Friday, Laura and I hopped on the public bus and headed down to San Juan del Sur for the weekend. We arrived at the bus station at 3 to find the hood of the bus opened and lots of Nicaraguans peering inside, talking in fast Spanish that neither of us could understand. However, less than a half hour later, they had the bus running and we were on our way! It took us just three hours to get down to the coast, and the ride was beautiful. Just as the sun was setting, we passed several smoking Volcanoes.

As we passed the Volcanoes, I pulled out my camera to take a snapshot. NOT a smart decision. Immediately, I noticed this guy from several seats up staring at me. So I put the camera away, but the guy keeps staring. A few minutes later, he moves into the seat next to me (I was sitting with Laura, in the aisle, and he moved across the aisle from me). At this point, I am getting a little nervous, and turn to Laura, telling her this guy is really starting to sketch me out. Throughout the remaining hour of the bus ride, this guy literally DOES NOT take his eyes off me. I keep telling Laura, keep telling Laura, and she honestly just doesn’t believe me and thinks I am being 0overly paranoid. When the bus stops at San Juan del Sur, it is 6pm, and the beach is the last stop. I tell Laura to stay in our seat until this guy goes—and he just keeps waiting for me to get up . Finally, he motions for me to go in front of him, as if he is being polite. I refuse. He tells me this is the last stop, and I should get off.  I just say “esta bien,” and remain in my seat. So the guy goes. He walks away literally at a snails pace, looking back every five minutes to see if we have left yet. Laura and I finally get off the bus, and when he is not looking, sprint down a different street, taking a detour on our way to the hostel.

That night, Laura and I had dinner on the beach before hitting EL DISCOTECA! We sat beachfront, and I ordered three lobster tails and a beer for just $11! In the US, tip on ONE lobster tail would alone be around $8! It was insane, and so delicious! The next night, we went to another place on the beach and ate this amazing seafood stew—crabs, an entire lobster tail, clams, shrimp, a (random) chicken breast. Cost? $4! The even funnier part is that this kind of dining is a splurge and not quite in Laura and my budget….

My lobster tails

Seafood Stew

We enjoyed going out both nights. The first night we went to a bar/dance club on the beach, La Iguana. The club was very Americanized, but it was fun to talk to all the different travelers passing through, to hear about their experiences, and to get ideas about what we should do next.

Random friend

A few Nicaraguans were interspersed. Best pick up lines? “Do you want sexy me?” and “You look very delicious for me!” Oh, and actually, one of the best lines came from a fellow travelling from New Zealand: “There is a famous song in New Zealand which says that I am a pearl in an oyster of a world. But I think they had it wrong. I am the oyster, and the world is my pear, you know?” SUCH A TOOL THING TO SAY! This guy tried so hard to impress us all night with these cheesy,  very philosophical epiphanies.

 Miley Cyrus came on. . .

On Saturday night, we went to a bar further down on the strip that had a live reggae band, fire throwers, and an acrobat. It was very surreal to sit on the beach, listening to music, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and watching shooting stars above  us.

Saturday, we took a bus to Maderna, a secluded beach about 15 minutes from where we were staying. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Very awkward-- Locals who wanted to take pictures with us

We found a lobster on the beach

We rented boards, and spent the morning trying to surf the low tide to no avail. MANY nosedives (the waves were really sharp and, as novices, impossible to catch), but by the afternoon, the tide had come in, and the waves were awesome. We had so much fun, but both realized we needed to work on our upper body strength so that we would be able to pull ourselves up faster.

 Sunday, we woke up early and hiked an hour to the GIGANTE JESUS statue overlooking the city.

The incline on the way up was very impressive—maybe 40-50%? We had no idea how a car would make it up that road, much less a Nicaragua car (aka PIECE OF SHIT). We had a quick worship

 

. . .  And then enjoyed the breathtaking views of the entire coastline.

 

 

 

In the afternoon, we crashed five star resorts before catching the 2 pm bus back to Granada.

 

 

 

 

This morning was my first swim lesson. Lotte and I only had two children to work with today due to technical difficulties, but it went really well. One of the boys we were working with was nine years old and had never been in water before! The poor Nicaraguans bathe themselves not even in a shower, but with wet cloths that they run over their bodies. As cheesy as this may sound, it was really fun to be able to give him that experience and to watch him jump around and have the time of his life. We worked on becoming comfortable in the water, submerging our haeds, kicking, and floating.