Trip to Nicaragua

After finals, I took a trip to Nicaragua for a week of relaxation. My mantra for the week: beach, beer, repeat.

When I went to Nicaragua last year, I had a wonderful time. I loved going to museums, learning about its history (P.S. It's not quite what we're taught in U.S. schools. For a more accurate account, check this book out), and exploring different cities. As soon as I got home, I vowed to return.

This time, I headed to San Juan Del Sur, a tiny beach community that has recently exploded with tourism.  I posted most of my pictures on facebook (which can be found here), but I'll share a few here as well.

I got the flight with frequent flier miles on Spirit airlines. For those of you who haven't flown Spirit, you have to pay for EVERYTHING. Want a seat assignment? You have to pay. Want to put a carry-on bag in the overhead compartment? Yep, you have to pay for that, too. Want to use the bathroom? Well, okay, there's no charge for that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start making passengers pay 25 cents to use the facilities. 

But, if you learn to beat the system (like the time I wore a backpack under my coat so I wouldn't have to pay for a carry-on; I don't know that scoliosis has ever been shaped like a Jansport, but nobody said anything, and I saved myself $35), Spirit can get you a lot of cool places on the cheap. 

Not exactly a lot of leg room, but how can you argue with free?

After arriving in the middle of the night, like last year, we stayed in Managua for the night before heading out to San Juan Del Sur.

The cheapest mode of transportation offered on our last trip was 'micro-buses' (basically, a cross between a mini-van and a van that seats 15 people). However, this time around, we got to experience the chicken buses, which are old U.S. school buses that have been painted with bright colors and outfitted with stereo systems that are probably worth more than the buses themselves.

The ride was four hours long, and the bus was absolutely packed. We met a combination of locals and people from various parts of Europe. Of course, it's impossible not to get to know someone when you're sitting three to a seat and it's 95 degrees out with 1,000% humidity. In my younger days, I've been in quite a few situations where I had the opportunity to be sweat on by strangers (mostly at dance clubs where the men insisted on removing their shirts), and I can safely say, I'm still not a fan of it.

If I sound like I'm complaining, I'm not. It was, after all, an adventure. But, it definitely made the air-conditioning that we paid $18 per night extra for at our first hostel completely worth it.

This was the first place where we stayed, which we absolutely loved!

We ate breakfast outside every morning and got a chance to look at the beach before heading to it each day.

The next few days were a blur of beach, beer (what can I say? I'm true to my mantras), relaxation, and reading.   

 

We also discovered an amazing raw vegan place and curry restaurant.  Neither were exactly authentic Nica cuisine, but they were delicious anyway.

Hopefully the money we spent on food will be donated to the 'get new sign that's spelled correctly' fund.

Despite loving our first place, we moved to another hostel mid-trip because it was cheaper.

 

The new hostel was right near a surf shop so Drew took some surfing lessons, and did really well (he even got up his first time)! I didn't get any pictures, but I did make a little video of our trip that features him riding some waves.

On one of our last days, we discovered a nice little coffee shop and got a lot of reading done.

 When we left after a week, I was actually kind of glad to go.  As strange as it may sound, beach and beer actually got somewhat boring after a while.  I suppose I got too used to always being on the go.  Plus, the fact that the water went out two days in a row (as I mentioned, San Juan Del Sur has boomed recently, and it seems the infrastructure hasn't quite caught up yet) made me rather excited to return to a flushing toilet again.

I also felt kind of old there. If getting ridiculously drunk is your thing, San Juan Del Sur is your place. They have these pub crawlish events, but instead of pubs, they take place in pools.  Everyone seemed to be raving about them! We were told that they were $50, but worth every penny because it was all-you-can-drink.

But, when I heard that, all I could think was, "why would I pay $50 to throw up the next morning?"

Yup, I'm officially old.  When I was 22, I probably would have thought that was heaven.  Now, heaven seems a lot more like Netflix and really good chocolate. Dear God, what is happening to me? If I start talking about wanting to purchase a pair of Crocs, please stage an intervention.

Despite not taking part in the pool crawl and being pretty ready to leave when we did, overall, we had a nice time and it was great to be able to get away from a lot of the stresses back at home.  

And we did manage to throw back a few hard liquor drinks. I suppose I'm not a complete lost cause.