Nicaragua Advice

I'm not poor or uppity but I am cheap. I like "authentic" places like that Thanks for the recommendation. Maybe I'll check it out. I like to see the look on the wife's face at a place like that. I enjoy freaking her out. Give her the true experience.

 

So I pu$$ed out and decided to lock in a few more days at certain spots on the way from Astillero to SJDS. I still have to lock in a spot at colorados and SJDS. I used AirBnB for the most part. Average price per night is probably at about $30 so far. I bought a new board for my trip and think I got more board than I wanted. I was looking for a classic High Performance Short Board, but ended up getting a Firewire Chubby Chedda. I'm having second thoughts about it. The thing sure is wide and thick so it isn't really a classic HPSB. So I'm about 6'1" 170lbs. The board is 6'1"x19.75"x2.5". It looks really cool, but not quite the potato chip I originally went in to get. I guess I'll try it and see what happens. I upgraded the fins too so maybe that will help. I should still have a lot of value in it if I want to sell it later. Anyone ever rode one of these or something like it? From a distance it looks like an HPSB not like an egg/fish. It's just pretty wide and thick for the length. It has a lot of tail and nose rocker. I'm not in the best of shape so it should offer some paddle power over a conventional HPSB. My guess is I'll take a slight performance hit for the paddle-ability. Still searchin' for that magic stick...............

 

Let me know how it is. From my understanding the waves actually suck in SJDS and you have to either head slightly out of town or charter a panga. True???

 

Well I'm back and I have to say it was a great trip. Good waves, people and food. Sure most places were primitive and we did see a lot of trash in the towns, but the beaches were fairly clean. I saw about as much trash on the beach there as I would just about any beach in the states. We never had any encounters with sketchy individuals. I had to ask directions a few times and everyone was super nice and helpful. First few nights in Astillero were fun, not super-macking waves. Santana was a blast, waves were pretty good, the wind direction was a bit off making it a bit sectiony and closeout. You had to be in the right place at the right time but if you were you would get a huge reward. In Colorados we stayed just outside the 2nd gate to Iguana in an eco-house in the jungle and we were able to drive right in and use their amenities. We ate at their restaurants and used their beach access and pool. There was a lull in the waves and Colorados and Panga Drops looked like poo. After that we went to SJDS and the wife and I didn't like it so we only stayed one night and headed back to Santana and stayed at the same AirBnB place as before. The swell picked back up and I had a great time. I ended up not going to Granada because they were having their revolution celebration so roads would have been closed and I figured I could just get up really early and make it to the airport by 11:30 which I did and had no problems. I was able to download another map app that has GPS and it worked pretty well for the most part. If you go, make sure you have a good GPS app for your phone, I used the Google map app. Also make sure to have a compass app. One night in Santana we walked to the beach bar and ordered dinner, it took a little while for them to make it. After we ate and started walking back we realized everyone had vanished quickly before dark. There was NO ambient lighting or moon. It was so dark. Luckily we had our flashlight from a smart phone, if we didn't there would have been no way we could have seen anything to get back. If you've never been to Nica before and are thinking of doing what I did make sure you have good printed maps, GPS, compass, and flashlight. Don't be out at night. Don't drink the water or ask for Agua Purificada. Don't let your wife navigate, their sense of direction is whack. The streets will have absolutely no signs. Be careful about going down one-way streets in the cities. BRUSH UP ON YOUR ESPANOL! If you rent a truck make sure you know how to drive stick. Once out on the coast provisions are limited, make sure you have necessities. Most likely you will eat all meals out at restaurants or possibly where you are staying. At the small little pulperia's you may be able to purchase items/food goods but you never know what they will have or what is available. We primarily picked up fruits/veggies here just for beach snacking. I do recommend staying at a surf camp which is all inclusive, rides from/to airport, food, beer and they will have everything you need. I however would go back and do exactly what I did again. I would like to check North though too, but I'm unfamiliar with it.

 

Yes it does look terrible as one paragraph doesn't it haha. I was just trying to type up something quickly and it turned out longer than I expected. I was probably on my phone too and the formatting is jacked up. As I'm typing this now on my phone, I'm just getting frustrated. So I'm done.