Days 724-730! Wow… 2 years of traveling! I think technically January 3rd is the official two years, so maybe I got off my days from hopping time zones, but I’m not going back to fix that. So this is the official two year anniversary! Kind of fun that it’s on New Years Eve! This week was filled with more adventures with Ryan and I couldn’t have asked for a better travel buddy to ring in the New Year.

Ryan and I had spent the last couple of days checking out Granada. The quiet, European style city was a good first stop, but in my mind, didn’t show Ryan what Nicaragua was really about. So on Thursday, December 25th, we celebrated Christmas by heading out of the city.

Originally we were going to go to Matagalpa, a town a bit more off the beaten path. However due to bus timings later on in our travels together, we decided against it. Instead, we were traveling to Ometepe Island. We booked a shuttle through the hostel for fairly cheap and it would allow us to get to the San Jorge ferry with ease, rather than spending extra time on the chicken busses.

We ate breakfast, chatted with some people at the hostel, and then booked our new hostel for Ometepe. Ryan was getting the full traveler experience of deciding things last minute and he’s been all for it! He’s already hopped on a chicken bus with me and ate super local, this is going to be a really fun trip.

The shuttle came at 10am and we were off on our next adventure! The ride was quick and easy and luckily just as I needed to use the restroom, the van pulled over for gas and I was able to hop out real quick. We also met two guys on the shuttle, Jack and Demos, who were friends from London (Demos is originally from Greece). They overheard me tell Ryan my current book I was reading was 1500 pages. Jack immediately caught that it was fantasy and when he heard it was Brandon Sanderson, he got Demos’ attention and we all started chatting about all of his books we’ve read and his fantasy world.

This conversation turned into us deciding to split a taxi once we got to Ometepe, which would save us all a few dollars to get to our hostel!

When we got to the ferry, I forgot where the ticket counter was. I told Jack and Demos to ignore the guys trying to scam them… but that also made us skip over the ticket counter. Whoops! We got to the gate and the ferry was leaving in 5 minutes. They told us to go get a ticket and come back, so we hustled back to buy one. Once we came back, the gate was closed and locked! But the ferry was still there. The gate attendant looked at the guard and they decided to let us in and told us to run. So we ran as fast as we could with our heavy backpacks and made it to the ferry in time.

To only find out… we had the wrong ticket. We had to pay the ticket guy 50 cordobas each. I do believe we got the wrong ticket, but I have a feeling he just pocketed the money since no one checked our tickets after that and he didn’t give us new ones.

This ferry ride was nice and toasty on the inside of the boat. But Ryan and I had a pleasant time chatting and also chatting with some of the travelers around us. It mostly started with one of the other travelers asking us which part of the boat was the bough (since his girlfriend and him were debating). But then that was enough of a conversation starter to get everyone chatting about their travels.

We got to the port and got a taxi for $20 ($5 each) to the hostel. We heard later that it took a couple 4 hours to ride the local bus to the same hostel it took us 30-45 minutes. But they paid a lot less. We were dropped off first at Tiki Hostel saying see you later to Jack and Demos. We exchanged numbers in hopes to hang with them more while on the island. It turned out they were both lawyers and knew a lot about the power industry, so that gave Ryan and them a ton to chat about (I chimed in when I could but it’s been awhile since I’ve worked in that industry).

We met the owner of the hostel who convinced us to not only rent a motorbike immediately, but also to sign up for the Conception Volcano hike the following day. We were planning on doing it, probably a couple days later, but there was already a group of three going and it would be cheaper for all of us if we joined too… so, we were going to hike a freaking volcano the following morning!

We were hungry and I took Ryan to Comedor Sunshine, my favorite meal on the island.

The restaurant owner immediately recognized me and was happy to see me again. The restaurant however, and the island in general, was littered with baby May flies (I believe), the same bugs that were in hoards in Granada by the lake. That didn’t take away from how good the meal was and Ryan agreed with me that it was a solid meal.

The owner of the hostel told us that there was a rodeo starting at 3pm. So we headed across the island towards where we thought it was. We asked multiple locals along the way and they kept telling us “adelante,” meaning forward. So we kept driving south and eventually a local drove with us right to the rodeo. We thanked them and drove into a very empty rodeo. When we got off our motorbike and walked inside we found a local who told us it’d start around 5-6pm. I was a bit taken aback by the guy not knowing the time of his own rodeo, but we are on Nicaraguan time after all! Nothing is on time here.

We left and headed to Playa Mango where we watched a beautiful sunset. I ran into the Canadians that I met in Managua and we also ran into Jack and Demos as well! Giving Ryan the nice taste of how small the traveling world is.

We left Playa Mango and headed back to the rodeo. On our way we stopped at a restaurant that said they had pupusas, so we got two and I introduced Ryan to one of my favorite Central American dishes (from El Salvador). These ones were a bit different since they were made from corn instead of wheat, but they were still delicious.

The rodeo was quite an interesting event. I’ve never been to one in the US, so I can’t compare it fully, but if I had a guess, this one was less organized and more dangerous.

We paid 300 cordobas each to enter and then it took forever for the rodeo to begin. The bleachers were slanted and uncomfortable and the crowd was raucous with drunk locals and tourists. There was music playing from a live band, a band in the bleachers, and a DJ, it was pretty much chaos. But that wasn’t even the most chaotic thing…

A part of the Nicaraguan rodeo is fans standing INSIDE the bull riding ring. Whenever the bull would get close they would all scatter up the sides of the ring and try not to get hit. They’d also run across the middle of the ring and dodge around the bull… it was bizarre to watch. We left after 3 bulls but we missed the reason why the locals were in the ring the entire time. They were practicing and claiming their spot for a competition where if you touched the bulls horn you got 1000 cordobas.

Risking your life for $27 is pretty crazy, even with how much that can get you in Nicaragua. But the drunk fans enjoyed it I bet.

We snacked while watching the Bull riding on the random vendor food available and then headed to a grocery store to prepare for our hike, and after back to the hostel. We had an early start to our next morning and needed some proper rest before our hike!

Which of course I did not get on Friday, December 26th. I got woken up many times through the night by the not so great hostel roommates. Specifically two who came back after the rodeo, very drunk, and yelling to each other. I asked them to keep it down and they tried, but it was a rough night of sleep. But that didn’t stop me from waking up at 5:15am to eat breakfast and get ready for the hike!

Ryan and I ate eggs with some sort of tomato sauce and toast as the sun rose. We met our fellow hikers, a couple from the Netherlands and a guy from Canada. We all seemed to be on the same level and nervousness when it came to hiking and this hike, which was a good sign! Our guide, Hector, showed up at around 6am and we hopped on our motorbikes and set out across the island for the start of the hike.

We met up with another local, Alex, who was the owner of the trail we were hiking today. Hector has been guiding hikes for 20 years, doing the hike itself 500+ times, but today we were trying out a new trail (a few weeks old) that Hector had never done before. So Alex was along to help guide us as well and maintain the path as we went, literally creating paths at times with his machete.

The beginning of the hike started at 200m and was a nice and easy ascent through the forest and by a few farms, we had another 1400m to go. But after that it was one of the craziest hikes I’ve ever done, including Acatenango. The hike became a very very steep ascent that didn’t let up the remainder of the hike.

What did change though was the terrain. The first bit was in the forest, which was beautiful. Then the first forest opened up into volcanic rocks that we had to scramble over to continue our ascent. However, this lead to some BEAUTIFUL panoramic views of the island below.

This then turned into a dense, humid, jungle forest that was full of very lush, green vegetation. Every plant was covered in stunning moss formations and the amount of life inside this jungle was something I’d never seen before, especially on a hike. However, this in turn made the whole path a mud pit and we became very accustomed to slipping, falling, and getting very dirty. You’d think you had a handhold, but because of the moisture, anything could be rotting and disintegrate in your hand.

We kept pressing on, struggling through the jungle, and taking breaks when we needed to. Our group was very good about listening to each other and not judging if anyone needed a breather. This hike was insanely difficult and I could talk in immense details about every single time I fell or the crazy paths we had to climb, but I’ll try to keep it on the shorter side.

The jungle opened up and turned into a more open topped path with some of the largest leafed plants I had ever seen. But with losing the jungle coverage, we were now fully at the mercy of the high winds that were blowing further up the volcano. And of course the path was still slick, we were in the clouds, everything was soaked and muddy, anddd the path was thinner now, so getting blown down a hill was a real possibility.

We pressed on, Ryan and I were in the front of the group for the majority (if not entirety) of the ascent. We kept climbing and climbing and every time I thought we were getting closer, the clouds would show us just a tiny bit more of the volcano. But eventually, after a chilly, windy, slippery, and muddy 4.5 hour ascent up a very steep and unrelenting volcano… we reached the summit!

Unfortunately it was still super cloudy and windy, but we were met with small volcanic thermal vents AND we could sit up at the top of the crater… of a FREAKING volcano! The entire hike up my adrenaline was pumping, I was nerding out about all the cool vegetation we were seeing and how beautiful it all was, and I finally think I enjoyed a hike the entirety of the way, even with how grueling it was.

The rest of the group joined me at the top of the volcano and we sat up at the top, enjoying snacks and chatting about how tough and crazy that ascent was.

Today is my dad’s birthday and I thought, how cool would it be to send him a video of a happy birthday from the top of a volcano… when would I ever get to do that again?!

The wind became too much for us and after a bit of rest and enjoying our accomplishment we started heading back down. Which, with how hard and slippery the ascent up was, I knew was going to be even harder than then climb up. And, my fears were right.

Over the next 5 hours, we struggled down the same treacherous path and I fell, like fully slipped, more times than I could count. We were all in the same boat, but I was a bit quicker at the descent than the rest of the group. Part of me felt like the faster I went the better it’d be for my knees, I knew after Acatenango that my knees would hate the descent. But I also just wanted to be off the cold part of the volcano too.

Alex and I stayed ahead of the group, trotting down the volcano where we could but carefully taking steps when needed (which was often). We got past the super windy and small trail, where one big push by the wind could mean quite the tumble. And we continued on down the muddy jungle slipping down the path and getting covered in mud. We eventually waited for the rest of the group which meant around a 15-20 minute wait (we were zooming). And then we were off again!

Eventually we made it out of the first jungle and into an overlook over the island… and this time, it was perfectly clear!

We, again, waited for the rest of the crew to catch up and enjoyed the view with them for a bit. Then it was back to going down the volcano. It was an insanely long trek down with lots of stops and starts. With each new stop and start I had to force my legs and knees to keep working. We eventually hit a point where Alex and I completed the rest of the way down and waited at the bottom for the rest of the group.

It was tough, it was wet, it was muddy, but it was super rewarding! Also the group I was with was so much fun to hang out with, I’m really glad Ryan and I randomly decided to do the hike today! We motorbiked back to the hostel, where I went to immediately shower. Everyone else jumped fully clothed into the lake, but I just wanted nothing more than to shower and eat. I also FaceTimed my parents since today was my dad’s birthday!

It had been over a week since our last FaceTime, so it was lovely, as always, to catch up.

Ryan and I made plans with our hiking squad and the guys we met in the taxi to meet up for dinner. But while we were waiting, I asked the hostel host if we could extend a night and he said yes. While we were speaking in Spanish, two of his local friends overheard us and one of them asked me how I knew Spanish. We chatted a bit and then she asked me if I’d be interested in a Nicaraguan girlfriend. This is when the conversation got kind of funny but also kind of awkward as her friends and herself tried to convince me why I should date her.

It was definitely on the humorous side but I couldn’t tell if there was any seriousness to her questions at times and didn’t want to be rude. BUT, I was very impressed with myself for holding my own in a fast paced conversation, with three locals, all in Spanish! There was a lot of laughing in the conversation and being able to understand and be a part of the joking was a really cool experience.

We had our late lunch, pretty much dinner, at Comedor Sunshine, and had a table of 7 of us. I told Ryan that this is one of the reasons I love traveling. That we pretty much did not know any of these people before hand and then can have a really fun and lively dinner all together. It’s such a nice feeling! Everyone also was exclaiming how good the food was and that made me feel good about not overhyping the place. I’m looking forward to eating there more before we leave!

After dinner, Ryan and I stopped by the grocery store for some snacks. We were still hungry and had lots of calories to make up for before calling it a night. We split a big mango and had some sweet chocolate marshmello treats before Ryan headed off to bed. I was going to as well but ended up having a really nice FaceTime with my friend, Anne-Sophie. I got to hear all about her surf camp and I told her about my hectic hiking experience.

After that though it was time to pass out. I was exhausted from the day and very much needed sleep.

I tried sleeping in on Saturday, September 27th… but 7am rolled around and I was up. I definitely needed more sleep, but oh well. My body was sore and tired and getting out of bed was a hassle. I worked on my blog for a bit and got up for breakfast once Ryan was awake. After breakfast, I decided I needed to wash off my shoes I wore on the hike yesterday. Ryan suggested I use the lake, so I took my shoes across the street and scrubbed the heck out of them for a little bit.

I wasn’t really thinking and got a bit more wet than I anticipated since there was a ton of wind and lots of little waves on the lake. There were even some kite surfers out already taking advantage of the conditions. I think using the lake worked fairly well, the shoes are pretty old already and seen a lot of use but they looked much better than they did before I tried washing them.

Ryan and I headed out for a quick errand of dropping off our laundry. We both had some very muddy clothes to be cleaned, so hopefully the laundromat will do a good job!

We spent the rest of the morning relaxing at the hostel. Our bodies were really wanting to rest a bit after yesterday’s intense hike. Our Dutch friends, Thijs and Shannon, wanted to go kayaking today… so we decided to join them. We used our lower bodies the day before and now it would be time to use our upper bodies.

I took a power nap and then we headed out for lunch at a restaurant called Cafe Campestre. It’s a restaurant that uses all ingredients grown on their little farm. They also were having a weekly poker tournament that Jack and Demos wanted to play in. So we went to join them for lunch and then watch them play a little bit.

We then hopped on our motorbikes and headed to the other side of the southern part of the island. Here we rented kayaks, for $10 a person, and spent the next 2 hours kayaking 5000+ meters. Thijs and Shannon are big bird watchers and they were pointing out and telling us about each bird we saw! We both really appreciated the commentary, it added a depth to the kayaking we wouldn’t have had and we got a better appreciation for how cool the birds were. I also really enjoy listening to people talk about something they’re passionate about.

The kayaking was through the mangroves that surround the lake. We weaved our way through trees and vegetation, enjoyed beautiful views of the volcanos, and of course a gorgeous sunset! We paddled back to the kayak rental after the sunset and then made our way back to town for dinner.

Where we ate at Comedor Sunshine… again! While we waited for our food, Shannon found pictures and names of all the birds we saw and uncovered the names of some they didn’t know. She went through them all and gave fun facts about them and described when we saw each of them. It was so nice of her to take the time and it reminded me of when I would do fish ID while scuba guiding.

We stopped by the grocery store on our way home and all got ice cream treats to have for dessert post dinner. We sat and chatted more at the hostel and were joined by Loris from Italy and Chelsea from Canada. It was a really nice day and a nice way to finish off the night. But I was super exhausted after two physical days.

Well the physicality didn’t stop on Sunday, December 28th, more adventure awaited Ryan and I.

We started off the morning closer to 9am, sitting in the hostel common area having breakfast. We chatted with Thijs, Shannon, Chelsea, and Loris. We decided that today’s plan would be to go to a waterfall on Volcano Maderas, which of course involved hiking. Unfortunately Thijs and Shannon were leaving this morning, so we had to say our “see you laters” before heading out for the day.

Ryan, Chelsea, Loris, and I headed out around the south west side of the island and made our way towards the waterfall’s entrance. The roads near the waterfall were all dirt and gravel, which made for a slow ride, especially with Ryan on the back of the motorbike. The entrance fee to the park was 100 cordobas per person and 50 for the motorbike and then we headed up some very bumpy and fairly sketchy roads.

Halfway through, I had Ryan hop off and walk because the roads were too steep for us both and too rocky. We decided to park our motorbikes a bit before the end of the road and walk the rest with Ryan. I was glad we decided to do this since the next 3 minutes of road were terrible. The road then turned into a hike which took us through the jungle of Volcano Maderas.

From where we started walking to the waterfall itself, it took us 50 minutes, we were hiking fairly fast too. The hike started off on a dirt path which then turned into stepping on rocks through the little stream from the waterfall. We saw some beautiful greenery and also impressive erosion from where the waterfall used to flow. The hike itself was harder than I expected, but after my hike the other day, this was a walk in the park. There were some slippery rocks, but luckily no falling this time around. My legs however were not the happiest to be hiking again.

We started getting tiny glimpses of the waterfall, but when we came around the last bend, we were met with a gorgeous cascading spray of water surrounded by black rock and green plants.

I was honestly very impressed with this waterfall. I had fairly low expectations going in, I’ve seen a number of waterfalls on my travels. But with the greenery and the spray of the water, the area was quite magical and peaceful. Also, I had never seen a waterfall on a volcano before! We waded through the pool below and then sat in the sun enjoying the cool waterfall spray.

In Granada, we met two Germans, Kira and Jenny. Today, I knew they were also in Ometepe, doing the hike as well. They appeared 20 minutes after us and joined our relaxing by the waterfall. We eventually made our way back down to our motorbikes and on our way, we spotted monkeys! A couple capuchins and a few howlers. We even had a front row seat to some of the howling.

Once we got to the motorbikes, all our passenger princesses walked down the road, as the three motorbike drivers drove down. It wasn’t the easiest ride back down but we all made it safe and sound.

We then tried heading to a nearby restaurant that our Dutch friends suggested, but it was closed for a wedding. So we drove to Playa El Peru instead and ate there.

We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon here and watched the sunset. We played a bunch of rounds of Harry Potter UNO. It was a really nice way to spend the rest of the day!

After the sun set below the horizon, Ryan and I headed to pick up our laundry. We also filled our motorbike up with gas before heading back to the hostel to relax. I read and took a nap. Then we made ourselves some peanut butter and jelly, ate some plantain chips, and tried the zapote fruit which Alex gave me the other day during the hike (literally off the ground for on one of the trees, can’t get fresher than that).

We chatted with our hostel friends for a while. And we also booked a couple nights in San Juan Del Sur, which we were heading to the following morning. We called it an early night and I needed all the sleep I could get after so much hiking.

Monday, December 29th called for another day of travel! After 4 wonderful days on Ometepe, it was time for Ryan and I to head to our final destination on our trip together, San Juan Del Sur. We woke up on the earlier side to return our motorbike and then we had breakfast. We waited till around 9:20am to head to the street to wait for the chicken bus that would take us all the way to Moyogalpa, the ferry port.

The bus arrived 10 minutes late, which wasn’t too bad. But when we got on, the bus was PACKED. Probably the most packed chicken bus I’d been on. Most of the travelers were in the back again (like my last Ometepe chicken bus experience), but we were crammed in with some locals and their large bags as well. Our hope was to make the 11am ferry, but we quickly realized that wasn’t going to be feasible as the bus took us the long way around the island.

Our German friends, Kira and Jenny, got to the ferry before us and told us that the 11am ferry was fully booked. So it didn’t matter that we weren’t going to make it on time. But there was an 11:30am ferry and they bought tickets for us since it’d be a quick turn around when we got off our bus.

We arrived just in time for the ferry and Kira was waiting with our tickets as we approached the ferry. We spent the hour ride chatting and reading as we waited to arrive in San Jorge. The ride was quite bumpy, as it had been very windy around the island, and I even got a little nauseous, but we arrived in San Jorge A-OK. We quickly found a colectivo that would take us to the Rivas bus station for 50 cordobas each. But when we got into his car he offered to drive us straight to San Juan Del Sur (SJDS) for 200 cordobas each.

That was too good of an offer to pass up, so we said yes. It took around 40 minutes to get to our hostel in SJDS, Ryan and I were staying at Saltwater Hostel for 2 nights. Almost all the hostels in the city were booked for New Year’s Eve, so we didn’t have many options for that. But the first two nights we could enjoy at a hostel we wanted!

We checked in, dropped off our bags, and immediately set out into the city for lunch. This hostel was very close to the cheap restaurant I went to with my friends last time I was in the city, very convenient! Afterwards, we walked to one of the few remaining hostels for NYE and inquired about what their room looked like and cost. We liked what we saw and decided to stay there our last 3 nights in the city.

The next to do was for me to get a haircut! Ryan went off to find a place to read and have a beer. I walked around the block to the nearest barbershop and sat down to wait. The shop was busy, but they started moving through the waiting customers and soon enough cut was my turn.

I was very overdue for a haircut. Even though it’s only been a month and a half, my hair and beard had grown out quick! The barber only knew Spanish, so I showed him some pictures and explained as well as I could. At first, the haircut went alright, then it started not going well. My hair started to look a mess and uneven, it was shaping up to be my worst haircut in my two years of traveling. But after some chatting and some more work by the barber, we got back on track for a nice haircut.

The cut cost 250 cordobas, which wasn’t terrible. He cleaned up my beard for me and ended up giving me a decent hair cut.

I met back up with Ryan at the restaurant he was at. We drank a couple beers and chatted as the sun set. We were joined by Kira, Jenny, and their friend Robyn. We watched the sunset here but then left to go to another restaurant to continue hanging as the service at the one we were at wasn’t great.

We went to one of the street vendors for dinner and ran into Loris, from Ometepe, who was there eating as well. After a delicious dinner, we called it a night, exhausted and ready for some beach time/surf in the morning. But, after a little bit of reading, our plans changed.

Loris sent Ryan and I a video of a street party with a live band. So we decided to venture out and see what was happening. When we showed up, there was no music other than from a speaker. But 10 minutes later the band started back up. They were an upbeat Latin music band that had four singers/dancers, two synth players, a guitarist, drummer, saxophone, and an accordion! We stayed for about an hour, bopping to the music before calling it a night, actually this time.

We woke up around 8:30am, on Tuesday, December 30th, for our free hostel breakfast. Initially, we were going to eat and get going with our day, but instead, we ended up taking our time and chatting with a couple other hostel guests. It was a really nice way to start our morning, but because of that breakfast was an hour and a half.

After we finally pried ourselves away from the conversation, we put on sunscreen, got ready for the beach, and headed into the city to rent a motorbike. We went to the same place I rented a motorbike last time I was in San Juan Del Sur, and the two guys working remembered me. Unfortunately, it didn’t come with any discount, but it was nice to have a little relationship with who we were working with.

We rented the motorbike for 4 days and then set out to Playa Madares, the surf beach north of the city. Today, we were meeting up with Kira, Robyn, and Jenny, who were meeting us at the beach, and I was going to teach them all how to surf! I have given some pointers to a couple people, and semi-taught one hostel guest in Costa Rica. But today was going to be my first time teaching a group! So it was nice that I was going to be teaching friends.

I negotiated us a good deal for 3 soft top, big surfboards ($7 a board) and then we headed to a smaller, less populated section of the beach. We ran into our friend Loris on our walk there, which was a nice surprise too! Jenny didn’t want to surf yet, so I first taught Ryan, Robyn, and Kira how to pop up while on the beach. Once they had it down consistently enough, we headed into the water.

Over the next hour, I pushed them into waves, yelling at them to pop up. I would watch what they did, give them some compliments, and then give them some tips/corrections to think for the next time. It was a ton of fun jumping from person to person, giving them assistance, and helping them with whatever they needed help with. By the end of the hour, all 3 of them were starting to pop up and stand on the board!

The entire hour was a blast, except for one unfortunate encounter with a local. He was teaching a lesson in the same area and was not happy we decided to surf near them. It was the classic case of “there’s an entire beach, why did you choose here?” And “Are you a surf coach? No? Get out of my way.” Well sir, it’s the best spot for the beginners and the rest of the beach is packed! That’s why! And also I was told to come to this part for the best time teaching my friends. We thankfully didn’t have any other problems after that, but I had a gut feeling a situation like that was going to happen especially since the locals would probably see me as “taking their business” since they wouldn’t care to ask the full story.

I took one of the foam boards and for the next hour caught a ton of waves in the surf lineup. It was my first time using a foam board and I fully understand why it’s used for beginners! I was able to catch every wave I wanted, it was a blast! Almost… a little too easy though.

When I got done, Jenny wanted a little lesson. So Ryan, Kira, and Jenny went out with me and I pushed them around for a bit longer. It was a blast and I honestly learned a lot about how to properly explain surf techniques and push people in to waves.

Ryan and I headed back to our hostel and showered. We snacked on our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then headed back into the city to watch the sunset.

Ryan and I went to the same bar as we did yesterday and got their happy hour deal on food. We enjoyed some wings and chips and salsa as we watched the sunset. Our friends Kira and Robyn joined us for a bit as well. And after the sunset we went to the cheap restaurant down the road for dinner.

We enjoyed a nice, cheap meal before parting ways. I was exhausted and tomorrow, for New Years, was probably going to be a late night. So we headed back to the hostel to relax, read, and head to bed on the early side (for real this time).

We had a very chill start to our day on Wednesday, December 31st. Ryan and I had to check out of our hostel, since it didn’t have any beds available for the night. But, we didn’t have to be out till around 11am. So, after breakfast, we relaxed in the hammocks reading and enjoying the beautiful morning.

We then walked to our next hostel, Javier’s Hostel, and chatted with the man himself. Ryan wanted to see a baseball game in Managua on January 2nd and we asked to cancel our 3rd night of our booking… and he said no. So we had some decisions to make about if we wanted to just burn the money on the room and motorbike to watch baseball.

We went to lunch and thought about it, then headed to the beach for some more surf time!

The waves were larger today, still not huge, but Ryan was game to take his foam board out into the lineup with me and I pushed him into waves. I’d then catch one myself afterwards and we went on like that for an hour and a half! Ryan actually had some really nice waves and his pop up on his surfboard was getting better. Pretty cool to be a part of and see!

He got out and I surfed for another 30 minutes or so, until the waves started to not be as fun anymore. We then sat on the beach reading for a bit before heading back to the city. I was getting really close to finishing my very long Brandon Sanderson book. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish it before the end of the year or not.

We got back to the hostel, rinsed off, and then set right back out. We had been saying since we had gotten to SJDS that we wanted to hike up to the giant statue of Jesus for sunset and today we were going to do it.

We walked down the beach looking for the entrance to the hike. It turned out, Google led us astray and we had to back track and find a path out to the road. The road then wound up a steep hill, but nothing as steep as Conception in Ometepe. The hike up maybe took 15 minutes and it led to a stunning view over the city and surrounding beach coves.

After sunset, we walked back to town for dinner and tried a restaurant we hadn’t been to yet. It was okay, so we’d be back to the regular spots tomorrow. We then went back to the hostel to rest up before our New Year’s Eve festivities. I ended up taking a short nap and then read more. I even finished the book before the end of the year! I was very happy to have accomplished that. I read 20 books this year, a big feat for me! And a lot of them have been since I got my kindle. So I’m sure next year will be a bunch too.

We didn’t have any plans for the night, other than taking it on the chill side. We wandered the streets which were full of people lighting off fireworks. But the city wasn’t as crowded as I had expected it. We eventually found a bar that had live music and sat down for a beer. We played a couple games of pool and then headed back out for more wandering.

This led us to meeting up with our new friend Mila, from Saltwater Hostel, and we sat on the curb by the beach chatting and enjoying the chaos.

Midnight hit and there were even MORE fireworks. Another couple of friends from the last hostel joined us and we chatted till around 1am. Then Ryan and I headed off to our current hostel to call it a night.

It’s pretty crazy it’s been two years on the road. 2025 started in Australia and finished in Central America, and in a couple months I’ll be heading to San Diego! It’s been a wild ride, an incredible year full of new places and friends, and I can’t wait to see what 2026 will have in store for me. When I start working in San Diego, I will be planning on putting a pause to the blog until I get back out on the road. But until then, there will be plenty of more adventures!

Happy New Year and I’ll see you next week!

– Elie