San Juan del Sur to Playa Maderas to Ometepe Island

Concepcion Volcano

While we loved Playa Hermosa, we had to leave after only one night because we still had so much we wanted to see. I wanted to go to Leon but realized that the travel time needed would take up waay too much of our week. Instead, we decided to stay another night in SJDS and take a day trip to Playa Maderas with Good Times Surf Shop. Ryan didn't really want to go to Maderas because it's a notoriously crowded surf spot but it was the only option by the time we made it back to SJDS. We quickly checked in to Casa Romano (we didn't want to deal with the surly lady at Estrella again, it seemed like she hated us) and grabbed some lunch from Taco Stop before getting on the truck to Maderas.

You can fit a lot of people and a lot of boards in this truck

Maderas is beautiful and for those of us not surfing, it was fun to explore the shoreline and sample some delicious cocktails made with passion fruit, dragon fruit, etc. Ryan said it was frustrating because the local surfers did not "follow the rules of surfing" which are there "for the safety of everyone" but I think he had fun anyway.

Breakfast in the market in SJDS

Gallo pinto with limes and a drink
made from pitaya (dragon fruit)

That evening we had a low key anniversary dinner at Barrio Cafe before continuing our Nicaraguan trend of going to bed super early...it's tough when you keep waking up at 5-6 am! The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the central market, we decided that taking a cab to San Jorge to catch the ferry to Ometepe Island wasn't that expensive and much easier than taking the chicken bus again. When we arrived in San Jorge, we had to wait nearly 2 hours for the ferry anyway, so the chicken bus probably wouldn't have taken too much longer...live and learn! The ferry to Ometepe takes about an hour and it's pretty boring, but it's a good opportunity to nap because you clearly did not get enough sleep the night before going to bed after Matlock (that's a joke that makes fun of us for being old farts).

Our chariot to Ometepe

During our 2 hours waiting for the ferry, we decided that we wanted to go to Playa Santo Domingo once we reached Ometepe Island. We were only on Ometepe for about 5 minutes before someone asked us in English if we knew where we were going or if we needed help. Very kind of her but we actually knew what we were doing this time! We were waiting for the chicken bus to leave and take us from Moyogalpa to Altagracia so that we could take the bus from Altagracia to Santo Domingo. It's incredible how interactive travel can be when you don't have a car :) While we waited for the bus to leave, I copied the woman sitting in front of us and ordered an "enchilada" from a street cart in front of the bus. It was more like a fried empanada with seasoned rice inside and it smelled like a Dorito...super awesome.

Room #1 at Buena Vista

Hammocks everywhere!

Fast forward to the bus to Santo Domingo where they drop you off on the side of the road and you question if you understood them correctly until you realize, yep, this is it! There are a handful of restaurants and hotels and we picked the first one we walked up to: Hospedaje Buena Vista where we stayed in Room 1, which overlooks the lake for $20/night. It's very basic but nice and when someone is at the desk (not likely in the evenings) they have drinks and snacks for sale that you can enjoy in one of their many hammocks. They also sell breakfast but we ate elsewhere both mornings we were there, so I'm not sure if it's any good or not.

More hammocks!

After dropping off our bags, we walked across the 2 lane road to a business that rents bikes, 4 wheelers, scooters and dirt bikes. We chose the bikes because we LOVE biking....turns out we love biking on paved roads with few hills (well I do, I think Ryan is okay with off road biking). We only had a few hours before sunset, so after a fruitless ride to nowhere, we came back and showered before grabbing dinner. Looking back, I realize that this test bike ride should have been an indicator and warning against future bike rides!

Gorgeous views of the volcano

We enjoyed delicious and inexpensive dinners both of our nights on Ometepe Island at Jacqueline's Comedor which is run by a family. They have 2 dogs and 2 parrots/African Grey's (?), one of which says "Hola" and other phrases. There are other restaurants within walking distance but this one seemed to be the best combination of inexpensive/great food/friendly staff/nice atmosphere. There is also a cool vegetarian restaurant near Buena Vista, but we saved that for smoothies and breakfast foods.

The next day, our second to last day in Nicaragua, we decided that the hike up the volcano (8 hours roundtrip) would be too much. Instead, we decided to bike to San Ramon Waterfall, which seemed to be much easier to get to. Holy crap were we wrong!! Here's why: Biking from Playa Santo Domingo to the base of the volcano where you have a 4 hour r/t hike to the waterfall is a trek that will crush your spirit and kill your hope. We thought the rental shop was ripping us off by charging $50/day to rent a 4 wheeler (you can rent a car in the US for $30/day!!) and he said it was "possible" to bike to the waterfalls. What he didn't say is that while it is "possible" it's HIGHLY UNLIKELY that my scrawny butt would make it. Most of the trip to the base of the volcano is unpaved. Not just hard-packed-earth-dirt-road unpaved but dry creek bed full of boulders and rocks unpaved. Also, much of it is very hilly in addition to being full of giant rocks.

Before I realized the futility of our efforts...note we're still on paved road

The butterfly garden at beautiful Finca Magdalena

Why didn't we just go to the petroglyphs???

A horse I started to follow before Ryan
reminded me that it was probably unwise
to have a horse as a tour guide

Coffee beans!

It didn't start out so bad. We biked to Finca Magdalena because I've never seen a coffee farm and have wanted to since we went to Honduras. It was physically challenging but not terrible. When we arrived, we had a nice cup of coffee and enjoyed the absolute peace and quiet on their porch overlooking a massive floral garden. It was so beautiful and there were butterflies everywhere! We wandered around the farm for a little bit and even walked to the entrance to the hiking trail but decided that it would be dangerous to explore on our own. If we had gotten a guide at this point, we could have climbed Volcan Maderas and had an amazing day! We would have felt such a sense of accomplishment and awe. If only. Instead, what we did was hop back on our bikes and head towards San Ramon Waterfall.

Coffee plant at Finca Magdalena

I made it to Merida (small town near waterfalls) before needing to sit down and chug a liter of water and eat a Clif bar. At this point, I was near death but thought we were only like 15 minutes away from the waterfalls so I was willing to hang on.
After I scraped up my remaining energy and will, we biked the remaining 30ish minutes to what we thought was San Ramon Waterfall. We went up to the guard house and were informed of the price and the fact that there was most likely no way we could hike to the waterfall (again 4 hour r/t) and then bike back to Playa Santo Domingo before dark. I sat down and cried. Like, tried to hide behind my giant black sunglasses but there was no disguising the fact that I was all out sobbing in front of strangers cried.

I'm not proud of what followed next but why start lying to you now?! I was so defeated after all this that all I wanted to do was crawl back to Merida and find a ride back to Santo Domingo and never set foot on a bike again. Ryan, being logical and level headed, tried to reason with me and let me know that it would take us forever to walk back. So, I hopped on my bike and screamed "Are you happy now?!?!" and pedaled as fast as I could...."that'll show him" I thought to myself. I almost fell down because it started raining and the boulder road gets pretty slippery in the rain. "He'll be sorry if I fall down and hurt myself", I pedaled harder and then I reached a hill and gave up. I don't know what is wrong with my brain that I get so crazy dramatic in stressful situations but I really felt like I was suffering worse than anyone had suffered before (in under an hour, I would fully comprehend how much of a spoiled brat I am).  I walked the remaining 10 minutes until we found the kind gentleman who sold us water in Merida. He directed us to a nearby hostel/hotel where he said his friend had a truck and would probably take us to Santo Domingo for a fee.

This wasn't even the worst part

When the truck owning friend (I cannot remember his name for the life of me and it's killing me! It started with an "E" and I had never heard it before) said he would bring us for 500 cordoba ($20), I didn't even do the math. I would have probably given him $500 USD if it meant I didn't have to bike anymore that day. All I felt during that truck ride was relief....and soooo much guilt about being a super pansy. About a quarter of the way to Santo Domingo, we picked up one of the employee's of the hostel where we found the truck. This man bikes on this un-bikeable terrain EVERY DAY....it must take hours but he didn't seem all that upset about it. We are so spoiled to complain about traffic! Bike over some boulder roads that are impassable in heavy rains and then talk to me about traffic in your air conditioned car!

We treated ourselves to the most amazing smoothies at Natural Vegetarian Restaurant after we returned the devil bikes in Santo Domingo and I made a kitten friend. This kitten came sauntering over to me and promptly jumped in my lap. This kitten is the entire reason why we would enjoy our last breakfast at this restaurant the next day. We went to Central America and saw beach cows, sea turtles, pigs and horses on the side of the road, chickens, and monkeys and one of my favorite moments was hanging out with this awesome cat. The owner has another cat and a dog too but this kitten and I were buds.

This gregarious kitten was one of the highlights of our trip...Crazy Cat Lady!

That evening, we tried to make the most of our remaining hours of daylight and took a walk on the main road until the sun set. 

Adorable pigs!

Sun setting behind those trees and we could hear monkeys in one of the trees

The rest of the trip consisted of making friends with a woman from Holland while we shared a cab and ferry ride back to San Jorge, a chicken bus ride to Managua, a taxi to the airport and about 11 hours in the Managua airport (similar situation when we went to Honduras except the airport in Managua is soooo much nicer!) eating, shopping, reading and watching Neflix because they had WiFi. Also, Ryan was so excited about this buy 1, get 2 deal on Victoria beer at the equivalent of Popeye's Chicken, Pollo Estrella. 

 We had an amazing time in Nicaragua and I just wish we had more vacation time so we could have stayed longer! This is definitely one place I would like to return to :)

Granada to Rivas to San Juan del Sur to Playa Hermosa

Beach cows on Playa Hermosa

To catch one of the chicken buses leaving Granada, you first have to make your way through the busy street market. It's dirty and crowded but I think if we had more time I would have enjoyed wandering around its stalls. When we got to the bus headed to Rivas, it was empty and we waited about an hour before it left. There is a schedule for the buses but we were always early for everything because we were paranoid about missing the bus!

Standing room only on this chicken bus...and lots of sweat...from me

If you've never been on a chicken bus in Central America, here are a few things I have learned:
1. If you can determine which side the sun will be shining on the bus, sit on the opposite side,
2. Sit near the back if you can. These buses do not follow the "stay behind the yellow line" sign that is posted prominently on all yellow school buses and they do not have a definition for "full". There will be at least 2 people in each seat and during busy times, the entire aisle will be full of people as well. The bus will stop many times before you reach your destination. Dropping people (and sometimes full mattresses and bed frames strapped to the roof) off and picking up additional passengers. If you plan on staying on the bus until it reaches its destination (in this case, Rivas), sitting in the back will be less hectic.
3. Go to the bathroom before you get on the bus!
4. People will get on the bus regularly selling snacks and drinks. I don't trust drinks in plastic bags with a straw sticking out, so I always make sure to bring water. Sometimes the food they sell is pretty good but I prefer getting something from a street vendor beforehand...it's usually fresher.

We were on the bus for several hours before reaching Rivas and by the time we arrived I was tired, hot, sweaty and worst of all: I had to pee so bad it hurt. Several people directed us to the public restroom but we passed it and walked in a giant circle until some kind bicycle taxi guy led us there and pointed it out. 5 Cordoba later (for toilet paper, the urinal was only 3) and I was a happy Brandy. We caught the next bus for San Juan del Sur (standing room only by the time we got on) and marveled at the beautiful landscape from Rivas to SJDS.

San Juan del Sur

In San Juan del Sur, we immediately headed straight for the ocean. We spoke to two hotels, side by side, and chose the one that gave us a room with an ocean view balcony for $20/night with breakfast (the other was $80/night). The Hotel Estrella has a surly staff but it was worth it for the price and the view. Lonely Planet and Frommer's say it's derelict but compared to most places we have seen, it was just fine. Don't take their advice for dinner though! They directed us to the expensive, bland restaurants on the water and the next day we found much better food just a few streets away. Ryan ordered the lobster ($8 for lobster?! Holy crap!) but was very upset when it arrived and the 4 lobster tails were undersized. We looked online and found this article from 2002 that discusses how Nicaraguans are risking their lives to find lobsters for tourists and with little regulation, are overfishing the reefs. Ryan has been going to the Keys for lobstering with his family his whole life, so he knows an undersized lobster when he sees it. This is very unsustainable and I urge you to not be tempted by the cheap lobster if you head to Nicaragua!

San Juan del Sur

The turn off to Playa Hermosa

The next day, we contacted Playa Hermosa Beach Hotel to make a reservation. Transfer from SJDS is included in the price of the room ($50/night...our big splurge!) as well as breakfast. The ride to Playa Hermosa makes you realize how remote it is and as we bumped along the unpaved roads through the forest (over more than a few creeks with running water and no bridge) a slight panic set in. I'm so used to having the freedom to drive/walk/bike anywhere, at any time. Being "stuck" out in the middle of nowhere kind of freaks me out but once we reached the water, that feeling mostly dissipated. Ryan rented a surfboard and gave me a kiss before running directly to the main reason to visit Playa Hermosa: the surf! Side note: I asked Ryan for some cool surfing terminology to use here and he just made fun of me and told me to use "the tubular tubes" and the "righteous waves". Jerk.

Playa Hermosa

I made friends with the beachside bartender, Manuel, and got frustrated at all of the words I don't know in Spanish. Being such an active conversationalist (big mouth) it is unbelievably infuriating not being able to communicate effectively! I can take care of the easy stuff like ordering food, asking how much stuff is, etc...but actual conversation? I'm screwed! Eventually I gave up and took to reading on the beach (Divergent Trilogy completed during this week).

Playa Hermosa

 That evening we enjoyed some of the best food we had during our trip and a romantic walk on the beach....awww. In the morning, we explored the beach together and witnessed the majesty of the beach cows. Sporadically throughout the day, these four cows would come from the forest and take romantic beach walks of their own. They were very curious about us but maintained their distance and eventually meandered back into the forest.

Trying not to scare off the beach cows

When we got back to the hotel, we were shown some baby sea turtles that had been rescued by the hotel, I even got to hold one! Apparently, the hotel decided to take a unique approach to sea turtle egg poachers who would sell the eggs to restaurants. From their website: Most areas of Nicaragua have problems with egg poachers. Even though the sale of turtle eggs is illegal in most parts of the country, the black market is alive and well and unfortunately, restaurants all over the country still serve the eggs. After several attempts were made to stop the poachers, the owners of Playa Hermosa Beach Hotel decided to use a different strategy. Rather than treating the thieves as thieves, they basically gave them the job of harvesting the turtle eggs and paid them a good sum to give the eggs to the hotel. The staff then puts the eggs in holes in a fenced-in and guarded hatchery where the baby turtles have all the time they need to hatch and grow.

This is up there with the finch eating out of my hand in Paris!!

After our animal adventures, it was time to leave Playa Hermosa but it was hard to say goodbye to such a peaceful and beautiful place. There are tourists who make day trips here but before they arrive and after they've gone, it's a quiet and incredible slice of heaven!

Arriving in Nicaragua

Famous Cathedral of Granada that you'll see on every postcard

Forget everything you've heard about Nicaragua! Unless you've heard that the people are kind, helpful and genuine and there is an overwhelming sense of community and camaraderie usually only found in small towns in the Midwest!

We absolutely loved the time we spent in Nicaragua even though we had a bit of a bumpy start: the driver who was supposed to pick us up from the airport in Managua at 12:30 am never showed and we didn't know how to get to our Airbnb lodging in Granada, about an hour away! Our phones did not work, there was no WiFi and there are no public phones in the Managua airport.

Instead of panicking, we accepted the $35 cab ride from one of the many taxi drivers waiting outside of the airport and except for a brief moment (where we exchanged psychic thoughts that we were being driven to a remote killing site...the drive from Managua to Granada can seem that way at 2 am) we had a lovely ride and our cab driver was super friendly and chipper. When we arrived in Granada, we drove to the street where our Airbnb lodging was located, according to the confirmation email I had saved on my phone. Unfortunately, this did not include a street address and none of the (many) people on the street knew where it was! Luckily, our friend the cabbie did not tire of asking people for help and the people of Granada did not tire of helping us. We ended up in a beautiful, clean space with a kitchen and dining area for $20 and the front desk guy sleepily accepted that we only had $15 left in cash and would pay him the remaining $5 in the morning. Side Note: Almost everywhere we went accepted USDs but you can sometimes get a better price in cordobas.

Beautiful courtyard at OK Corral on Calle St. Lucia in Granada

Note the open air concept...Ryan thought ninja robbers would sneak in and attack us while we slept

Kitchen at OK Corral

The next morning, we walked up and down the street and could NOT find where our Airbnb spot was! We took a break to grab some breakfast at Pan de Vida, whose outside sign proclaimed Sunday to be Cinnamon Bun Sunday...easy decision. Unfortunately, their internet was down, so after scarfing down delicious buns and coffee, we headed to The Garden Cafe for some internet and a chat with a US man who had been living in Granada for the past month. The WiFi worked just long enough to pull up a photo of our Airbnb house and this was enough to find it! Hooray!! Our host was so apologetic and absolutely mortified that the mix up had occurred and refunded our money for the night we missed and the second night as well. I loved Casa Jardines and the host has a dog and a cat who allowed me to pet them, so I was in heaven. Crazy cat/dog lady.

Pixel the Cat hunting ghosts

Our host arranged for a driver to bring us to Laguna de Apoyo, a lake situated in a crater on Apoyo Volcano. We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing at The Monkey Hut which was nice for an hour, but we had arranged with our driver to pick us up 4 hours later! I'm too antsy for that, I should have known better :) Note to self: When you only have a week in Nicaragua, do less relaxing by lakes and more exploring volcanoes and artisan markets. If you ask the locals for things to do, they will point you here because it is absolutely beautiful and it's what all the other tourists do.

Trying to sit still

Laguna de Apoyo...and a bunch of tourists

We're IN the volcano?!

Corn tortillas with cheese in the batter...yum

That evening we took a stroll in the Parque Central...for exactly 10 minutes and then it started pouring! We knew it was the rainy season but somehow were always shocked when it started raining. We enjoyed 4 corn tortilla things with cheese mixed in the batter and cooked street side for about $.50 before heading to the nearest restuarant for a Nicaraguan staple: gallo pinto. Basically beans and rice.

Walking to Lake Nicaragua

Our new friends are on the left

The next morning, we walked down to Lake Nicaragua and made friends with a local man playing fetch with his dog in the water. At one point, the man took off running after the dog was pretty far out in the water. Thinking I know everything, I immediately thought, "How sad, he must be abandoning the dog". I watched as the dog grew frantic and swam as fast as she could to the shore before running into the street to find her human friend. A local policeman tried to explain to me that they were playing but my Spanish is terrible (Ryan was further away looking at rocks or reading or something) and so I didn't really understand until the man came out of a bush and reunited with the dog in a collision of happiness. The man, who I suspected might be homeless, came up to us and struck up a conversation. My guard went up and I waited for the inevitable ask for money that usually accompanies unsolicited new friendships. Don't get me wrong, I love a new friend but my cynicism has grown over the years as I have learned that strangers don't usually come up to you unless they want something. This man only wanted to introduce himself, ask our names and where we were from and tell us that he had family members living all over the US. He told us about his dog and that she had recently had puppies. He then wished us a good day and went back to throwing sticks for his dog. Lesson learned?: Yes, you have to be careful of strangers but stop being such a judgmental jerk.

After Nicaragua had renewed our faith in humanity for the millionth time since we arrived, we went back to Casa Jardines to pack our little backpacks and head to the market to catch our chicken bus to Rivas.

Gorgeous Casa Jardines

If only I could make this happen at Casa Brandy and Ryan