just laughed. Little spitfire Niki, decides to go upstairs to confront them in a jokingly way while Erin, Nicki and I wait patiently in the sand. Next thing we knew, she comes down with a couple guys, one especially embarrassed that we had heard his comment from above. He genuinely apologized to each of us in a very respectful and sincere fashion, and I could tell that he felt really bad. His name was Vig, short for Vigarny, and he was born and raised in Nicaragua, which you would never guess based on how great his English was. Adam was Vig's friend from Canada who had just met Tommy and Andy from Arizona while on the island of Omotepe. The four boys were having some drinks when they, just a little too loudly, made a comment about us girls, and next thing you know, were all sitting at a group table as if we had known each other for a while.
At sunset, we all sat around and snapped some pics and marveled at how beautiful the sky was. There is an awesome image burned into my mind when I think of a San Juan del Sur sunset now. Rocky cliffs on each side of the sailboat and fishing boat filled harbor, with a bright orange ball sinking farther and farther beneath the horizon.
We all split up for a little bit to go shower and get into our night clothes and then returned to the Iguana for some drinks on the roof after a quick pizza dinner. Colored bulbs strung above our heads, the ocean produced relaxing crashing sounds in the distance, reggae music bumped on the speakers and the rum supply never went dry at the Iguana.
Erin and Nicki headed out at a decent time to catch up on sleep, while Niki, the boys and I managed to close the bars. After The Iguana, we went across the street to a different bar where there was live reggae music and pool tables. I was proud to take two wins over Vig and one over another local guy just in time for the lady to collect the balls for the night at closing time.
On the walk back, Adam and I stopped at a food cart where a lady was making quesadillas and split the best midnight snack of our lives! From there, it was back to Nina's for some shut eye!
Pics:
1) Walking to the bus station
2) Vig, Nicki, Erin, Tommy, Me, Adam, Andy
3) Vig, Nicki, Erin, Tommy, Me, Adam, Niki
4) San Juan del Sur sunset
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