Nicaragua
September 2006
Surf explorations in Nicaragua heading south to Costa Rica.
Ah Nicaragua, where do we start? Arriving in Nicaragua with our hitchhiker friends Omar and “G” we made a b-line for the coast and the legendary un-crowded waves of this formerly embattled country. We stopped by some interesting steam vents near a volcano on our way to the coast around the town of Chinandega. The first night was interesting as we charged to a port town which offered nothing close to our beach camping dreams. As we got desperate just looking for a place to lay our heads in Chinandega so that we could resume the search the next day, a super nice American named Willie Wilson approached us and told us where to stay. He and his pal Nick then asked us to join them for dinner and to head out to there secluded beach palapa nearby the next morning. We spent the next several days soaking up the sun, teaching Omar and “G” how to surf and learning about the property investment potential and current political situation in Nicaragua. Nick and Will let us stay at their place even though they had to head back to Managua but told us to call them up if we wanted to see Managua. Of course, we took them up on the offer and ended up spending a couple nights at Will’s house in Managua while exploring the city and hanging out with Will.
Sadly, we said goodbye to Omar and “G” as they headed further down the line to the south, they were both heading to South America eventually. Will had lots of business going on so we decided to follow our noses back to the ocean and resume the search for surf. After our initial struggle on the northern coast we soon found ourselves realizing that everything they say about surfing in Nicaragua is true, you just have to look a little bit. For example, we surfed in the area between Puerto Sandino and the fishing village of El Transito and were constantly pinching ourselves to see if we were dreaming. The winds in Nicaragua blows offshore almost always due to the large lakes on the interior of the country and the rocky coast leads to lots of great reefs and points for surfing. We found it a little bit eerie to be surfing alone but soon adapted and embraced the feeling of solitude even when the waves were big.
For the next couple of weeks we surfed our way down the rugged and dusty coast of Nicaragua camping and meeting lots of great locals and adventurous surf travelers from every corner of the globe. Two of the more popular surf destinations in Nicaragua named Popollo and Maderas have definitely been discovered but for good reason. The waves are amazing and the accommodations cost next to nothing, especially if you can live in your van. The Martinez family in Popollo were so fun to stay with, we got to be great friends with the boys and their father Nacio. He always enjoyed talking about world affairs and politics and we got some priceless conversational practice. We will definitely be going back to see them someday soon. The surfboard that our friend Jay gave us in La Ticla was given to an eager local kid named Eddie who immediately started learning to catch waves on it. Jay, you would be proud…. First, Eric’s brother learned to surf on that old board and now it is getting some deserved use in Popollo Nicaragua. Sarah’s brother was planning to meet us in Costa Rica so after spending a week or so surfing in Maderas near San Juan Del Sur, we wrapped up our time in Nicaragua and headed for the Costa Rica border.