Days 710-716! Yeeeeeew! It’s time to finally dive back into the ocean and get to surfing. After a few nights in Ometepe, I found myself back by the beach in a lovely little surf town called El Gigante. This town has an incredible vibe and I made really nice friends here. I also had a couple free rides from new German surf friends to a nearby beach.

After an exciting last week filled with ups and downs, I was looking forward to getting back into the swing of traveling and adventure.

For those of you just joining or missed last week’s blog post, I landed in Nicaragua after many delays to my flight AND the airline misplacing my bag…

I woke up at 9am on Thursday, December 11th to a cloudy morning filled with sporadic rain at El Zopilote Hostel. I made my way to the hostel lobby for breakfast and read as I waited for my food to come. While waiting, my friend Renee arrived at the lobby and we chatted about our day plans. Our original plans were to motorbike around the island today, but with the sporadic rain, I was a bit hesitant.

After I wrapped up breakfast, we decided to wait ten minutes. If the rain came again, we’d cancel our plans, if there wasn’t rain we’d go for it. Anddddd…

The rain didn’t come, so we went for it!

I rented my own motorbike from a rental shop at the entrance of the hostel. It was a nice scooter, probably 100cc max, but it had good tire treads and no dings on it. I rented it for $12 for the half day since I wouldn’t need it for tomorrow (because I was leaving the island). It was a little steep for the price, but that’s what I get for renting for such a short amount of time.

Renee and I set off on our adventure around the southern loop of the island. This drive took us around the volcano, Maderas. We started by driving to the grocery store for Renee to get herself snacks for breakfast and then we went to a small cafe for her to get a few other baked goods. Then we made our way down the paved road towards the town of Balgue which had alleged beaches nearby to watch the lake and so Renee could eat her breakfast.

Turns out… these weren’t sandy beaches or beaches at all. They were pretty much just entrances into the water. So we kept driving and driving not finding a place to stop. We decided to just keep cruising on since we were enjoying the scenery and the drive.

The paved road quickly turned into a compact rocky, dirt road. It would randomly turn into a paved road again, but for the most part of this drive, it was on the non-paved road. We also were the only tourists on this side of the island, driving past locals homes; their horses, chickens, and even pigs; and got many smiles, waves, and hellos from adults and kids.

After an hour and a half of driving, we eventually found a path that led to a grassy/dirt area by the water and a ways off the road. It was pretty much the halfway point of our loop too, so we went off the road and found a spot to sit in the shade to enjoy a break from driving.

This was definitely reminding me of driving around Vietnam and Laos! Definitely nowhere near as bad as the roads in Laos but they were worse than Vietnam for sure.

We sat for a bit chatting and snacking before continuing on. The ride was taking much longer than Renee had thought, I on the other hand had a feeling the loop looked deceivingly small. As we continued on, the roads got sketchier and sketchier. Not to the point I felt like it was too bad to drive, but the drive definitely took more concentration at some points. It also sporadically rained on us throughout this leg of the driving, but it was pleasant with how hot it was.

The roads turned into completely loose dirt, which became its own challenge. Eventually we found out why the road shifted in material. There was construction currently happening and they were laying new dirt to be pressed down by a roller. Thankfully we eventually passed the trucks and were back to rocky, solid dirt roads.

We finally arrived at Playa Mango, which was our end destination of our drive (we took the long way to get there). I was told it was a nice place to relax and if you bought a drink or meal you could just hang out all day. It turned out it wasn’t a beach but just a restaurant with a calm area to get into the lake. I got a mango smoothie and while we enjoyed our drinks, we ran into Lizzie, who I met a couple days before at the hostel’s pizza night.

We all chatted for a while and I took a swim in the lake, which was on the chillier side. But that was perfect for how hot and sunny it was! While swimming I heard a plop directly next to me and realized I almost got bonked in the head by something falling out of the tree. A little while later, Lizzie spotted another thing fall and it confirmed my suspicions. I was very glad I didn’t get hit, whatever it was fell quite a far way… it wouldn’t have been pleasant!

Renee and I headed out around 4pm and on our drive back, I saw a guy I recognized from the hostel wandering around the street. I pulled over and yelled out to him asking if he needed a ride and he told me he was looking for the entrance to the hostel that also connected to the volcano hike. I told him about the path I took the day before and it sounded like what he was looking for. So he hopped on and I took him there.

His name was Ben and he’s from France. We chatted a bit on the drive and he was very thankful for the ride. He was a fair walk away from the path I knew so I’m glad I was able to help. I dropped him off and continued on to the hostel. Renee went to a cacao ceremony at another hostel and I went up to the hostel to shower, read, and relax before dinner.

After reading for just under an hour, I hopped back on my motorbike for one more little ride. I enjoyed my dinner the previous night so much, I headed back to the same restaurant to have it again. I had another round of pollo a la plancha at Comedor Sunshine.

It was just as good as the night before and I told the owner how much I enjoyed the food. I drove back to the hostel and returned my bike rental a bit early. I thought about going to the ATM because I had a feeling I’d need to prior to my travel day tomorrow, but I decided against it.

The reason I decided against it was because there was an open mic night tonight at the hostel and I didn’t want to miss it! I thought it started at 6pm but when I arrived at the lobby, I found out it didn’t start till 8pm. Sooo I could’ve and should’ve gone to the ATM. Instead I sat and chatted with Anne-Sophie and a new friend Niamh from England.

Eventually it was time for the open mic night/karaoke/slam poetry/whatever you wanted to perform night. A couple people sang some karaoke and then I decided to step up and perform one of my original songs. I played Loneliness, and it was the first time performing it infront of an audience I didn’t know! This beginning my performance journey of Landlocked Beach Bum.

I think the people at the hostel enjoyed the song and at one point were clapping along. I later found out that the song resonated with one of the travelers there and they were so excited to hear that it was on Spotify so they could add it to their playlist! That really took me by surprise and I was very flattered and glad!

I was pretty nervous and made a couple mistakes, but it’s been a LONG time since I’ve done any form of performing and this was my first time performing my own music. But I’m so glad I did! Throughout the night, when there were lulls in performances, I’d hop up and play another song. I played Stick Season by Noah Kahan and had a lot of the crowd singing along with me (which I told them to join in if they knew it). I also played Cyclone by Sticky Fingers, which I thought more people would know, but apparently didn’t. Both songs were well received though and I got many “nice jobs” and was told “I sounded very good” which was very kind of everyone.

While sitting around and listening, I chatted more with Niamh, Anne-Sophie, Renee, and also Ben, the traveler I gave a ride earlier in the afternoon.

Ben ended up being a super cool person. Over the past two years, he’s been solely traveling by hitchhiking! He started in France and hitch hiked his way onto a couple sailboats and ended up in Colombia. He then made his way all the way to Mexico and now he’s heading back down to Panama where he’ll hitchhike onto a boat bound for Australia. Then over the next 2-3 years he’ll make his way to Indonesia and then find his way back to France. He had a lot of fun stories to share and we had a wonderful conversation about the world, obviously sharing a lot of similarities in our outlook on life.

I unfortunately had to cut my night short, even ending it later than I had anticipated. I had an early bus the following day for another travel day.

I woke up at 7am on Friday December 12th, brushed my teeth, and tried to quietly finish packing my bag. I then went on a hot walk to and from the grocery store to use the ATM. I should’ve used the motorbike! After that 30 minute round trip, I grabbed my bags and checked out of the hostel. I sat in the lobby eating a vegan chocolate banana muffin and then around 8:15am I walked back to the street to wait for the 8:30am bus.

… which of course was late.

I waited and waited and waited, even passing up a taxi to keep waiting for the bus. I chatted with a local who appeared to be waiting for the bus as well and she said sometimes it comes closer to 9am. The complication was today’s travels had somewhat of a tight schedule. I was heading to El Gigante, a smaller beach town on the west coast of Nicaragua. And there are only two busses to it a day. One at 10am and one at 1:30pm.

I didn’t want to get up for the 10am bus, so I needed to make the 1:30pm bus. And I still had a bit of traveling to do before getting there. The bus eventually arrived just before 9am and I took it to a town nearby called El Quino for 20 Córdoba (not $20). On this crowded, bus I met a nice traveler from Italy and we chatted for a bit. She was working in Colombia doing ecology research and was doing a bit of traveling before heading back for Christmas.

The bus got to El Quino at 9:30am and the next bus came at 9:45am. So there was hope that we’d make the 11am ferry. If not, the next ferry would’ve been at 12pm or 1pm and then I’d most likely miss the bus. I sat next to a local named Antonio. He made sure I paid the correct price for the bus which was 22 cordobas when I saw a few other travelers further up front paying 30.

Antonio was a chatty guy and we had a nice conversation in Spanish about basic get to know you questions. It was a nice way to practice my Spanish in an easy environment. I also had some cute interactions with local kids, one very young one was very insistent on trying to give me 10 cordobas. It was very funny.

The bus arrived in Moyogalpa with plenty of time to get to the ferry, I was pleasantly surprised! I bought my ferry ticket for 50 cordoba and then I boarded for a nice hour ride to San Jorge.

When we arrived in San Jorge, I immediately found a real collectivo for 50 cordobas. We waited for other passengers but no one else needed it and others had left before us. So we headed off to Rivas. The ride was still only 50 cordobas, which showed me that real collectivos will not charge more money for less people… unlike what the scammers say at the Rivas bus station.

Speaking of scammers at the Rivas bus station! We arrived to the bus station and I was of course met by the onslaught of the taxi drivers trying to charge way too much. I knew my bus arrived at 1:30pm (it was 12pm-ish) and I knew what the bus would approximately cost. So they couldn’t tell me it wasn’t coming or whatever other lies they like to use to scare passengers into using their taxi services.

However with that all said… I humored one.

His name was Juan and he started off by trying to tell me all the usual B.S. about how the bus wasn’t coming and that when it did come it might not have enough people to go back and even if it did have enough people, it was only going to a town halfway. Yeah right man… We spoke in Spanish for a while about all of this and that his friend had a taxi that could take me directly there for $25.

I laughed and said no thank you and my big leverage was that I wasn’t in a rush. I was totally fine waiting for the cheap bus. He wasn’t letting up though. He told me his friend was going to Gigante anyways so he’d do it for cheap, only 500 cordobas ($14). I still was not convinced and wasn’t having it. But after he said “what about 300 cordobas?” I was like hold on, he wants to bargain.

So I said no, I’d maybe consider 150 cordobas, but I’m really fine taking the stinky, stuffed, cheap bus. I could go get lunch, relax, and wait. He told me he could do 250 cordobas, which is already wayyy cheap for the hour ride in a taxi, but he wanted to play, so I was ready to play. I said maybe I’d do 200, expecting he wouldn’t budge any further… but after a little more talking, he called his friend who said he’d be okay with 200 cordobas ($5).

Now, was it probably 5x as much as I would pay for the local bus, yes. But I saved myself an hour and would have lots of space. And also get to El Gigante much quicker. He originally said his friend was 20 minutes away but five minutes later he arrived, which made me question if he really was going to El Gigante already… but I got my cheap taxi, so I wasn’t complaining.

The taxi driver ended up being a very nice man who chatted with me in Spanish the entire drive! One of the most memorable topics we talked about was some of the construction going on. The road was being transformed into a fairly large highway system connecting pretty much everything from Leon down to San Juan Del Sur… it brought up the conversation of how tourism is both good and bad for a country. And even though the driver was happy there was a new nicer road, he brought up the good point that he’d have much less business.

As of now, everyone has to go to Rivas from Managua to get to San Juan Del Sur, Popoyo, El Gigante, etc. but once the road is finished it’ll connect everything and you won’t have to do that anymore, thus getting rid of a lot of potential clients (to scam).

The taxi driver dropped me off just before the base of the hill leading up to my hostel. There was a lot of water in the road and the hill was very rocky and steep, so I got out to walk. I was semi-shocked when I got out of the car and he didn’t expect more than 200 cordobas. But after our nice hour long chat and getting to know each other, I wasn’t too surprised he kept his word.

It was a 5 minute walk or so up the hill to Monkey House Hostel. This was the hostel Anne-Sophie recommended to me while I was in Ometepe. I walked up to the lobby and was met with a stunning view of the ocean below.

The receptionist wasn’t around, but one of the kitchen staff helped me get checked in and to my room. I then ate a typical Nicaraguan breakfast for lunch at the hostel while I watched the waves crash below.

The water was very clear and I could see how clear it was from up top. I was really wanting to go for a swim. So after changing into my swim trunks, I went to investigate how to get down to the beach. I saw a person hanging out on the porch of their private room and went to talk with them. Turned out it was a German couple hanging out and they answered all my questions about the area. We also chatted a bit more about traveling and such, I was glad I decided to chat with them.

They pointed me towards a path that led down the cliff side to the beach. It started off as a nice decline with handmade steps, but then it quickly turned into using both of my hands to make sure I didn’t slip on the steep rocks. I had to climb over a bunch more to get to the beach and since it was low tide it was doable, but definitely wouldn’t be doable during high tide.

I left my stuff on the beach and immediately went in for a much needed swim. The travel day had made me very sweaty. Right as I entered the water I saw a juvenile stingray, which was really cool! But also made me start shuffling my feet to avoid any chances of stepping on a stinger. Thankfully I had no more run ins with any wildlife. I did have plenty of small waves to body surf but overall the ocean was very calm!

After a while in the water, I sat on the each to dry off. I eventually made my way back to the hostel via the main road rather than climbing up the hillside. It was a longer walk, but it’d be the path I’d be taking with a surfboard, so I wanted to know where it was. When I got back to the hostel, I rinsed off in the outdoor shower and sat on a swing, drying off, overlooking the ocean.

A little bit later, one of the hostel guests was climbing up the hillside… and it turned out to be Lean, who I volunteered with at Free Spirit Hostel. It was pretty wild that we were both here, seeing as we both had left Nicaragua for a couple months. We caught up and chatted about future plans. I love small world run-ins like this!

Lean had Spanish homework to do and I went to shower. And just as I finished I heard people were going to go play sand volleyball on another beach. I changed my plans from relaxing and reading to joining in on the fun. I joined Bodie from Montana and Patrick from England as we walked over to playa Gigante. We arrived and no one was playing volleyball (even though they play every night usually). But we did run into Bo, from Lake Tahoe, who I actually recognized from my first night at Zopilote Hostel. All of these guys were such nice people and very welcoming. It was one of those situations where it felt like we had known each other for a long time.

We watched the sunset and chatted and two other travelers from our hostel joined us as well. We wandered around the main little town of Gigante and settled at Juntos Beach Bar which had a solid pool table and $1 tacos tonight. Throughout the next couple hours, more people from our hostel arrived and we played many pool games. All the while we were chatting and enjoying lots of laughing. It was such a good vibe and I was happy I had made my way to this small beach town.

The night was far from over as Bodie and I headed back to the hostel in a bit of drizzling rain. The original plan was to read in the hostel’s hammocks, but instead we ended up chatting with other hostel guests and playing cards for the rest of the night. It was such a good day!

Unfortunately, the surf at the moment is really small and not the best. But I was still optimistic there’d be some surfing in the morning!

I woke up on Saturday, December 13th to a gorgeous day up on top of the hill at Monkey House Hostel. The sun was shining, but the tide was still too far out at 7am so I grabbed my kindle and relaxed in a hammock for a bit. My new hostel friends started waking up and by 8:30am we were heading out for a surf on Playa Amarillo.

Luckily, I didn’t need to rent a board today! Lean was busy this morning and said I could take the board she was renting out. I planned on giving it back when she came out to surf or whenever we wrapped up, whichever came first. We set out on the walk on the road, not down the steep entrance that the hostel has, and then continued walking down the beach until we pretty much reached Playa Colorados.

Bohdi, Rapha, and I walked together and chatted the entire way. As we got closer and closer to the end of the beach, we kept seeing better and better sets of waves. I was getting pretty excited. The board I was using was 7ft+ so I was ready for a fun longboarding session, especially after many months of short boarding.

There was a group of 6-8 people out surfing already and we quickly hopped into the mix. With what I saw for waves the day before, I was not expecting to surf for around 3 hours today… but we did! The waves were probably 1-3ft faces with lots of closeouts but plenty of fun longer rides as well. We were catching wave after wave at one point and even some of the locals were hanging 10!

At some points the waves would just stop for a bit but then they would pick back up again for another fun set! It was also a blast having friends to surf with. Hyping each other up and cheering each other on. Another friend, Bo, joined us at one point as well. He was asking questions to Bohdi and I about surfing and I helped with timing and pop ups on a few waves too.

It was honestly so much fun. I do enjoy the bigger surf days, especially now that I’m getting better at riding shorter boards. But today’s waves were exactly what I wanted when I was learning. Now that I know how to surf, I was still having a blast catching wave after wave. Eventually Lean came and I gave her the board to use. A few of us got out at that point and headed back to the hostel to shower and get ready for lunch. It was already 11:30am! Time flies when you’re having fun!

We sat around chatting at the hostel for a bit and eventually meandered our way into town. Patrick suggested we eat at a restaurant called Blue Sol. So Bohdi, Patrick, Rapha, and I made our way there. There was also a little market happening nearby the restaurant, so when we waited for our food, we checked it out. I ended up getting a 200 cordoba necklace. It had been awhile since I purchased another fun little necklace/bracelet.

We also started up a heated game of cambio and we kept score while playing this time. I started off hot with my score going to the negatives while everyone else was soaring positive. But as exhaustion from the surfing crept in, I started to slip dangerously close to losing. We took a break to eat before getting back to playing.

The food was good, but it cost 300 cordoba, which I believe is the most expensive meal I’ve had in Nicaragua. But it was tasty and I was with good company! Afterwards, we finished up our cambio game, which took much longer than we expected. In the end, Bohdi lost this round, but I’m sure more will be played.

We moved on to a nearby tienda, where I got an avocado, bread, and 12 eggs. Well… 10 eggs since I accidentally dropped two. I asked if I could have something to clean it up and instead she called her dog in to do the job. In total I spent 206 cordoba for hopefully a few breakfasts! The hostel doesn’t have a kitchen, but I could use non-toasted bread with the avocado. I was also told you could make hard boiled eggs with an electric water kettle so I thought I’d try that out.

We got back to the hostel and I did just that! Turns out… it works! I let them “cool” in water and then put them in the fridge. I’d try eating them the following morning.

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in a hammock chatting with my group of friends. A few other non-guests but friends of others showed up and we chatted with them too. It was a lovely afternoon of relaxing and chatting with new people, some of my favorite activities!

The sun started to set and we made our way to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Butttt, it was about to be another 300 cordoba meal. So Bohdi, his friend Amelia, and I split off from the group to eat at another restaurant that Amelia said was much cheaper. This restaurant ended up being a persons house/restaurant in town. You wouldn’t know it was a restaurant if you didn’t know it was there. There was just a lady in a chair out front and was excited and ready to take our order.

There was nowhere to sit, so they got their kids to bring a table from another restaurant over for us. It reminded me of El Ancla! It took a while for our food to arrive, but Amelia warned us of it. The food was also only 180 cordoba! Much better. I ended up getting fried chicken with rice, beans, tostones, and some salad. It was deeeeelicious! We sat for a bit chatting after we ate and then made our way back to the other restaurant to see if our friends were still there.

We walked on the beach back because tonight, there was a meteor shower!! We saw so many shooting stars and of course had a spectacular view of all the stars as well. We made our way to the other restaurant and our friends were just leaving. We told them we were heading to Playa Amarillo to avoid the lights and watch the shooting stars more. So we ended up having a big squad hanging out on the beach together exclaiming every time we saw a shooting star.

There were some very impressive ones! But one pretty consistently every 30 seconds to a minimum. I had some nice deep chatter with a traveler, Katrine from Denmark, while we were stargazing. It was quite a nice way to cap off an already VERY nice day.

My alarm went off at 7am and I was up and at ‘em on Sunday, December 14th. High tide wasn’t until after 10am today, so I had plenty of time to relax in the morning. I ate some avocado on bread and a couple of my hard boiled eggs, it was a pleasant breakfast.

I read for a bit and then around 8:30/9am we set out for our morning surf. Today I was joined by Bohdi and Lean. When we arrived at the beach, Bo was there and a few of our other friends showed up as well! The waves were very similar to yesterday but a bit more inconsistent. I was riding a 6’8” board from the hostel today and caught some nice small rides on it. But it took a bit more effort than with the 7’+ board.

At one point, Bohdi asked me if I wanted to try his 5’11 board, and I did. I was actually able to catch a couple waves with it. I was very surprised! I’m not sure how well I’d do on a bigger day, but it’s good to know I have the ability to use a smaller board like that.

We surfed for a long time, getting back just after 12pm. I was pretty exhausted and my eyes were fairly sunburnt (I need to invest in a surf hat). We sat in the hammocks reading for a bit and then Bohdi and I went out for lunch. We wanted to go to the same place we had dinner the night before, but when we showed up, the lady wasn’t there. This ended up being because there was a Christmas event happening for the kids of the community and I think she was helping out cooking for it.

So instead we went back to Blue Sol and our friend Rapha was there. We joined him and I are the same thing I had the day before, pollo a la plancha with jalapeño sauce. I don’t especially like spending 300 cordobas for a meal, but it’s filling and tasty.

After lunch I did some more reading and took a nap in one of the hammocks. Bohdi had gone to the beach to meet up with his friend Amelia earlier and I had said I’d go meet up with them. Closer to sunset, I headed down to Playa Gigante to hang out with them. As I was walking over, Bohdi was heading back. But I decided to walk the beach and then I sat with Amelia and her friend Anna, from Australia, for a bit chatting about traveling and El Gigante.

I didn’t have my phone on me, but it was another beautiful sunset over the ocean. I then headed back to shower off the sand and then FaceTimed my parents! I found out the wifi isn’t great for FaceTimes, which was important since I had a phone call with the YMCA camp the following day.

I read a bit more and then we headed to dinner. As we were leaving, I realized I needed to use the restroom. So I told my friends I’d meet up with them. We were planning on going to the place we ate the night before… but when I got to town, they were back at Blue Sol. They said that Amelia said it was closed. However the day before she said she was never closed… so I found it odd we missed her at lunch AND now at dinner. I went to check and it turned out she was open. I guess they just missed each other like we did at lunch.

We played cambio, a fun card game I learned on the road, while we waited for our food. I got the pollo frito again, but tomorrow I’d try something new. For 180 cordoba, it’s hard to pass up. It’s no El Ancla, but it’s a good substitute.

After dinner, we went around the corner to a small ice cream shop. It was only 45 cordobas for a scoop in a cone. I risked the stomach troubles to enjoy this delicious and cheap treat.

I finished off the night relaxing in a hammock and reading before hitting the hay.

For some reason my internal alarm clock woke me up at 6:30am on Monday, December 15th… and there was no going back to sleep. I relaxed in a hammock for a bit reading until I decided to eat breakfast.

I then had a few errands to run. The first was extending my stay at the hostel. Thankfully they had availability for another night, but my plan is to each day extend for another night. If it ever fills up I’ll move on to another hostel! I played around with a very cute puppy before heading on to my next two errands.

The first was dropping laundry off to Mama Lang at the local Spanish school. I met her the day before and she said she’d happily do my laundry for me. If I had known there was a Spanish school and surf town… I probably would’ve done my Spanish school here! Maybe next time. I then went into town to a tienda to recharge my SIM card.

I had a job interview later today and since my FaceTime with my parents had spotty connection I thought it’d be smart to have data for the day just in case. Afterwards, I walked back to the hostel, read a little more, and then it was time to surf!

Lean wasn’t able to go surfing till later in the day, so I was able to borrow her 7’ surfboard again. Rapha, Bohdi, and I made our way down to the beach and walked all the way to the end again for a very similar surf session to the previous two days. Nonetheless, I was happy to be out surfing and my body was already getting used to daily surfing again

Bohdi had his first day of Spanish school today, so he left around 11:15am (high tide was at 11:13am). We’d been out for probably 2 hours by then. Right as he left, the waves picked up in size (nothing crazy, but bigger than it had been), which made the surf session even more fun. The waves were closing out a lot more now, but they were still a good time.

Rapha and I walked back to the hostel and I showered before heading to lunch by myself. I went to the same lady that I’ve been having dinner at for lunch today and she was open this time! She said the other day that she had a breakfast for 100 cordobas. I asked if I could have that for lunch and they said yes! So I had a typical Nicaraguan breakfast for lunch.

But before my food came I played trucks with their son.

It was really cute interacting with him. We did speak some Spanish together but mostly we were making fun noises and moving the cars/rocks around together.

I went back to the hostel and relaxed in a hammock. I read and chatted with new hostel friends, the hostel has mainly German travelers at the moment. Around 3pm I had my phone call for a summer position at the YMCA camp I’ll be working at in the spring. I think the call went well! But we’ll see!

I went back to reading afterwards and then around 5pm I went to pick up my laundry. I put it back in my packing cubes and then headed down to the beach to watch the sunset. I went looking for my friend Bohdi, but ran into my friend Amelia instead. We went looking for Bohdi but eventually just parked it in a spot to watch the sunset.

We ran into another friend who said they saw Bohdi further down the beach so we walked to where he was. We sat for a bit longer, chatting, before heading back to the hostel. We hung out in the hammocks for a bit before Bohdi headed to his new homestay for dinner. He started language school today.

I chatted with two German travelers for a bit before heading into town for dinner by myself. I ate at the same restaurant as I did for lunch, it’s the best and cheapest in town!

I spent 20 extra cordobas to have their deep fried fish. It was delicious and a much more filling meal than their chicken. I think it’s been since Thailand that I had a full fish for a meal, it’s one I really enjoy though!

While I was eating, Bohdi stopped by to sit and chat while I finished up. We then headed to another restaurant where some of our friends were for the restaurants burger night. Turns out the restaurant had run out of burgers by the time they arrived… kinda a problem on burger night! We sat and chatted for a bit before heading back to our respective places for the night.

I chatted with all the Germans, who are staying at the hostel, for a bit, played some cards, and then went to bed.

I woke up to my alarm at 7am and immediately got out of bed. Today was going to be a fun day, I was heading to Popoyo to surf for the morning!

Popoyo is a nearby town known for its surfing. I was planning on going there, but I was suggested Gigante instead… so here I am. Yesterday, two of the Germans asked me if I wanted to join them to Popoyo to surf. At first I said no, I had full intentions of running in the morning and the surf wasn’t supposed to be great. But then I thought about it for a second and was like… hang on, why not. I have nothing really going on at the moment. So I retracted my answer and said yes!

I ate a light breakfast and then read, waiting for the Germans to be ready. David and Daniel ended up showing up at 8:30am, a bit later than I had expected. But we were on the road soon after that. Daniel and David are both teaching at a German school in El Salvador and are traveling together for a little while on holiday.

It was about a 40 minute drive from Playa Gigante to the main beach of Popoyo. Most of the roads were pretty bumpy and since there’s construction on the road that leads directly to the town, we had to take a round about way to get there. But we spent the whole car ride chatting and listening to music! They’re both really nice guys, as you can tell since they asked if I wanted to tag along.

We arrived just after 9am and headed to the beach. It was a bit of a walk from the main beach to the point we were surfing, named Popoyo Outer Reef.

It was fairly busy already when we arrived and it looked like some nice waves were forming! The paddle out was quite easy as there’s two rip current channels on both sides of the waves that are forming. We were in the thick of the lineup before we knew it and I caught a really nice wave early on, riding it pretty much all the way back in.

It took me a while to get my second and third wave. But I had plenty of attempts, no nose dives today! The vibes in the surf lineup were really high until later on in the surf session when a disgruntled local showed up and yelled at someone for getting in their way. But prior to that, everyone was very cordial, even if the surf lineup was a bit chaotic.

Every time there was a wave, at least 3 people went for it, if not more. The waves varied in size throughout the session, but the waves got fairly big at one point. For the most part they were very manageable. I had a blast over the 2 or so hours we were there, Daniel and David did too! It was much better surfing conditions than I was expecting!

We had to call the surf session early as the German guys had Spanish class at 12:30pm and we still had a 40 minute drive back to Gigante.

The ride back was a bit quieter than the ride there since we were all tired from the session. We stopped at a small store to grab a snack before arrived back in town. I showered immediately as we arrived and then went into town for lunch.

I was loaded up with food today at the local commodore. Being able to go every day and interact with the family definitely has its perks! The food was tasty and after I wrapped up eating, I went next door for some breakfast items. I got more bread, eggs, avocado, and some bananas. I then walked back to the hostel and immediately made myself more hard boiled eggs for breakfasts and snacks.

I got back to the hostel and sat down in a hammock to read. Most of the guests were at Spanish school or out surfing high tide here in Gigante. i decided I would skip the high tide surf since I just went and I had some more physical activity to do later.

While reading, the hostels adorable small puppy came to hang out. We played a bit, but it was adorable and I couldn’t get enough of it!

I finished up a chapter and finally had the motivation (and the settled stomach) to go for a run! This was going to be my first run in ages. My cardio, as of late, had been surfing and walking everywhere, so running was about to be a bit difficult. I ended up running just shy of 2kms in 10 minutes.

I know, not the longest times, but I need to run a 8 minute mile for my job this summer. I also need to do a 500m swim in the ocean… I’m a bit more concerned about this. But I’m hoping between surfing a lot and practicing swimming will help a lot!

I walked back to the hostel and read some more while I waited for my friend Bohdi to show up. He eventually did and we made our way to Playa Gigante to go for a swim and watch the sunset.

It started drizzling, and on our walk back we ran into more of the hostel friends. So we sat with them for a bit before heading back to the hostel to shower. I put on my rain coat after my shower and walked into the down-pouring rain to go get dinner.

I was sopping wet when I made it to the house restaurant. The mother wasn’t there, but she had told me she’d always be open and her kids would cook for me if she wasn’t around. The kids got straight to work and cooked me up a very delicious meal. I was impressed!

I grabbed a cheap ice cream cone on my way to the hostel. And then I read and chatted with friends the rest of the night before heading to bed! Tomorrow, I would be heading to Popoyo again with Daniel and David for another morning surf session!

I ate breakfast at 7am on Wednesday, December 17th and then plopped into a hammock to read until my two German friends were ready to surf. We then set out close to 8am and made our way down the bumpy roads to Popoyo. It was much lower tides when we arrived and less people, which we were happy about.

But the people quickly started showing up, but not before I could snag myself a few waves. I caught a few but because of how shallow the water was, I was duck diving my board into the rocks below the surface, it was quite annoying! The waves were good today, with some big sets rolling in. But the amount of people at this break and the disorganized lineup made it not the most fun to surf in.

About an hour or an hour and a half into the session, one of my friends arrived at the beach. Anne-Sophie, from Denmark, a different one than from Ometepe, had come to hang out but was feeling a bit sick, so she didn’t join us for the surf. Instead we sat on the beach chatting for a bit. We had met on the internet and had been trying to meet up since I’ve gotten back to Nicaragua. We had a nice time chatting and then one of her friends, from the hostel she’s staying at, joined us as well. I was glad to have caught waves when I had and was equally as glad to be out of the water chatting with her.

Anne-Sophie and I had been tentatively talking about heading to San Juan Del Sur (SJDS) to check out new surf breaks. And after finally hanging out, we decided to go for it! She’s fairly new to surfing and wanted to find a surf breaks more suitable for her and I’ve been wanting to see what SJDS has to offer for surfing. We also thought it’d be fun to check out somewhere new with a friend!

Daniel and David finished up their surf and I said see you later to Anne-Sophie and her friend. We headed back to Gigante and stopped at an ATM on the way since there isn’t one in Gigante.

We got back around noon, but I wasn’t feeling very hungry since I had a fairly big breakfast. I had a quick snack and then waited for my friend Bohdi to finish his homestay lunch. Then we headed out for another surf, this time in Gigante at Playa Amarillo.

We ended up surfing for 3 hours! Over that time I caught a few short rides, the waves tend to closeout fast here. But, out of nowhere the waves started getting bigger and bigger. Earlier in the session, I got inside a small barrel before it fully closed out taking me with it. But then when the waves picked up, Bohdi and I got on the same wave and into the barrel and then we both got swept over the lip for a big wipeout. It was a pretty hectic experience, and one of my first times experiencing it!

The waves kept growing and I had a fair share of fun successfully catching closeout waves. But eventually I was tired of the big waves and we moved away from them for the final bit of our session.

We headed back to the hostel, where I showered and read in a hammock. I also worked on finalizing plans with Anne-Sophie. So at the start of next week’s blog post, you’ll hear all about our adventures in SJDS. Bohdi came and joined the hammock reading session. And closer to sunset, he had the brilliant idea to go get ice cream and watch the sunset.

I’m really glad to have met Bohdi. I’ve met a lot of awesome people on the road, but most I won’t see for a while since they live all around the world. Bohdi works in California! So there’s a solid chance I’ll get to hang out with him in the spring or summer.

I read a bit more after the sunset and around 6pm finally went back into town for dinner. Since I didn’t have lunch, I splurged a little and went to Blue Sol to eat (instead of the comedor). I then met my friends at Juntos bar and restaurant for a trivia night. David, Daniel, Bohdi, Amelia, Lean, and I put our brains together anddddd ended up in last place.

The trivia was geared towards an older crowd… And the host wasn’t great. But maybe I just have high standards since I’ve made and hosted trivia nights myself. It was a nice time still and we laughed a lot. Afterwards we played some cards and then I headed to bed. I needed to pack for my next adventure in the morning!

I had such a good week! If it wasn’t for my plans with my friend, I’d probably stay in Gigante until my friend Ryan came to hang out in Nicaragua. This town is such a beautiful spot and the people I’ve gotten to hang out with the past week were fantastic! I’m very much in my happy place and I’m glad to be back surfing and enjoying the beach. It’s one of my favorite places to be!

I’m looking forward to updating you next week on how my time in SJDS goes. Also I’ll be meeting up with my friend Ryan at the end of next week’s post as well… so lots to look forward to!

See you soon,

– Elie