Days 745-751! After a wonderful week last week with my friend Anne-Sophie, it was time to dive back into hostel volunteering! This week I spent surfing and volunteering at Hostel Clandestino. I also picked up a new sport, surf skating!! Which I’m already avidly hooked on!!

Thursday, January 15th begins this week in Playa Maderas, San Juan Del Sur! I started my day around 8am at Hostel Clandestino, the hostel I was now volunteering at. I didn’t have to wake up early because Evan, the other new volunteer, was working the morning shift. So instead, I got to slowly start my day and enjoy my morning.

I also woke up in the middle of the night to a furry roommate… who scared the heck out of me when I rolled over and felt something in my bed. I kicked him out a couple times in the night but by the third time I just let him hang around. He spent the majority of the morning lazily lying in my bed… so I eventually had to kick him out and make him go elsewhere.

I ate breakfast and chatted with the other hostel guests. I had a very deep and political conversation with a traveler from Norway. It was kind of an intense way to start the morning, but it was a very good, civil conversation about the state of both our countries, and of course the world too. I also decided to go for a surf at 10:30am with a few of the other guests.

I hung out in the kitchen area for the majority of the morning, lounging in a hammock and chatting with people. And 10:30am rolled around and it was time to head to Playa Maderas to surf. Before we left, I gave my debit card to the hostel manager, Phillip, to pull some cash out for me, he was heading into the city today. It sounds sketchy and in most circumstances I would never do such a thing, but I was in need of cash and I trust the manager to not do anything nefarious. Even if he did, I would know exactly who did it and where they lived…

Four of the guests and I all set out down the hill to the beach. We were met with a very flat ocean that had the smallest waves I had seen at Playa Maderas. However, this didn’t stop us from going out into the water for the next 2 hours. I caught a couple nice rides where I turned down the face of the wave and was able to pump the surfboard to maintain speed and have a longer ride. But most were teeny tiny and nothing to write home about.

We hiked back to the hostel and when we got to the base of the hill, the manager was heading back up the hill as well but in a pickup truck. So surfboards and all, we piled into the bed and got a ride up the hill. Phillip had just gotten back from the city and had some stuff in the bed to help unload, so we lent a hand. He also told me my card didn’t work… which was disappointing to hear. I had a sneaky suspicion he used the wrong type of ATM because some work and some don’t.

I showered and then made myself lunch. By the time I wrapped up it was pretty much time for me to start my volunteering shift. I started it by playing guitar, but soon after I was asked if I wanted to finish someone’s lunch and I happily said yes! So then I went back to chatting with the other guests for a bit. A number of the guests were leaving in the morning and didn’t need some of their food anymore. So I received a bread, few eggs, 1.5 potatoes, and some other vegetables! I was going to be eating well the next few days!

Eventually I went back to playing guitar and had a solid 1.5 hour guitar session with a few of the guests sitting around and listening. They said they really enjoyed my playing and that it was very calming, which made me happy to hear.

Evan headed into the city to go grocery shopping and was willing to go try my card again. This time was successful! I had only 500 cordobas left after renting my surfboard last week. So now I wouldn’t have to worry about paying for anything.

I sat and chatted with them for a bit but eventually they all set out to go watch the sunset. Today was Jolien’s last day so most of the hostel was going to the beach for a bonfire and then heading to a restaurant afterwards for dinner. I on the other hand, had to hold down the fort at the hostel. I was kinda happy with this since it would mean plenty of alone time to sit and read. I’ve been doing a lot of socializing the past few days.

Not long after everyone left, two guests arrived and I got them all checked in. But they hurried off to the beach as well to enjoy the sunset.

I spent my alone time reading and finally finishing the second Harry Potter book! It’s pretty interesting how much is left out of the movie, but the movie still tells the story well.

Evan came back from the city as I was cooking dinner. And it was just him and I hanging out at the hostel, pretty much, the rest of the night. For dinner I cooked up more gallo pinto, with an egg, cucumber, and tortillas. But I also pan fried some of the potatoes that I got which made the meal even more delicious!

Evan and I chatted a while about random topics. He’s a really nice guy and I can tell we’re going to get along well over the next three weeks! I have landed, yet again, a very nice place to hang out, surrounded by good people.

Part of the volunteer responsibilities is to turn on a water pump and then turn it off once the water tank overflows. The other thing I had to do tonight was to take out a bag of trash to the trash bin down the road… other than that, my shift was pretty much relaxing.

Evan and I called it an early night and I read the first chapter of the third Harry Potter book before going to bed.

I woke up at 7am on Friday, January 16th thinking I was going to work the morning shift. Evan was already up too and we shared some leftover bread, avocado, and pineapple from guests that had left the day before. Perks of the volunteering job! After breakfast I hung around and chatted with the other guests and read a bit.

And then we heard a person speaking through a megaphone. “Pina Pina, Aguacate Aguacate, huevos huevos…” The food truck was here! Twice a week a fruit/veggie truck comes near the hostel selling all the fruits and vegetables we’d need along with eggs, cheese, and a few other items that vary day to day. And it’s all for really cheap.

I got 7 bananas, 2 plantains, a block of queso Fresca, and 2 avocados for 220 cordobas (~$6)! With this truck coming every few days, and a more expensive one coming on another day, I’d be mainly all set for food for the following few weeks.

Evan ended up taking over the morning shift, which was no biggie to me. He turned on and off the well’s water pump (so the hostel has fresh water every day) and did our one check-in for the day. I sat in a hammock reading and doing more chit chatting with guests until it was time for surf! At 11:30am, one of the guests, Stephanie, and I headed down to the beach. We were met with some teeny tiny waves.

But after an hour or so in the water, the sets slowly started building up! It wasn’t the most amazing session but it was still a fun one and I was able to work on the skills I wanted to work on. Part way through my 2 hour surf session, there was a ground shaking explosion. The highway construction site warned us it was going to happen anywhere from 11am-2pm, but it was pretty dang loud!

I went back to the hostel by myself, Stephanie was still wanting to surf. I had some PB&Js for lunch and then “started working.”

I played guitar for a bit and when I finished up I went to reading more in a hammock. A really tough day on the job. A random traveler, who was not staying with us, came by asking about volunteering. Since Evan and I both just started we didn’t need one, but I shared with her all the places I reached out to, the ones that seemed interested, and my usual strategy for finding a volunteering position.

She seemed appreciative and I went back to reading and watching the sun go down.

Around 6pm I made myself dinner. It’s been fun having to cook for myself again! I’m getting to use all the knowledge of the good food I’ve had in Central America and put it to the test to continue to eat well and cheaply.

I fried some leftover Guieno (similar to plantains but smaller), cooked up leftover broccoli and potatoes that a guest gave me, cut up my new cheese, and made more gallo pinto and an egg for a delicious dinner.

I then chatted with guests the rest of the night until around 8:30pm. Tonight, our manager asked us if we (Evan and I) wanted to play poker with him, the owner (Stephan), and some of their friends. It was only 100 cordobas to play so I said sure and Evan did too.

It ended up being just five of us playing, a friend of the hostel, Peter from the Netherlands was the fifth. We played an easy tournament style poker where the blinds go up every 20 minutes, so we wouldn’t be playing all night. Phillip got out early with a bold all in call. I was the next to go probably an hour later on another bold all in call. As the game and night went on, the other three eventually got too tired and wanted to call it quits, so they split the 500 cordobas.

It was really nice getting to spend time with the manager, owner, and other volunteer. I can tell we’re already getting to be a tight-knit group and that these next three weeks are going to be really enjoyable!

I woke up with a bit of a fright on Saturday, January 17th to my bed shaking. Turned out, it was Leo, the cat, making himself at home between my legs. Instead of kicking him out, I just moved and went back to bed, silencing my alarm at 7am and rolling out of bed at 7:30am.

I ate breakfast, turned on and off the water pump, and settled into a hammock to start my morning of volunteering. As the past couple days, it started with reading and chatting with guests. It’s really easy talking to everyone here, this hostel attracts a good vibe of people who are down to relax, beach, and hang out.

The day before, a neighbor and friend of the hostel texted in our hostel groupchat saying that he’d be taking preorders for sourdough loafs and cinnamon rolls. I ordered a loaf of bread for 180 cordobas and around 9am today we got a text in the chat saying they were ready to be picked up. One of the guests picked mine up for me, since I had to stay at the hostel. I had just run out of bread so this was perfect timing!

Having a fresh loaf of bread really beats the store bought white bread. And again, another thing I won’t have to go into the city to buy! I sliced up the bread and threw it in the freezer so it’d keep for longer and I could eat it throughout the rest of the week.

I went and played guitar for a bit afterwards waiting for the new check-ins to arrive… but no one did. While I was playing, one of the guests gave me a cup of pinolillo, which is a traditional Nicaraguan drink made of ground toasted corn and cacao. It was interesting! But apparently it’s pretty healthy and hydrating. After playing guitar, I went downstairs to the kitchen to make myself lunch.

I was hungrier than I have been and wanted more than just PB&J’s, so I cut open one of my plantains and went to work.

I ended up making myself a feast! Also my touch for making tostones hasn’t gone away with my lack of cooking. One of the guests gave me some tofu too which was a nice addition to the already full plate.

I sat in a hammock reading and waiting for Evan. He had gone into the city with Phillip to buy a surfboard and other things. But once he returned it was time to go surf! I headed down the big hill, arrived at the beach to some okay looking waves, and paddled out. Over the course of the two hour session, the waves got bigger and bigger! It ended up being the best session in Playa Maderas yet. My friend Stephanie had headed down earlier, but there were also some other regular faces I saw and chatted with while in the lineup. It was a very fun session!

A couple of other guests were hanging out on the beach, so I joined them for the sunset.

Once the sun went down, we headed back up to the hostel. After I showered I was met with the rambunctious children of the owner, who were demanding I play with them. I had promised one of the children that I would play hide and seek with them after surfing and they were coming to collect on my promise. Evan and I ended up chatting with them for a bit and then played a few rounds of hide and seek.

Hide and seek then turned into a game where the seeker has to count from 20, all the hiders have to touch the seeker, and then hide. The seeker then gets 3 steps to look around and if they can’t spot anyone, they count down from 19 where the hiders run and touch the seeker before hiding again, and so on. This was actually really fun and silly, we played many many rounds of this before dinner time.

For dinner I made myself pasta, with assorted veggies, and leftover pasta sauce from another guest who had already left. It had been awhile since I’ve made myself pasta with sauce, it was a nice taste of home. For the rest of the night, I chatted with guests and read more of the third Harry Potter.

I got close to finishing the third Harry Potter book on Sunday, January 18th. I started my morning by making myself breakfast, turning on the water pump, and then heading down to my managers house… well I tried to.

I accidentally went up to the wrong house and a lady was very confused when I asked for Phillip. I eventually found the right house and grabbed a bag of coffee from him to make the coffee for the hostel’s cleaning lady and guests. I don’t drink it myself, so the other day, one of the guests taught me how to use a French press.

I turned the pump off once it was done and settled into a hammock to read. I was interrupted by two of the owner’s kids asking over and over to play. I wanted to sit and read but it turned into sitting and chatting with other guests and the two kids. I of course promised to play later and intended to uphold my promise.

I got back to reading and around 11am I got a FaceTime from my friend Anne-Sophie! She’s been home for the past week and we caught up on how we both were doing. It seemed very cold in Denmark and allegedly it’s on pace to a record cold January. But other than that, she’s doing well!

Immediately after I got off the phone, the two children begged me to play with them again. I said later but I’d sit and chat with them for now. They then proceeded to demand stories from me, which was I guess their version of chatting. And of course, they only wanted stories that were either embarrassing or about me hurting myself. Every time I told them one they wanted another one immediately after. I wracked my brain for some good stories to share with them and eventually ran out by the time I wanted to make lunch.

Again… promising that I’d play later in the day, post surfing.

I ate lunch and then 2pm rolled around and it was time to head out to surf! High tide was closer to 3pm today, so I was going to get a bit before and a bit after high tide… or so I thought. I ended up surfing for 3 hours+ today and finished up just after the sun set below the horizon. I hadn’t had a sunset surf in a while where I saw the sun fully set in the water, and I was determined to see it today!

The session started out okay but as the hours went on, the waves got bigger and better. On top of that, more and more people I knew were getting in during the session, which made it even more fun. Eventually even Stephan and Phillip (owner and manager of the hostel) got in the water too! We had a fun time chatting and paddling for waves.

I also met a guy, Pete, who was friends with another person I had met while surfing. We got to chatting and it came up that I quit my job initially to video edit. He immediately told me that he works for a media company and they always need contracted video editors. He asks if I’d be interested and I said yeah! He told me his Instagram and for the rest of the surf session I was repeating it in my head to not forget it.

After the sun set, Phillip, Stephan, and I headed in and joined the rest of their friends at Maderas Sunset Bar for a Toña. Stephan’s kids were there and the youngest immediately asked me to play tag. So I did for a little bit before getting a drink. I chatted with some people who were long term residents of Playa Maderas and a couple of them were complimenting my surfing, which was very nice! I don’t know if I necessarily deserve the praise, but it was nice to hear some of the compliments I give others turned towards me!

One of the perks for hanging out after the surf session, was a ride in Phillips truck back up to the hostel! No walking up the hill for me tonight. I took a shower and then FaceTimed my parents.

We had a nice catch up on the week and I told them about how wonderful of a time I was having at this hostel. I really made a smart choice in coming here.

When I got done with the FaceTime, Evan asked me to go to Phillip’s house to use his blender. Tonight, Evan wanted to make salsa verde from scratch. I was assisting in the end of the making process and little did I know that I’d come back to the hostel to be welcomed with a little feast.

Evan, Amanda (one of the guests, and I enjoyed tortillas with an assortment of other food that Evan wanted to share! It was a really nice gesture and even nicer that I didn’t need to cook after a long surf session. It was a delicious meal and we had some nice conversation while we ate. I did the dishes, but the cleaning fun didn’t stop there.

A lot of guests checked out today, but there still seemed like too much food in the fridge with how few guests were left. So… to finish off the night, Evan and I cleaned out the fridge and got rid of the bad things in it. There were some very gross pieces of food leftover that were in the fridge for far too long. It was a gross process, but after giving the fridge a good scrub and cleaning it out, there was much more space and it was looking good!

I was exhausted and ready for bed and passed out around 10pm.

I woke up for another morning of volunteering on Monday, January 19th. I made myself breakfast, turned on and off the water pump, and then settled into a hammock to finish the 3rd Harry Potter book. I didn’t have much left, but I had left off at the climax of the book which made it tough to put down the day before. But I was happy to finish it off, promptly starting the 4th book, Goblet of Fire.

Fun fact, Millicent Bullstrode is called Polly Pitbull in the Danish translation of the book.

It was a really quiet morning at the hostel, which was good for me because I was exhausted from yesterday’s three hour surf session. I played some guitar, made lunch, and took a nap in a hammock before doing more reading. 3pm rolled around and it was finally time for today’s surf!

I got ready and excitedly walked down the hill. My body was a bit sore from yesterday’s surf, but I did some stretching on the beach before entering the ocean. Unfortunately, the waves today were nothing like yesterday and were extremely small again… Also the water was really cold and the high winds did not help. Stephan and Phillip came in a bit after me and there were a handful of other surfers I knew out in the water. But slowly all of us started to exit the surf since it was cold and not great.

The surf forecast looked like Thursday onwards would be a better swell. So I think most of us were going to take it easier until then. I did still catch some fun little waves and I was happy I went out. But I was ready to get out of the cold water after an hour and a half or so.

I got back to the hostel and two of the owners kids were demanding I play with them. So after my shower I humored them for a bit. But, I was saved by a phone call from my friend Ryan! We ended up chatting for a bit as he drove home from work. We updated each other on the couple of weeks we’ve been apart, which was really nice. I enjoyed my time traveling with him and wish he was still around! But I guess I’ll just need to make a trip to him next time.

When I got off the call, the kids were back at their house having dinner. So I made dinner for myself too.

One of my plantains ripened from green to yellow quicker than I had anticipated. So instead of tostones, I made maduro plantains for the first time. They turned out delicious too, which I was very happy about! The difference between tostones and maduro (outside of the physical difference) is how ripe the plantain is. A green plantain is for tostones/chips and a yellow plantain is for maduro (the sweet version).

I chatted with Evan and one of the guests, Amanda, while we ate. After dinner, I heard the sound of guitar playing coming up from the common area of the hostel. The owner’s friends had arrived for a jam session! We ended up having 4 guitars, a cajon, and a djembe. It was an absolute blast! We all took turns choosing chord progressions and switching off who was soloing. We also shared songs to look up later and chatted between songs.

We played for a couple hours and it was such a nice way to finish off the day.

Tuesday, January 20th marked my first day off from surfing in a while. With the waves yesterday being small, it being fairly cold in the water, and my body aching asking for a break… I decided it was time for a rest day.

I chatted with guests, and read a bit in the morning. I also got a big dog fix in the morning too as 4 dogs were hanging out in the lobby of our hostel. I chatted with their dog sitter, Mercedes, who is from Canada. Phillip and Evan were hanging out with us too and we chatted away the hours. The food truck came around 11am and we were able to stock up on all the produce we needed.

I got more bananas and plantains, avocados, potatoes, eggs, and tomatoes. It was perfect timing as I was running low on my produce and it meant not having to go to San Juan Del Sur for more groceries. On top of that, one of the hostel guests had a motorbike and went into the city and brought me back a bag of rice! Which was even more helpful!

One of the other guests, Adi from Israel, had a full kit of bracelet making with nice wax strings. She had some beautiful creations and was willing to let me make my own! She taught me how to make a cool design and I worked on it and struggled through it for a while. I got interrupted when I had to check in a guest, my first check in for a couple days.

After lunch, Evan and I were the only ones in the hostel. We went down to the hostel’s skate bowl and we rode the surf skate around the bowl. A surf skate is a type of skateboard that has really loose front trucks. This makes the skateboard imitate surfing a bit, with the turning and pumping, and you can generate power by swiveling the surfboard around. I’ve never surf skated before, but Evan had. So after watching him, I gave it a try.

It was fairly difficult… but we went at it for an hour and a half, taking turns. By the end, I was actually able to pump my way around the bowl, doing both front side and back side turns! I was pretty proud of myself and excited to get into another surf-like hobby!

When we got back to the top of the hostel, another guest arrived and I checked him in. Right when I saw him, he told me that he remembered me. I didn’t… but he told me I met him at the Rivas bus station and then it clicked. When I was sitting and waiting for Anne-Sophie, this guy, Luca, asked me for help on how to get to Ometepe! Small(ish) world!

I worked on the bracelet a bit more and at this time the daughters of the owners came to hang out and bother Evan and I. But, they actually brought us a donut and we split it four ways, which was very sweet of them. We tried playing a couple games of the new hide and seek game… but lots of distractions happened and dinner time snuck up on us.

For dinner, Adi whipped up some shakshouka for all the guests staying in the dorms (7 of us in total). We all pitched in eggs, helped dice veggies and set the table, and of course helped clean the dishes. It was delicious and I would’ve had a group picture but my phone was on the charger.

After dinner, we played another game of poker, this time the guests played too! We had 7 of us in total, all putting 100 cordobas ($3) into the pot. I actually had some good hands this time and the dealing led to some fun games. I had a full house at one point and even flopped quads as well!

I had a fairly large chip lead with just 3 people left, including me. We played one final hand knocking me to 2nd place of the three and we decided to just split the 700 cordobas 400, 200, 100. So with 200 cordobas, I got to play the two games for free! I was happy with that and especially happy that it was a fun game either way.

After we finished up, I turned on the water pump, brushed my teeth, turned off the pump and went to bed.

Wednesday, January 21st marks off yet another week of traveling. Just over 5 more weeks till I’ll be hopping on a plane to San Diego and starting training for the camp I’ll be working at. Pretty crazy!

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Today I woke up and had breakfast. The hostel guest, Adi, who was helping me make my bracelet yesterday, helped me finish up the bracelet and tie it off.

I spent the majority of the morning reading more of the fourth Harry Potter book. I’ve been slacking a bit on my reading and I’m not reading this book as fast as the others. But, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to read these next handful of weeks.

Around 10:30am, Evan and I headed down to the skate bowl. We traded off on the surf skate again, just like yesterday. Today however, I felt so much more comfortable and I was actually gaining some good speed as I pumped the surf skate around the bowl. I’m definitely hooked to surf skating already. Hopefully in San Diego I’ll be able to get my hands on one too!

I went back to reading after a quick shower, made myself lunch, and then proceeded to taking a nap in a hammock since I put myself into a food coma. I woke up and read some more… and then, it was time for a surf!

Phillip was surfing at the same time as me, so he swung by the hostel and picked me up. It was really nice having a ride down to the beach and he drove me back up too!

The water today was so cold, I was absolutely frigid. My teeth even started chattering at one point. Apparently, since it’s windy season, and the wind is pretty much always offshore, the wind pushes the warm water away from the beach causing it to be cold. But from what I heard from the people who’ve lived around here awhile, it was colder than usual.

I struggled at the beginning of the session and missed a couple nice waves by mistiming my paddling or poor positioning on the board. I complained to Stephan, the hostel owner, and then the next wave I went for I actually had a really nice wave. Maybe the nicest I’ve had at Playa Maderas. I was able to pump up and down the wave twice and then executed a turn or two! And it wasn’t on a tiny wave either, it was a decent wave.

After that I maybe had one or two okay waves and one fun big close out. I had a handful of other short rides but by 5:30pm I had had enough of the cold and went to join Phillip at the bar the hostel liked to watch the sunset in. It’s nice hanging in areas for a bit and working at established places. It makes meeting people very easy and I had plenty of conversations tonight with people I’ve met throughout the week here.

I also got to chat a bunch with Phillip and we got to know each other a lot better. He’s a really nice guy and I’m glad I’m getting to volunteer for him!

We went back to the hostel, where I got a phone call from my friend Anne-Sophie. I complained to her about how cold the surf season was and she, rightfully, told me I have no right complaining about the cold. It was -2 degrees Celsius (28 degrees Fahrenheit) there the other night.

Because of this call, I was a little late to another poker night… I told Phillip this would definitely be my last for at least the week, I can’t be spending 100 cordobas ($3) willy nilly every night. Before that though, I was going to make myself dinner, but the guests cooked up another meal and had a plate of noodles with marinara sauce, carrots, and beans waiting for me. It was very nice of them!

The poker night was fun. We had 7 of us again… butttt this time it didn’t go anywhere near my favor. It was still a nice time though.

Evan and I were both out and called it an early night. We were planning on going for a very early morning surf, or what surfers call “dawn patrol.” We were hoping to make it out for first light, but I guess you’ll have to wait and hear about it next week!

I’m really enjoying my time here at Hostel Clandestino. I honestly wish I had more time here but I’m also looking forward to all my future plans! Thank you for reading this far and I hope you stick with me for the remainder of this segment of Travelie! There’ll be 6 more posts before my hiatus, but there will definitely be more adventures after my work stint in the US!

See you next week!

– Elie