3-31-10

3-31-10
A little recap from the last few days. Surf has had a bad combination of tide in the morning when the wind is more favorable. The place needs a higher tide to break right. Now low tide is about 10 am and moving 1 hour later everyday so our window for better surf is looking up. Also another swell is suppose to arrive tomorrow. We are keeping our fingers crossed. This am had some fun smaller surf and maybe the best so far.
Yesterday we put the car to use and drove to Leon and wandered around downtown. Saw the largest Cathedral in all of central America and as always in front of the church is the town square with all the vendors selling their wares. The central market was also nearby so a stroll was in order through that maze of fruit,veggies,meat,fish,clothes, and you name it. The sidewalks are also crowded with just about everything for sale you can think of. I think Jack was amazed at all the sights. Dillon too! This is an everyday happening that should not be missed by anyone traveling to countries outside the good ole USA. “Central” as downtown is referred to in lots of other countries varies from place to place but is always worth a visit. This time we were not hassled ‘to buy” by anyone, a nice change from some of the more touristy cities. I am sure we stood out like sore thumbs because of oour skin color. We saw very few white people until we went for lunch at the ‘big foot’ hostel where we had a very nice lunch in their vegetarian restaurant. Excellent salads with sandwiches and smoothies. Somehow we were even able to find ‘central’ and our way back out of town in the maze of one way ,narrow, and dead end streets. We were told to get to the edge of town and hire a taxi for us to follow so we could find the place. The challenge and luck played out in our favor!! haha !! I only tried to go down two streets the wrong way!! On the highway to and from our place we pass a volcano that has smoke coming out of the top of it. It is really pretty cool to see.
The day before we went to the next beach to the north just poking around. This whole country is about ready for a huge influx of locals to hit the beach this weekend. We saw temporary restaurants, concert/dance venues, and campsites being set up in fields. Busses are also crowded going to the beaches. Some of them so crowded they had people sitting on the roof with all their stuff and hanging out the back doors. Our spot should not see (I hope) the massive amounts of humanity that will be descending. This place is in front of a good surf spot which does not mean it is near a town. We will wait and see.
The day before Dillon wanted some more stick shift lessons so we went exploring to the “Marina”. Cool place back in the mangroves, with enough room for 20 or so good size cruising yachts but mostly vacant. Beautiful hotel, restaurant, and grounds. Maybe Easter weekend will fill the place up. Always a smile or a wave in return of the same when greeting someone. Dinner of spaghetti with chicken and a bottle of red wine. Jack beat us all to bed as he was out by 8pm!! He went hard all day as I figured he would. But what else should he do?
Our hosts here at Hotel Chancletas are a couple from Miami with their 3 little girls the oldest being seven years old. Shea bought the land 7 years ago and built what is here since then. He found the place while on a surf trip. The land was an old cotton plantation. We are very comfortable here. Two surf guys we have made friends with which are staying in the room next door are from Germany. One is a teacher , the other works for a company that makes currency for different nations. Both are about 35 years old. They have traveled to surf for the last 10 years or so. Being from Germany they have to travel for waves. Both are snowboarders. I have seen this crossover of sports through meeting other traveling surfers in the past.
We had a flat on the rental car. Picked up a small nail. Had it fixed at the “tire shop” down the street. Pics attached.
More later,
jim

3-27-10

The photo above is sunrise just outside our room. Just the Nica's burning the fields!
Up at the crack as I have always described getting up early. The coffee was already made in the restaurant just 30-40 steps away for our room. Yes that small luxury is sure nice!! Surfed from 6:30 till 10 when the on-shores came and blew out the cracking beach-break. We have been taking some surf photos. Walking around outside during the middle of the day one feels like being a chicken on a rotisserie grill it is so hot. There is not much humidity just dry heat. This is the dry season and most “greenery” is brown and much of it burnt as they burn it due to lack of lawn mowers I guess. A lawn mower down here is a machete by the way, everyone carries one. Even bicycles have sheaths for them. Good for most anything tool and cheap!
Took a drive this afternoon just exploring the area. We did have our boards just in case! The drive was a view of what it is really like down here away from “civilization”. We ended up in some very off the beaten path areas. “Where ever you go there you are” is the cover on a Mexico travel book I have. That was never more apparent than this afternoon. Just looking around made you realize that having an indoor toilet, a floor that was not dirt, a roof that was not palm fronds, a kitchen that was inside and air conditioned at that, running water and not a well to haul your only water by the bucket full, a shower that was not at the well with the bucket, did I mention electricity!! , maybe a car, which we saw very few of, all of these places with people in the yards had a smile and a wave if offered the same, as we drove by slowly. The road was so bad one could not drive fast. Just idling in 2nd gear was about the right speed. I hope Jack and Dillon really remembered what they witnessed as everyday life down here. The scenes were normal for down here but unheard of for the most part in the good ole USA. The next time you complain about the modern conveniences we are use to having but not functioning just think of everyday life down here. It will make you feel very lucky!!!

Nicaragua 1st entry

3-26-10
First I will play like I am on twitter!! drive to rdu smooth -board checkin smooth until they pulled out out of the security line because we had more than one board per bag !! I thought we had made it !! but no way!! - flight to miami quick! - 45 min late leaving Mia but in rental car by 2:30 pm and on the road. 30 minute drive through Managua to get to the outskirts of town for our hwy “La Nueva Carretera Norte” where we quickly found a “Tip Top” and pulled in. This is the Nica version of Chick Filet except complete with parking lot attendant that happily watches your car and a rent a cop that opens the door for you to enter. Now being gringos we bellied up to place our order only to find out it is sit down service complete with a waitress!! All the above received a “propina” (tip) BTY. Just the regular chicken, fries,and a drink but it hit the spot and we were on the road again. Very interesting driving down here. To begin with the scenery is totally different than going south to the other place we had been before. A good road and not too much traffic but for the traffic that was there it consisted of everything you could think of including: big ass trucks and small ones, lots of bicycles, fast cars, slow cars, horse drawn carts, pedestrians , and the occasional loose horse or cow!! A fair number of cops. I like seeing these guys as it makes me feel safe as long as they do not stop me!! No we did not need to “offer cash “ to any of them like we did going south. I think the only reason we got stopped going south is because we had surfboards on the car. Maybe that means not many surfers go north! Stopped at a good grocery store again complete with armed personal in the parking lot (this is normal for countries like this BTY) and is expected. Stocked up on snacks, fruit, water, and peanut butter and jelly. We do not have a fridg! Made it to La Chancletas by dark and the cold beer tasted great. Dinner of stir fry chicken wasn’t bad either. The room has two queen beds and a single, AC, a nice bath, and very clean..We put Dillon and Jack in a queen together so we could sleep. Bed was even better by 9pm. It gets dark about 6:30.
Had coffee at 5:30am. We had arranged for a boat to pick us up at 6:30 am to carry us about 5-10 minutes offshore to a fun left point break while the tide was low. We surfed for 15 minutes before the boat (panga) arrived at the beach break just outside the peak. We just paddled out and climbed on board. Now the gas tank on this fine craft was a gallon plastic jug sitting on the back seat with a hose stuck in the top wedged tight with some rubber!! We felt like we had a good captain ! USCG approved I doubt it!! He surfed with us , he had (not with us bty) a 1.5 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. A fisherman when he has no surf charters. He knew how to make a buck. It was a good call to skip the beach at low tide. Surfed the point head high for an hour and a half then got dropped off at the beach break which is right out front of our place. The waves had improved and we found out why they call this beach break “BOOMS” !! Only about 10 of us surfing along this section of beach too! Brunch was good at the little Palapa restaurant here at Chancletas. Pronounced chan-klet-aas. Hotter than hell at the moment 2pm. Dillon and Jack just went swimming. Last time we were here down south we needed wetsuits. This am Dillon described the initial plunge into the waves as “there wasn’t even a slight chill, just warm” . Maybe a nap is in order? Thanks for reading! Jim, Jonathan, Dillon , and Jack