Nicaragua / Nikaragva part 2

So, from Tola area we drove down south to San Juan del Sur. Totally different experience!! SJdS is all young gringos, spring brake-ish type of feel and setup. Lots of restaurants and bars along the main stretch of the beach, there are places to go out, places to buy trinkets... All of the things that I was absolutely not interested in, plus dealing with idiotic tourists, no thanks.
However, if you go a bit beyond the touristy zone, and off the beaten path, you can encounter culture, the true local flavor. :) One of my favorite memories from this trip was watching a football/soccer game in SJdS. It was a kids' game, they were all between 8 and 10 years old and the entire community gathered to support them and watch them. It was awesome!!

When it comes to food, I would suggest checking out one of the local spots, there are hole in the wall, mom & pop type of places that are on side streets, or the touristy and more fancy restaurants right along the beach where people pass buy and bug you to buy shit. And the trick that they are just giving you something as a gift, no need to buy it, is bullshit. It's called manipulation, and as nice and sweet the Nicas are, they need to make money and eat, so if you don't want something be direct and vocal about it. You can also buy drugs from those same vendors, so don't think that they are necessarily naive.
I'd rather give somebody money to leave me alone than to be bothered with those games, it's not for me.

Back to the area, the town itself didn't impress me, although it is very cute, but the beaches in this area were great!!! Not as good surfing opportunities as up north, but that might be depending on the season as well. However, if you like exploring and walking down the beaches, maaaan!!! This is it!! Beaches are like a string of pearls, you go from one to another to another... And the rock formations, the greenery in the back, the ocean... Just stunning!! We visited Playa Marsella, Maderas, San Lorenzo and Majagual. I loved them all! There are a few chilled restaurants on Maderas, very chilled!

The next day we went to check out the beaches south of the town, and were hoping to see the turtles at Playa Flor, but unfortunately there were uniformed and armed guards and we decided against it. ;) Playa Coco is cute, there is a very nice and yummy restaurant right on the beach, good local food! Btw, all of the food we had was bomb! I loved it all!! We only are in local places and only had local food, that's the way I like to do things, we only drank local beer and rum and it as all great!! :)
From the southern beaches we saw Playa Hermosa, el Coco, and el Yankee which was my personal favorite!!! I loved it!!! It was gorgeous!!!You can walk for miles and the sand is perfect and it's all just perfect! There was no one there local or tourist and we had the beach to ourselves. Being European I like to be topless and I totally could have even been nude here, there was no one!! Paradise!! :)

Culturally this area didn't seem as rich, unfortunately or fortunately there was a big influx of foreigners who purchased properties in this area and it seems to be the most touristy of all beach areas of Nicaragua, so some of the local flavor got lost in the gentrification, as usual. ;)

Our next and final stop was Granada. 1st thing is - Granada is a city, it's not just a little town like SJdS or Leon or Tola, it's decently sized you can walk around for a while, or drive! I really liked it! It has its touristy areas, but the architecture and the market in the center of the town definitely give it its local and authentic feel! I loved it! We were walking around and getting lost in the streets, went to the cemetery and walked around the city, it is truly a beautiful place. The cemetery wasn't the most beautiful one that I've seen, but it was still nice! I enjoy walking through the cemeteries of countries and cities I visit. I feel that it helps me connect with the ancestry of the place, honor the spirits, feel the energy of the place. It's like paying respect, at least to me, and one can learn a lot about the cultural context of a place by visiting the cemetery. The demographic, the leading families of the place, the religious background of the place, the architectural and esthetic style of the place... Lots of things! :) I like cemeteries, for whatever reason they make me feel good and at peace, I feel happy and grateful when I'm there, I feel one with the humanity... I'm sure that I'm weird, but whatevs! It works for me. ;)

We had two of the best meals while we were in Granada!!! First was a breakfast place called Kathy's waffle house. Awesome!!! Make sure that you order the typical Nicaraguan breakfast, it's ridiculous and amazing!! Plus the fact that every place has freshly squeezed natural juices and fruit smoothies just additionally rocked my world!!
The second place was a dinner spot called El Zaguan. Amazing!!!!! Everything was incredible!! We ordered different things, and tried each other's food, and maaaan!! Everything was delicious!!!

Definitely walk around and explore the area, don't just stick to the main street with all of the bars and restaurants, the quality of food is not as good as in the more local restaurants in the side streets. I promise you, with these two places you won't go wrong! I like to check out as many places as I can, but the breakfast at Kathy's waffle house was so good, we kept on coming back, like good little addicts! ;) Delicious!!! :)

I'm sure that I'm forgetting to mention something... Yeah, definitely be careful with your stuff while walking through the market, there are pick-pockets, like in any other city in the world, so be careful.

Oh, also, La Gran Francia, it's a hotel and a restaurant, the hotel and swimming pool part are across the street, we hung out in the restaurant area... In my opinion this gem should be in travel books, it is a piece of history and it is visually stunning!!! Apparently it used to belong to some French Count, or some sort of member of the aristocracy, who had to flee France so he landed in Granada. The entire downstairs area is decorated in the same style as before, it is like walking through a museum! Absolutely gorgeous!!! We sat down to cool off and have a drink and I didn't want to leave. I LOVED IT!!! Definitely worth checking out and taking some cool photos.

Also, another note, it is hot as hell in Nica!! For whatever reason, it was the hottest I ever felt anywhere that I have been up until now. Although, to be honest, I haven't been closer to the equator than this. DR and PR are close to it, but Nica was still the hottest place I have ever experienced. Be ready for it, especially if you live somewhere relatively cool, the difference will be shocking to you. I almost lost my damn mind due to all that heat! ahahahaha! :D I was a cranky, sweaty bitch! :) Oh, well! ;)

Again, feel free to ask any questions, I'm happy to help and exchange war stories! ;)

Laterz! :)

Nikaragva / Nicaragua

E pa ovako, poshto me mrzi da pishem na par jezika, ja cu sve lepo na engleskom.

So, other foreign nationals, like Serbian citizens need a visa for Nica, but it was pretty simple to get it, especially if you have a US green card. I would imagine that members of the EU wouldn't need one, but I'm not sure. The process was filling out the paperwork, 2 passport photos, copies of your itinerary, flights and stay reservations, pay like $30, and it was ready in 2 days. Apparently for Chinese nationals it is a lot more complicated, since China is building the canal close to the Costa Rican border, there is some conflict of interest, so for Chinese nationals it can take up to 6 months to get a simple tourist visa. I met this group of young Chinese guys who decided to travel down to Panama in a van, like one of those smaller, hippie, WV ones, and they got the visas for all the other countries except for Nica, they were already waiting for 3 months when I met them at the consulate office. And since they couldn't fly over Nica with a van they had to wait. Madness!!!

Anyhow, we decided to drive across the country, since we wanted to check out the entire coast and any and all cultural centers, thus we drove up from Managua to Leon, then went down Tola / Hacienda Iguana, and continued down to San Juan del Sur beaches, to later stop by Granada and Mombacho on our way back to Managua. We did go to Ometepe from Tola as well, since it was close by and it made sense. Our 4x4 Jimmy came out to cost about $1000 for 2 weeks. It's pretty pricey, if you ask me, but w/ his surfing boards and not knowing what kind of roads we'll come across it was a worthy investment. It ended up being a wise choice since roads are not the flattest! A lot of the roads, and by that I mean almost all roads aside from the main highway are bumpy, dirt roads, so if you're planning on exploring places and driving around, make sure that you get a 4x4.

Leon was ok, nothing special, but it was cute. I loved the cathedral in the center of the town, it was beautiful! We also went to check out the nearby beaches. We went to Las Peñitas, drove and walked around and then sat down in a little bar on the beach and chilled out for the rest of the night. The weather was shit, it was pouring down, the electricity went out, but it felt right. You're not in a first world country, electricity is bound to go out at some point, and it's ok. The place wasn't touristy and annoying, at least not when we went, middle/end of august, beginning of september, which is also the rain season, but I loved these places this way, they felt more relaxed and authentic. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the gallery that we went to, but if you like art, make sure that you check out some of the galleries in the colonial/downtown area, they are mostly in houses, but you'll notice them with doors open. You can find some amazing local art for an incredible price!!! We found this piece that I'm still dreaming about, but being a city dweller, my small apartment couldn't do it justice, but it was a huge painting of a bull, just phenomenal!!! And the owner offered it to us for $400!! Unheard of!!! That piece was worth at least a few thousand, I mean, a beautiful piece of work!! Grrrr!! I never felt more pissed for not living in a huge place in the suburbs, instead of a small place in the city! We both wanted it, but neither one had the space in our cribs. Grrrrr!!! Gorgeous artwork!!! Do check it out if you go!!

We didn't spend any time in Managua, everyone advised us against wasting time there so we didn't. The road to Tola was pretty straight forward, we didn't stop by any beaches along the way, we stopped by Mombacho town and walked through the bazaar, it was too touristy for my liking, whole bunch of touristy crap that you can waste your money on, but to me that's appealing, so we kept on driving. One thing that is more authentic and cultural that can be purchased in Mombacho are guitars. Different types of guitars are used in Nicaraguan folkloric music, so they are of all different shapes and sizes. Some of the old-school guitar makers still live in the area and make these guitars by hand, and they are so beautiful!! Having that precision and skill and respect for the instrument allows for some beautiful pieces! If you are into guitars or instruments overall, make sure that you check them out. Things are not made in the same way anymore, everything is mass produced, machine-made, this is the real deal, hand made by someone with the knowledge of the instrument and appreciation for the music. These trades were carried on from one generation to another and are now dying out. It's definitely worth checking it out.

Tola is tiny, there is nothing to see here, to be perfectly honest.

Hacienda Iguana is a private property, pretty much all gringo owned, as is common nowadays. There is a first security gate, you tell them who you are and where you are staying, they let you through and then you drive for a while until the second security gate, they give you the clearance again, and you keep on driving to your accommodations. There are these colorful crabs all over the property and along the road adjacent to the beach. You'll notice, where the ground is like dirt, not sand, you'll see holes, and they all come out and hide at the same time. They are beautiful!! There are apparently golf courses, restaurants, condos, houses, etc. in this area. We didn't bother with all of that, at least I didn't. The best surfing in the country is on this property, which is why we were here. It is called Playa Colorado, and apparently it has the best breaks of the entire coast. It is one continuous beach, but it is split in two, the other part is called Panga Drops and has great breaks too.

This is not a good swimming beach, you won't find calm sea, the waves are choppy and rough, but they are a lot of fun to play in, if that's something that you like. I had a blast! The waves were playing hide-and-seek with my bikini, and I was screaming and giggling like an idiot all by myself. Clearly, I don't need company, my crazy ass entertains herself! ;) And the whole beach saw my tits and ass in this game that I was playing with the waves, but I don't give a f! I was having fun!! :) There is only so much walking that you can do in that sun and heat, you have to jump in!!

We stayed in this house that is about 10 minutes drive from the beach, up in the hills, and it was ridiculous!!! It's one of those houses that you see in posts on facebook, "10 places you must see before you die!" Out of control cool and gorgeous!! The house is built like a large studio/loft, it's all open space, plus the entire front of the house is completely open! No walls!! The house has 3 walls: entrance side, and 2 side walls. You enter, to the right is the bed, to the left are a few steps to the slightly lower level where the bathroom, the kitchen, and the dining areas are located. Since the house is up on a hill, there is no one in front of you, just the jungle, so you see nothing but trees all the way until the water. It is amazing! And it's all open, a yoga deck and an infinity pool in front of you. RIDICULOUS!!!! The howler monkeys wake you up before the dawn, and stare at your during the day, you witness the most amazing sunrises and sunsets right from your bed, b/c, remember? There is no wall! It's all right in your face! What an amazing experience!! It's like camping, but fancy!! Solar energy, great kitchen, great swimming pool, everything was amazing!!! I loved the country, but this spot was my highlight of the trip, as ridiculous as that might sound. It's incredible being eye to eye with these exotic animals and birds, it's a jungle, you're basically in the wild, but still protected. AMAZING!!! Just amazing!! We paid around $100 a night for this spot. Fucking unreal!! Absolutely gorgeous!!

From there we did day trips to Popoyo, another good surfing spot, and Isla Ometepe. Popoyo is a beautiful stretch of the beach, there is a nice bar called Magnific Rock, which is touristy and full of privileged and spoiled American youngsters, but the spot is cool. I forget the significance of the Magic Rock which is right below the bar, but it's a great spot for a drink, snack, and taking photos of the rock and the surrounding area. :)

Ometepe was cool! It is very touristy, be warned, but as always, there are ways of avoiding it. We went and checked out all of the touristy attractions first thing in the morning, while everyone was asleep, and the things that I personally liked the most were not these, but the drive and the hike to the waterfall and the drive through the small towns on our way back to the ferry. Even though there is a lot of poverty, I personally feel better witnessing it and being aware of the socio-economic/politic situation in the country, rather than staying in one of the resorts and having no idea what's going on outside of those walls. To me that's a limited experience, and I'm more of a all or nothing person. The island has many prehistoric sites, there is lots of hiking options, and overall is very charming. I really enjoyed it. Since it is a volcanic island, naturally there is an archipelago of mini islands that one can tour or kayak around. Lake Managua is the only lake in the world with freshwater sharks, they are bullsharks, that apparently still live in the lake, but less and less people are encountering them. Bullsharks are pretty aggressive, so I'd be careful swimming there, just in case. ;) To get to the waterfall it's best to drive, that would be my advice. There were some girls who were biking, and the road is not friendly toward bikers, it is entirely too rocky and bumpy, and a couple who attempted to walk it learned quickly how silly that idea was. It's not close and it is extremely bumpy!! It might fuck up your 4x4 a bit, but hopefully not. ;) It's definitely an experience and an adventure! The waterfall is worth it, it's beautiful! :) There is nothing else on that side and you must return the same way you came.

San Juan del Sur and Granada are coming in the next post... ;)

Let me know if you have any questions, or if you need any recommendations, or anything similar!
Nica was awesome, I'd strongly recommend going! :)