This World Traveler

Kids playing soccer on the beach in San Juan del Sur

There is a city on the Pacific shore in Nicaragua that is becoming more and more popular with tourists around the world. This little, sleepy village is quickly becoming a hotspot of budget travelers as well as people looking for a bit of luxury on a Central American vacation. It's San Juan del Sur, and after four days there, I fell in love with the town.

Problem is that there just isn't a lot of good information out there about it. The Lonely Planet guide gives it just a couple paragraphs, and its visit at the main hostel lasted, legend has it, about four minutes. So I thought I'd share my basic thoughts about the town and tips for places to stay and things to do.

Getting there and Away
There is only one expreso that leaves from San Juan del Sur. (An expreso is commonly referred to as a chicken bus. Picture a school bus, filled with people and stuff and people standing in the aisles because all the seats are full.) It usually leaves relatively early. The fastest and most comfortable way to get into San Juan would be by collectivo taxi from Rivas. You'll share the cab with up to four or five other travelers and the cost will run somewhere between 30 and 50 cordobas. ($1.50-2.50) One of the expat bars in the area, Big Wave Dave's, runs shuttles to Managua and Rivas, but they can be rather pricy.

Geography
The city is built along the lagoon and a gorgeous beach. This isn't a great place to swim however. The water in the lagoon is fairly nasty, but it is a nice place to stroll along and catch some sun as well. The town itself is fairly small, the bulk of it no more than 1 to 1.5 kilometers square. Most hotels are in the main area of the town, near the beach. Most addresses are given as directions in relative distance from landmarks, like the municipal building, or the central market.

Sunset on the beach at San Juan del Sur

Where To Stay
There are a lot of options in San Juan del Sur. Plenty of midrange hotels are available costing in the 50-75 dollar range per night. There are also a couple budget options.

Casa Oro is the center of backpacking life in the town, being the only hostel mentioned in Lonely Planet. My experience is that the hostel itself wasn't that great. There's common space, but the rules are pretty tight and makes it difficult to socialize or even relax. They say they offer a bar, but the bar only sells beer, and only til 10:30 at night. You aren't technically even allowed to bring rum in the hostel. Rates run from $5 a night for a dorm bed to $18 a night for a private room. The private rooms are dark, dank and noisy as they border the street. Also, be aware that the hostel does charge $5 for late checkout (after 11am) so bring a watch if you stay there.

If your budget can afford $10 a night, I recommend Hotel Joxi, less than a block off the beach. For $10 per person, you get your own room with ensuite bath, air conditioning and pirated cable TV. The rooms aren't all that clean, but you're on the beach and for $10 what can you really ask for? The second floor has a charming little common area as well, with hammocks that you can snooze in during the afternoons.

Want something more private? Well, just find the hippy looking guy asking you to stay in one of his houses. Seriously. Nicawoods is the name of the cottages that he owns. They seem quite nice and all have air conditioning and modern amenities. Just no internet. They are just a few minutes out of town and nearby to some of the better surfing beaches in the area. They run about $50 a night last I checked.

If your budget allows you to splurge in the $150+ a night range, I recommend Pelican Eyes Resort. The resort in the hills just past the main town offers stunning views of the ocean and deluxe accomodations. Even the small rooms offer amazing beds, hot water showers, your own patio or terrace, and a kitchenette of sorts including a mini fridge, microwave and more. The bigger casitas and casas even have full kitchens and gorgeous living rooms. Taking a tour of the resort, this is one place where I could get used to luxury. Rooms start at $125 a night and the resort features three swimming pools and an excellent restaurant, if a bit expensive.

Where to Eat
If you are looking to eat on the cheap, the place to go is where the locals go. The main market. I had a great Carne Asada dinner there for just about 40 Cordobas ($2.00). It's pretty informal but the food is filling and the price is very right. There are plenty of other, more familiar, options as well. Breakfast and coffee and smoothies are available at El Gato Negro which also doubles as an English bookstore. Prices here though are rather high for the area, but its a very relaxing place to enjoy a coffee and relax with a good book. There's also good bar food available at Big Wave Dave's but again the prices here are higher than average, and the crowd is mostly older expatriates. There are also a few pizza places, one of which offers American style breakfast, and a Subway.

The other place that's both a big nightlife spot for travelers and one of the better places to grab dinner is Club Iguana on the beach. The beer is cold and the Fish Sandwich is among one of the better fish meals I've had in a long time. There are a number of other bars in the area, but my favorite is Republika. This bar just serves drinks and hookahs but is one of the more relaxing spots to spend an evening drowning your memories in rum and beer I've been to. Run by a Canadian named Chris and his Wisconsin native sweetheart, the two have been there for a few months and its a great place to catch hockey games, or basketball, or football or any American sport you might be missing at the time.

The Immaculate Conception Procession, December 2007

Tours and such
The big place to go again for this kind of stuff is Casa Oro. The hostel may not be the greatest place to stay, in my opinion, but it has amazing offerings that anyone can attend. From here, you can take canopy ride tours, and you can go to La Fleur preserve to visit the Olive-Ridley sea turtles, and if you are lucky, get to see the endangered species make a nest for its eggs. Casa Oro also offers shuttles to the nearby surfer beaches three times daily. The Sea Turtle tour costs $30 a person and the shuttle ticket is around $15 round trip for the one hour each way drive.

If you're looking to stay in town, there's plenty of shopping that can be done, if you are looking for souvenirs. Quite a few set up T-Shirt and jewelry stands along the beach and there are a few shops along the main drag that are there for this purpose as well. Internet is also widely available, the average cost is about $1 per hour. (20 Cordobas)

All in all, this town seems sleepy at first, but its laid back charms grab you pretty quickly. During a one week vacation, I came to San Juan expecting to spend one night. I spent four days. There's something special yet intangible about this place, but its charming. For how long? Who knows. Cruise ships are starting to find this town. During my short stay in San Juan, three ships ported in the lagoon, so this kind of charm may not be there forever. If you get the chance, savor it while you still can.

Labels: cityguide, nicaragua, san juan del sur, travel

The Sea Turtles of Nicaragua

One of the pleasures of finding yourself in a place that you know nothing about is that, every so often you'll find out something special that your guide book never clued you in on. When I was in Southern Nicaragua, this happened to me. San Juan del Sur barely registers a page in the Lonely Planet Central America guide book, but it was my favorite spot on my vacation - and nowhere do they mention the turtles.

But they are there. Well, not in San Juan del Sur proper but just south of the town. Olive-Ridley turtles come to a beach every year to lay their nest of eggs by the hundreds of thousands. And they always come back to "La Fleur." It's not for the ambiance but more of a homecoming. According to our tour guides, these turtles were born here.

The Olive-Ridley turtles, like most sea turtles come to lay their eggs at the same place that they were born. It's not necessarily a conscious thing on the turtle's part, but rather an in-born homing signal or GPS. It's worked for them for a long time. Hundreds of millions of years in fact. But now, populations are declining. Environmental concerns shape this problem as do humans. With the breeding grounds limited (for all the thousands of miles that a turtle swims in a year, they only stop at seven unique beaches in the whole world), overfishing and hunting has become a serious problem. Most of these beaches are in decline for the sea turtle population, with the exception of "La Fleur." Thanks to Nicaraguan preservation efforts, turtle deposits are actually increasing, now with about 200,000 turtles coming by annually.

When our tour group hit the beach, in early December, the nesting season was in full swing with 90,000 turtles at the beach, and 5,000 alone arriving the night before. My visit to Nicaragua, was again a happy accident. I had come to the town during a turtle "Grand arrival" which means I would get a very good chance to see a turtle making her nest during the day. A big bonus for me, because truth be told, a 4AM departure time to see a turtle lay an egg? That's not going to happen. Our 3:00 visit would mean a good likelihood of lots of turtles, better light for photos - a perfect storm. Well almost. It was also low tide....

There were a couple turtles making the trip on their own but the grand arrival we were waiting for was several hours off. Low tide makes their job twice as hard because the land travel doubles. A 50 meter journey quickly becomes a 100 meter journey. Pursued by natural enemies the whole time, its not uncommon to see flocks of vulture waiting behind the turtle for her to lay her nest of eggs.

The journey and work is a sight to see. After digging a hole a foot deep, Mama Turtle drops what has to be a most satisfying load, about 100 eggs. These eggs sit buried in the sand and if the nest is left undisturbed, hatchlings pop out of the sand about 50 days later. Sometimes, old nests get dug up. That's bad news for both sets of eggs, because it usually means contamination for both nests and death for all the hatchlings.

At "La Fleur" they are big on nature taking its course. They let the vultures go after the eggs, and the only one predator that they keep away from the nest are humans. They'll also give limited protection for the hatchlings. If they discover the hatchlings popping out mid-day when they sand will scorch them, they're picked up and kept cool until night time when they're set free. We were given this opportunity to do so which was quite incredible.

After dark, during our visit, the park rangers brought us about 75 or so turtle hatchlings to set free. The odds against them were steep. Of all those hatchlings, only one or two were expected to make it to adulthood. So our group decided to name the hatchlings we set free. Why not? A name gives an identity. Identity breeds character. And that's what makes you tough and a survivor. I thought of my four hatchlings as a family. So I named them after another family that faced adversity but after several TV seasons of trying finally got out of the ghetto. They were named Florida, JJ, Michael and Thelma. This way they can always have Good Times.

Ain't we lucky we got 'em?

Labels: nicaragua, san juan del sur, travel, turtles

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Kids playing futbol on the beach in San Juan del Sur during the late afternoon.

Labels: nicaragua, photo of the week, san juan del sur, travel