NICARAGUA...

Tomorrow I am heading back to Costa Rica- and im really sad to be leaving Nicaragua. So ive decided to write about a few of the things that I love the most about San Juan Del Sur. This is in no particular order - just a few things that made me happy while i was here.

La Gente- Nicas are amazing people. I love how when I walk through the streets on every street corner someone knows who I am and asks me about my day. Everyone speaks SPANISH- in costa rica it isnt necessary to speak spanish, but here if you speak to someone in english they always respond in spanish. It has been incredible for me to learn new words and phrases just from having to speak spanish all the time.

El Mercado- theres a little mercado in town that has 3 sodas, 5 fruit stands and 4 other tiendas that sell clothes and flip flops and other random items. My favorite waitress who always sings while she works *- her singing kept me loyal to her soda where the average cost of the best meal of your life was inbetween 2 and 3 dollars. I loved eating the fresh fish and TONS of gallo pinto. Every soda in town has their own special hot sauce- and ill never forget the night that bianca cried for about 30 minutes because she devoured a ridiculous amount of the hottest picante in town. I love the aprons that the ladies in the mercado wear- I purchased one the other day and its an OBRA DE ARTE. The avocados were the best ive ever tasted and Ill miss getting DOWN on vegetable sandwiches with Bianca in our dirty kitchen at my former hostel- Rinconcita Mexicana.

Playa Maderas- I loved everything about playa maderas- the hostal tres hermanos and the guy who made tacos every day on the beach. I loved watching the sunsets every day with Koki, Enrique, Orlando, Manuel y Jose. The three hermanos- Jose, Manuel and Enrique- were pretty much my BFFs while i was there. Every day they watched my things for me and i never worried about them taking a dime off of me. The needlefish that would jump out of the water while chasing their next meal- stingrays that would swim below my board- and the perfectly clear water under my board- i would look down and see tons of fish all day long. I spent almost every day at playa maderas and i never had a bad day with the crazy locals. I loved my first few days with Jose - a different Jose- the number one longboarder in nicaragua- who helped me learn a ton about longboarding. Ill miss chilling at good times surf shop with Jose, Gilbert, Gerrardo, David and Manu (the dog named after manu chao)- playing local card games and eating pithayas and chickis cookies. Oh man im really going to miss pithayas *aka dragonfruit*. The road to maderas was long, bumpy, dusty and sometimes cars wouldnt make it up the last hill- but I loved riding in the back of a pickup truck with the locals who relied on the surf shop guys for a ride to work every day. Also the monkeys in the trees and the pigs in the streets. The cows and horses and old men on bicycles that I passed every day on my way to the beach. Ill miss drinking tonas in the afternoon with the guys and I cant wait to come back again. Ill also miss looking around and realizing that im the only girl in the waves with about 30 insanley hot surfer dudes.

Theres a huge statue of jesus on the hill to the right of the main beach in san juan del sur. Ill never forget drinking rum with max and some aussies and bianca next to the jesus statue and admiring the amazing view. Sunsets at Jesus were incredible. Ill miss my little running loop that went right below the jesus statue and back to the maderas road to town- it was about 3 kilometeres and some days i did the loop twice, other days i didnt run at all- but it was always there for me in case i needed it.

The town of San Juan has the most beautiful colors- all of the buildings are brightly painted and its generally a very clean town. Except for at night when the street dogs get into the garbage and go to town on the scraps of food. Bianca fed a street dog the scraps of her chicken- bones and all to a dog and it ate the whole things in one gulp. The dog is still alive so i guess eating chicken bones isnt the end of the world after all. Ill miss Casa Feliz- Ben and Codo were the best guys ever to live with and i always felt safe with them. Their friends were amazing, they taught me how to dance and Ill never forget the first night that I met all of them on Josue's birthday. Don Marelis and Karla- the wildest girls in nicaragua - it makes my heart hurt that im leaving them. They were always so much fun and we always seemed to get into trouble together.

La Iguana - the rowdiest bar in Nicaragua - with the most ridiculous bartenders in the world - not sure how much im going to MISS spending all of my money there- or CRAZY alberto who always hits on me, even in front of his wife... but Henry the owner is probably one of the funniest people ive ever met.

Ill miss my routine of surfing, drinking, eating, dancing and then sleeping- then waking up in the morning, grabbing my board and walking down the street looking for a ride to the beach. Also the taxi drivers that for 3 weeks, every time i walked by said "Taxi Taxi Chica?". Also the little kid that worked for the bus to rivas that would stand in the street all day and yell "Rivas Rivas Rivas!!!!".

Ill miss sneaking into the pool at Pelican Eyes and the amazing view of all of san juan del sur at sunset. Also the ridiculous australian boys that always said "BLIH"
- kind of like a throwup noise- whenever they didnt like something. Also the New Zealanders that drank copious amounts of rum every night in the hostel and only made it surfing once. Flor de Cana- the rum of nicaragua- is super cheap and amazingly tasty.

The hippies in the street- especially Juan who gave me one earring as a gift. I bought the most amazing necklace in the world from another hippy after telling him for a week that i had to have it. Hippies are very serious about their word- so one day he raised the price by ten dollars, just because it had taken me so long to purchase the necklace. We settled our little quarrell over a beer at Coquitos- the best place in san juan del sur for live music.

There are so many other things that i absolutely adore about Nicaragua - too many to think of right now, but i have a lot of time on the bus to tamarindo tomorrow and ill think of all of the other things that i love.

Needless to say, im sad to go but im ready to head back to santa teresa and hopefully i can find an apartment for at least a month. Ill keep yall posted!!!!