A stop in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

We took a sweaty chicken bus to Rivas where we shared a taxi with a nice guy from Michigan for $3.50 each to San Juan del Sur, a beach town just north of the Costa Rica border. We spent 2 nights in San Juan del Sur, just long enough to spend a lazy day at nearby Maderas beach watching the surfers and relaxing, to have some nice food, try the local cocktail, a Macua (delicious!Guava, orange, lemon, light rum), and play cards. The people there were friendly, including our taxi driver, Lester, who complained about cheap backpackers like us (in Spanish, I learned, cheap=pinche) and the decline of tourism this last year. People have been complaining about tourism being down all over Central America. Despite his wishing we were older and richer, Lester was a fun person to ride with out to the beach, and had a lot to say about baseball and the Sandinistas (not a fan). He says he´s a fan of business, instead.

I am sad to say that San Juan del Sur is where Balen and I got our hair cut. I was so impressed with the lady who cut Balen´s hair (confident!) that I figured I should probably have her cut mine too. Now I am blessed with a blunt cut mullet-looking number. When I put my hair in a ponytail, random chunks fall out, much shorter than the rest. I had a minor breakdown, complaining about my teepee head but have since come around.

We enjoyed our couple days in San Juan del Sur, but decided yesterday that it was time to go to Costa Rica.