So I know I planned on blogging before I left Granada for San Juan del Sur but I´ve been busy trying to sort out some living situations and travel plans. I apologize but I am alive and do have some more stories and pictures for you all. Last time I left you I was getting myself prepared for the Full Moon Party at this place called the Treehouse.

I mean this Treehouse could not have been anymore into the jungle than it is currently located. We had to take a dirt road into the middle of no where while my homestay father nearly got our SUV stuck more times than once. I still owe him big for giving me a ride out until the wilderness. Once we left the SUV it was still about a fifteen minute walk up to the Treehouse but by the sounds of the music and the views we recieved as we turned around we could tell we were going to liek the place. It really was just a giant treehouse with lots of friendly, relaxed, and slightly drunk people chatting amongst each other about who had travelled for longer or who has seen the most places. From the moment I said “Hola” and was greeted with a “What´s up bro?” I knew that I wasn´t going to be practicing my Spanish that night.

The vibe was already really chill and really hippy but the fact that it was the “Tree Hugger´s Ball” gave it that extra touch. The day before I had travelled into a sketchy little market area here in Granada which the middle class jokingly have named “Pakistan”. Pakistan was clearly a spot that foreigners don´t travel into but after being haggled for a while I was able to find my way to the used clothing section that my homestay father promised me I could find in the deepest sections of Pakistan. I obviously wanted to dress up as a hippy but I don´t have money to get myself a legit costume. I actually did surprisingly better than I had anticipated ending up with two tie-dye shorts and one whack pair of shorts. Oh yeah, those 3 items came to a grand total of 70 cordobas ($3 USD).

After a long night of being one with mother nature (sarcasm) we rolled ourselves out of bed and started looking for essentials such as our shoes and water. I say we rolled out of bed because the sleep was far from spacious. Even though I was able to secure to private rooms for my friends and I it ended up being far from private. Lots of people just showed up excpecting there to be rooms and others I think just didn´t care. By the time the night was winding down we were open to fitting a few more people in our rooms. The rooms were meant for two people each but we ended up sleeping four to a bed. These beds were hardly even meant for two. Honeslty, I´m pretty sure others just slept in the jungle and others are still laying there today so I´m glad we were able to help a few poor souls. Lack of sleep was hardly a problem as Nick and myself were just far too excited to get down to San Juan del Sur and strap on a board. After a 35 minutes walk back down to the main road from Granada to Rivas we were able to buy a few hot dog buns and pop. The lady had no waters but its fine because Coca-Cola is always refreshing at 9:15 in the morning. As we sat on our bags on the side of the rode eating our hot dog bun and sipping our pops a bus finally arrived. After asking if the bus was going to Rivas we were answered by “No. but you should get on anyways.” It was a good enough response for me and after traveling on the bus for about 40 minutes jamming out to Backstreet Boys and Christmas songs in Spanish we were told to switch over to another bus. It is very rare to see any other tourists on the Chicken Buses so if you are able to shoot the shit in your hacked up Spanish with the bus driver and his helper they are usually pretty cool about making sure you get off where you need to.

After arriving in Rivas and transferring to another bus we knew our next stop was San Juan del Sur. We arrived at 2:15 in the afternoon and finally were able to get ourselves some real water. I was actually doing really well but I can´t say the same for my companions. Anyways, I was able to secure us our own private dorm room at a place called Yajure and after taking a complete guess on where it was we ended up walking right into it.

Yajure Hostel had only been opened for 10 months and had been transformed from an incredible house into an even better hostal. The owner, Chely, who is more a brother then a businessman, is a Venezuelan surfer who fell in love with the waves at Maderas Beach about 10 minutes outside of San Juan del Sur. We couldn´t have had a more diverse group staying at the hostel but anyone that left or joined were either bid farewell with kisses or greeted with hugs. The vibes this place sent out were way too positive.

Since I arrived a little late we decided to save the surfing for the next day and take part in the festivities that were being offerred that Saturday. Everyone told us that Saturdays are the best night to party in San Juan del Sur but now I know that everyday is a Saturday in that crazy ass town. I woke up at 9:15 and went downstairs for my free breakfast. I just about made it in time to get a little Guyame (sort of like a jam) but instead ate myself a couple deliscious pieces of regular white bread. It didn´t matter anyways, I was far too excited to get into the waves at a nearby beach named Playa Remanso. After strapping my surfboard to the top of the taxi it was time to get out to the beaches.

San Juan del Sur is a beach town which attracts a lot of tourism and I was expecting all the beaches to be packed. Don´t get me wrong, it is a tourist town but most people end of partying so hard in town that the next morning they have no motivation to get out into the waves. With only a week to take it all in, I decided that I would just do both. I sure can´t think of anything more refreshing than hitting up the Pacific Ocean on a surfboard. But I digress.

Once my Granada crew and I arrived at Playa Remanso we soon realized that nobody else was even there besides the lone women who ran a little taco stop. Iaen and I were right into the waves while the other three stayed on shore in order to get instructions from their instructor, Pedro (chillin´dude). I´m not gonna lie, the waves were pretty wimpy and I was relieved that I decided on a 7´6¨ board instead of the 6´ board. Iwas happy that I didn´t have to arrive and start riding giants but the waves just weren´t big enough for the shorter boards. Even my buddy Iaen who surfs back home in Wales just wasn´t able to get enough power out of the wave to ride it for a decent amount of time.

The rest of the week I stuck with the 7´6¨ board and just got hammered down on by some nice sized waves at Playa Maderas. Even once some of the crew left to head back to school in Granada, Iaen and I decided to stay and continue surfing.

The town itself was one crazy place. Don´t get me wrong, the rum is good down here but how open these girls were about there cocaine usage was so rediculous. I have no idea how many end up in a Nicaraguan prison by the end of the night but half of them sure are asking for it. Drug dealers in SJDS (San Juan del Sur) are pretty rediculous people as well. They must have something worked out with the police because they were incredibly blatant about the whole operationg as well.

Either way, I felt free to party with these people knowing that it would be them and not me that gets robbed as they stumble the wrong way back to their hostal. I may sound like a bit of a hater but I really didn´t mind being surrounded by it was just a bit crazy to see how open people were about everything. it was mainly the people who didn´t speak a word of English and could really care less on learning any.

San Juan del Sur was an unforgettable experience though. Nothing can explain the beautiful sunsets you get everyday right along the Pacific Ocean. A couple days we went on a big boat for $10 each and brought a bunch of beers and fishing roads and of course my portable speakers. We caught two massive fish on our first trip and even cooked them both up that night for the entire hostel. Things like that are really what make travelling unforgetable. Everyone just went for an incredible day of fishing and swimming at remote beaches and we all ended up cooking up dinner for the entire hostel that night with good drinks and great music.

 

 

Yesterday I caught a bus back solo back to Granada because I decided to sign up for another week of school at a new place called Casa Xelteva. It it a really good situation there because your money actually goes towards educating the kids who also study at your school. They are such innocent and sweet little kids that I am very happy to see that they are getting an education from an incredible organization. It feels really nice to be back in Granada but I don´t think that I will stay for too long. I love having a home here with Winston, Mario Jose, Jersil, Ton and the other students Nick, and Johannes but I don´t want to get too comfortable in any one location. Vancouver is wehre I am meant to have my daily routines, not here. That is why I´ve decided to research some schools in Guatamala and make my way up there before the world ends on December 21st. I personally don´t believe the whole Mayan Calendar situation. I just feel that if the world does end up going down then there probably isn´t a much better place to bid it farewell than in the land of the Mayans.

One more time I will apologize for my lack of proofreading but that is going to have to be done when I get back to Vancouver. I am looking forward to this week of studying and hope to go to Las Isletas and Volcan Mombacho again before the week is over. I´ll make sure to post some awesome pictures! I hope everyone reading is doing well and that I am going to miss you all the closer we get to Christmas.

Hasta luego muchachos,

Taylor