Nicaragua - San Juan del Sur

Hello everyone!!  With a week under our belt here in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua we can finally say we feel like we  have settled in and have figured out how things kind of work around here. When we first arrived we were all feeling a little lost and uneasy, yet excited. We have ventured out enough now to feel more comfortable and are starting to warm up to Nicaragua.  Our first few days were a little rough to be honest. We were very excited to be here but the response from many wasn't reciprocated.  We really felt like that the locals were not too happy that we were here in their country, we felt as if they were very standoffish and withdrawn.   We were very surprised by this and it took us back a bit.  We really had to think about things and put ourselves in their shoes.   In a way, why did we think they would be? Why should we expect that of them?  It's their county in which we as tourists are taking over, changing their lives. The changes may be good for some but maybe not so good for others.  With that in mind we decided to open ourselves up to them more, we said "hola" to everyone, stated talking to them and sharing a lot of smiles.  That made a huge difference, they started to respond, we broke the barrier with some, not all but most. We can't forget we are in their country and it is a country we are getting quite fond of!!

  The town itself is a laid back place that is very popular for surfers. The streets are busy and you can find many restaurants along the beach front and around the town.  No shortage!! Our favorite as of now is El Timon which has $1 appetizers and beer from 4-6 every weekday night, pretty incredible when a family of 5 can walk away stuffed for around $22 CDN!! We indulged in chicken wings, yucca, veggie wraps, plates of Marlin fish, meatballs and fish taquitos. YUM!!!!
Our only road block in getting there some days is the tide, funny how our daily life is now centered around high tide and low tide! Weird for a Saskatchewan family!! Haha  From our house, since we are out in the country we have to walk 2km to get into town, the main road (Chocolata Road) is good but quite busy with motorbikes, work trucks and general traffic.The walk could be much longer but we were told of a short cut part way that comes out at the north end of the main beach. In this clearing the ocean opens up and leads into a river, there used  to be a bridge there but it is no longer there (not sure why.)  That's the tricky part!! Our first time crossing it was low tide so we just walked through on the sand and the water was ankle deep, no problem!! Our next crossing we hit high tide and the water was chest level on the kids so we were concerned on what to do, we were stuck with our destination only meters away!! We noticed two guys off to the side with a small little boat and then they waved us over, for $1 they would take us across.  So all of us piled into the little boat and away we went, the kids giggled the whole way, fun times!!

 We now have downloaded a chart that tells us what the tide is and when it changes, handy to have but sometimes our plans don't jive with it and we pay the money to cross, it's no big deal. Our surroundings here in Nicaragua are quite comical to me!  We are staying out of town and in the country where it is quite rugged, rustic and ranch like but yet you are still in a tropical area.  We see the ocean, palm trees, Howler monkeys and exotic birds but at the same time you also see horses, cows, goats and hear roosters crowing at the same time.  We have goats at our front gate all the time, we laugh and say "we have a guard goat not a guard dog,"  The kids also find them around our pool sometimes! lol  Sooo bizzare and makes our time here quite the unique experience, sure shows you how different cultures can collide and work out for everyone!

We have been spending our days walking around the town and taking in all of the amazing sites, it is a very colorful place oozing with hostels, stores, markets, surf shops and restaraunts. Last Saturday we started to walk in and a lady stopped and offered us a ride so Doug and the kids all hopped into the back of her truck while I sat up front with her.  She was on her way to the Marina because there was a Panga fishing tournament happening and she had sponsored a team that had caught.  She was going to pick up her fish in exchange for a cooler of beer. We hit up the markets and then made our way to the Marina as well, we wanted to see what a fishing tournament in Nicaragua was all about. The music was loud, people were yelling and all crowding around different tents where their fish were laid out. The fish were weighed in and the winner was announced  later that afternoon but we were gone by then, party was getting a little crazy for us. The fish were huge!!! Red Snapper, Marlin, and Mahi Mahi were all that we recognized, it was  pretty amazing experience.

 To navigate your way through town takes a bit to get used to because there are no street signs anywhere,  which has been the way in every place we have been to on this trip. Directions are given out based on landmarks, restaurants or in correlation to the beach.  So in order to make your way somewhere the best way is to walk around and find things on your own.  Streets are busy with so much to see!!

We joined a FaceBook group here and on it we had a local expat family reach out to us and he invited us to join them down at a local beach for some surfing and beach fun.  So Thursday we packed up and taxied our way to  Playa Marsella which is about 8km north of our house. The drive took about 20 min because the road conditions were a little rough and I'm surprised our taxi made it!! The quiet beach is in a beautiful bay with incredible rock formations off to the sides and has soft white sand. We met up with Tom, his 2 children, and we also met other expat families from the US. The kids were super excited to play with other kids finally and we were so happy to meet all of these wonderful people who opened themselves up to us.  So thankful we have met them!!

Tom is quite a good surfer and offered his board and his help to our kids.  Pretty awesome that the kids were able to get out into the water again to surf, they all did a great job!!  Before going out we had to have a very important talk with them about the stingrays, a little stressful for all of us but it's just how things are here.  There is the issue of getting stung by stingrays because they come in close to shore and lay on the ocean bottom, people then walk out and step on them.  The sting is really painful and can be quite serious if the barbs get stuck bad I guess. "Stingray shuffle" is the way to do it here to prevent from getting hit, you have to drag your feet and stir up the sand when you walk in the water.  If the stingrays are around they will then leave if there is a disturbance but if you just step on them they react and lash out.  UGH!!!!  Made us super nervous but we made it through the day with no incidents!  Great day with some great people creating great memories!!  Thanks Tom for inviting us out and making us feel welcome! Here are our little surfers!! ;)

On our list of things to do here was the hike up to the famous landmark of SJDS, the Cristo de la Misericordia.  The second largest, so I have read, statue of Jesus sits up on the cliff 2km from town overlooking the bay.  It was built by a local businessman who made his fortune in tourism in 1990s, the statue stands 25m high. You can drive up the STEEP hillside to the top but that wasn't an option for us, we have no vehicle and we weren't going to pay a taxi. Walking up it was!! To see the statue in the distance you think it's a bit crazy to walk up because it seems so far away but we knew if we went early enough before it got too hot, took a ton of water and took breaks, we could do it.  To be honest the hike wasn't that bad, it was soooo steep and we could feel the burn in our legs but we powered through!! Pretty impressed with the kids and how they are so strong and push themselves, makes us proud!

 The hike up took us about 30 min and it was so worth it!!  The view from that high up was absolutely amazing, you could see for miles and miles.  In the far distance in the horizon you could even a land formation which was Costa Rica, so cool!  The beauty of Nicaragua is something else, the landscape that you look out upon is unreal. 

Hike day was a long tiring one but we all felt pretty great that we did it and that we were able to see such a view.  After we made our way down we made it into town to where they have a gringo market, so we heard it's called, tables are set up in there with various items for sale. The sale is held at a popular bar/restaurant called Big Wave Dave's, neat trivia to share with you how it got it's name.  I guess in 1992 a tsunami hit SJDS and the waves that the hit the town made it all the way in and stopped where the restaurant is now, that's as far as they went.  Pretty neat!!  While there we ran into one of the families we met at the beach the other day and we made plans to get together for a swim later that day. We had such a great time with them visiting and letting the kids play, so thankful for meeting them! This morning, Sunday, we were beat, so tired from all of the miles we put on yesterday but we have had the plan to go to church here and so the tide was low we thought we better just go.  Walked in and we attended the 11:00 service in Spanish with pigeons flying around, 2 dogs running around and an iguana climbing the wall! Haha  We wanted to experience what a church would be like here and it was a very memorable service!! Came home to an invitation from our friends we swam with yesterday to play some baseball with them at a field close to their house. We thought that would be great fun and we had heard baseball is very popular here and often games start up on Sunday's. We actually brought a baseball bat, our gloves and some balls with us from home, we are going to leave them behind for some kids here.  Thankfully they picked us up and we spent the next 2 hours having so much fun!! Some local nica kids joined in and we had a adults vs. kids game, super hot out there but worth all the sweat.

We have had such an up and down week but it had been good for us.  I think our expectations of Nicaragua didn't help us out when we first got here. We expected to be welcomed with open arms I think. That isn't how we were welcomed and some of our interactions with the locals at the beginning were not so good (mainly taxi drivers) and we let that get to us.  I'm glad that we refocused ourselves and adjusted our take on things because it definitely made a difference. We have met so many great people and are really liking the culture and the ways of the Nicaraguan people.  They are such hard workers who make such little money, $12 a day,  and I have no idea how they survive on that.  I can see why they may not be so open to us "rich" tourists and I feel for them because no matter how much harder they work, their lives won't change.  Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America and second poorest in the Western Hemisphere and it is heartbreaking to us to see how many live here.  I'm glad we gave ourselves time and our feelings for this country are completely different than they were a week ago.  Gotta give it a fair chance, we did and we are thankful!!  We are all safe, happy and our hearts are full!!

XXXXX from the Steel Family