I was hesitant all last week while thinking about whether we should go away for the weekend to the ocean or just stay here in Granada as we usually do. I knew we only have about a month remaining of our planned time here so our weekend time is even less...just 3 or 4 weekends remaining with some school events planned on the last weeks of school as well. I decided to go for it, I know Sam loves the beach, as do I...and we had only been one other time on this whole trip which was a short visit to another beach and it was one of those goals I didn't want to miss. So we told our friends we were leaving for the weekend, I scheduled a nice safe shuttle (which turned out to be a car) for us to get there (1.5 hours away) and then looked on Expedia.com for a hotel so I would have something booked in advance. I took Sam out of school an hour early on Friday so we could catch the shuttle to San Juan and we had a nice quiet, and fast, ride there with a personal driver and a young Spanish, aspiring actor who had been living in Miami and was now on vacation. Sam made small talk in the back seat with him, mostly about Pokemon and "wow, you speak English". It was cute, I was sitting shot gun and was able to enjoy the view and the ride. I have found it hard to leave the safety of hour posh comfortable home in Granada at times and know that when I feel this way it usually means it is the right time to add a little adventure to our lives and shake things up. It also means I usually play it safe easing into the adventure, I pay more for travel, lodging and then after I get my bearings again add in a little more risk.
Arriving in San Juan I discovered the tiny Nicaragua town I had been to 12 years prior was now a bustling (still little) surf town with tons of interesting restaurants, hostels, shops, adventure activities and expats. Our driver new very little of San Juan so he asked here and there to find our hotel and that of the other guy....we turned around this way and that and finally dropped him first to his location. After a few more attempts to find out place, I only had the name of it and being called Casa Bahia was something aken to looking up your friend with the last name Smith in the yellow pages for this town. So.....finally I gave a call to the hotel and they told me that they were on the next beach north of San Juan called Marsella (but is still considered part of San Juan even though it is 9km away by mostly dirt road). My driver explained that he'd fullfilled his obligation to get us to San Juan and now he must return....so he was leaving us in town to make our own way to the hotel (which left me a little annoyed...but I ran with it....adventure time). He did help me ask a taxi for a ride to the hotel before he left but when the driver told me it would cost $15 I balked and said no thank you (we had just paid that much to come there from Granada!) and that we'd find another way. So after talking to the hotel reception again they explained we could catch a shuttle from Casa Oro in town to their location. Ah... perfect.... we asked someone on the street and they directed us there. The next shuttle was in an hour so we took the opportunity to check out a little of the town.....or should I just say, get ice cream and play on the beach....our perfect way to pass an hour.
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| Eskimo and Beach....oh ya! |
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| San Juan del Sur Main Beach |
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| Casa Bahia.....We found you! |
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| Luxury Living |
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| Swim trunks, OJ and a Favorite Stick |
After checking in and dropping our bags in our room we dressed and headed for the beach.....it was nearly sunset by this time and we didn't want to miss our first one.
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| Hello Pacific |
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| Curious Pup Watches Sam |
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| Playa Marsella Sunset |
The hotel was so comfortable and small enough that we felt like it was our own place. Saturday morning we awoke, enjoyed our breakfast and then caught a ride to the well known surfing beach just north of us, Playa Maderas. We spent the morning watching the surfers, playing in the sand, and drenching ourselves in the salty waves. The staff at our hotel picked up up later and brought us back for lunch and some down time at the hotel.
On the way back I noticed a little ranchito had signs for horseback riding tours and inquired with our hotel folks. They called and set us up for a short ride. I'd asked Sam earlier if he wanted to go horseback riding with me and he seemed uninterested.....then after some time passed he said, "Ok Mom, let's go horseback riding". Then an hour later changed his mind again....to which I explained to him that we were going to do an hour ride and give it a try since we already had plans.....My slow-to-warm kid usually prefers to hang out in his comfort zone but is often surprised and overjoyed once he's engaged in a new experience. Our caballero guide meet us in front of the hotel with 3 horses ready to go. At this point Sam was all ready and paid close attention to all the suggestions and the large animals. Our guide helped us climb up, gave me a little instruction, then led Sam's horse which worked perfect. We road the country roads up to the same surf beach we had been to that morning, though the experience was very different this time. You could see people pull out there cameras and feel all eyes on us as we were lead down the happening beach an hour before sunset. It was a gorgeous and magical time....I loved watching Sam so proud and becoming comfortable on his horse take in the experience.
Arriving back to the hotel we were on a high from our awesome experience. We were also pretty exhausted from the full day and decided to stay in and go for dinner rather than attempt a sunset in what had become an overcast evening. We were out when our heads hit the pillow that night. Sunday was our last day and we hadn't yet figured out how or when we would get back to Granada. I decided we could do one last trip down to the beach before we said good bye and headed back to town. Greg the owner of the hotel said he'd be glad to give us a ride and so we had that part covered. We enjoyed our morning exploring the beach for a few hours which aside from a couple other families we had mostly to ourselves. We sand bathed, sun bathed, and hopped waves for a few hours and then went back to the hotel to shower and pack up. Greg told us all about his new hotel (he's only owned it a few months) and the surrounding area as we drove back to town. He was full of enthusiasm about being part of the San Juan del Sur meets country living scene and said he spent only part of each month there. The grandpa of 13 spoke about his past experiences in Central America, surfing, and living in California and how he now spend most of his time managing his various properties. He treated us to lunch on the beach, helped us track down bus schedule info for Granada and then sent us on our way. We found the colectivo corner (taxis where with 4 people you can pay a cheaper price to have a taxi to Rivas, the bigger city, about 25 minutes away) and a driver and had to wait 15 minutes to get enough people for the ride. It was smooth after that and our driver dropped us at a bus stop in Rivas where he assured me the Granada bus would come along. There were already about 8 others waiting at the bus stop but enough space on the bench that Sam and I could catch a little seat. Not two minutes after we'd smiled at everyone and sat down Sam whispers in my ear that he needs to use the bathroom. Oh.....No.... went through my brain....I didn't exactly know when the next bus would arrive but knew we'd likely have an hour or more wait in between if we missed it. So I politely asked the young woman holding the baby next to me if there was a bano nearby and she looked at me apologetically with a "I have no idea" look....an older gentleman looked at us, took pity and said, come on...he walked us over to the business near the stop to ask for a bathroom for us....They didn't have one available and as we turned around we saw the Granada bus coming toward us on the street. All of a sudden everything became very urgent. The gentleman quickly asked me what he needs (you know the #1 or #2 question)....to which I relayed the question and answer between he, Sam and I....It felt like everyone said ok, then just go there and pointed behind the bus stop to the big tree and were urging Sam to hurry.....the gentleman even tried to hurry Sam along to which Sam lost it and began to cry from the pressure. I couldn't blame him....I think I'd feel the same if everyone was yelling at me to pee already and do it right there while everyone watches! Poor kid! Anyway....the packed bus and patient bus driver, and kind bus stop compadres took pity on us, waited for Sam and I to come back from around the tree and helped us get loaded onto the bus.....It was as if everyone there had joined in to support us and get us on the bus to Granada....it was one of those moments where I felt like, wow, I love Nicaragua. The bus was absolutely packed, we were standing in the aisle, but before long a guy gave up his seat and let me sit with Sam on my lap in the back seat. We were the lucky ones, many folks traveled standing much of the 90 minute ride. This was Sam's first ride on a Nicaraguan public bus and so he got to see close up how most Nicaraguans travel and feel the uncomfortableness of little space, a lot of sharing, and hanging in there for the long ride. He also got to see the kindness of strangers up close, something we don't always experience when we've taken our very safe and more expensive transport.
We were able to watch and gauge our arrival to Granada by how close were were to Volcan Mombacho which is located just to the south of the city. Arriving in Granada we got off the bus with our back packs and picked up some small talk with a woman a little older than myself who I'd said hello to when we fist entered the bus but then separated from when we got a seat. She was from Seattle and seemed to be traveling alone. Sam joined in the small talk asking her where she was staying in Granada and she took to him as most people do here enjoying his outgoing and upbeat personality. We discovered she was heading over to find a hostal but didn't have anything secured yet when we mentioned that we lived in a big house with extra rooms and would she like to join us there? Maybe sounds insane to others to invite a stranger to live with you after only a few minutes but to both Sam and I we could instantly tell by her energy that she was a trustworthy person and someone we'd enjoy a few days getting to know. So now our new friend Sariah has joined us at the house while she enjoys Granada a few more days before heading back to the US next week.
This was definitely a weekend of many firsts, for both Sam and I, and an adventure we needed and we will not soon forget.
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