Central America PART II: Nicaragua
Directly following our visit with family in Costa Rica, we returned to the airport to await our spring breaking friends from our hometown. The plan to rent a stunning house on a secluded beach in Nicaragua had been set long before we embarked on our world trip and even before we knew our year away would be a reality. We travelled with the group from Costa Rica to southern Nicaragua via the land border. The border crossing was a little more exciting than we wished. As it turns out, Lauren shares a name with a documentarian that raised red flags with the Nicaraguan border agents. After a long wait with our passports out of our sight, we were given the green light to literally walk across the border. It was well worth the anxiety to plant ourselves on the beach and bum it in the same place for a week, the longest stay of our year.
With the early planning, our friend secured the perfect beachfront house at El Remanso, a secluded beach south of San Juan del Sur. The house had an infinity pool overlooking the beach that provided us with beautiful nightly sunsets.
The pictures of the house and views on AirBnB sold us on this trip, but the final selling point was what made this trip special; the house came with staff! A housekeeper, Marisela, not only kept the house tidy, but she also cooked breakfast and dinner. Her husband, Esteban, was the groundskeeper and would also make runs to town for supplies. It was impressive how much cargo Esteban managed to haul on his motorbike! Esteban and Marisela took great care of all of us during our stay and we enjoyed their company. Jon, who had the best Spanish tongue of the group, got to know them quite well over daily planning as the conversations would transition into each of our lives and background.
The help from Marisela and Esteban allowed us the opportunity to seize the day. After the food plans were set in the morning, we could go about our fun in the sun without having to stop to go to the store or prepare food. What a luxury! The grown-ups enjoyed quality decompression time in the form of long walks on the beach, card games by the pool, frisbee throwing contests, and drinks with tiny umbrellas.
The kids had endless fun in the water alternating between games in the pool and chasing the perfect wave.
Robertito was the local surf bum housesitting next door to us. He offered surfboard rentals out of his small booth at the beachside and gave the boys their first surf lessons. Among his self-professed accolades were multiple surfing championships and having fathered children with women from three different continents.
While Robertito seemed to have good intentions, he was always trying to cut a deal with our group. He convinced us to employ him to set up a fire with some coco locos at sunset one evening. When he showed up with only a couple pieces of firewood and short by many coconuts, we decided it best to end any future schemes with Robertito. Although, he did get us on the beach with a fire and a beautiful sunset, so we could hardly be angry.
To regain the energy sucked out by the sun, we slurped in fresh fruit smoothies and daiquiris at the few tiki bars on the beach.
The beach had an abundance of cute little crabs. One night we went on a crab hunt and filled many nets! Then we picked our favorites and bet on who could race away the fastest.
We managed to keep the whole week fresh, but relaxing. Our sunset sailboat excursion, celebrating a 40th birthday, was one of the highlights of the week where the entire group cut loose and overindulged.
Beyond the horizons, we pondered the next chapter of our journey and how different it would be compared to our last three months through Latin America. Separating with family and friends was bittersweet, but now we looked forward to more meetups scheduled in our near future when we crossed the Atlantic. Ahead of us was Spring in Mediterranean Europe where we had a 90-day trip ahead of us. With a brand new car waiting for us in Madrid, we were looking forward to traveling the European continent via the roads less travelled.