Day 74: Ometepe – San Juan del Sur – Sámara: How we spent Christmas in Central America

After volunteering for “Un techo para mi país” in Chinandega, we really needed some rest, so we headed to the peaceful island of Ometepe. Ometepe is a nature wonder, an island formed by two big volcanoes, in the middle of the Nicaragua Lake (the only fresh water lake in the world where one can find aggressive sharks). Ometepe is actually the largest volcanic island inside a fresh water lake in the world.

Impressive Ometepe Island

We stayed at Finca Mystica, an organic farm / hotel located far far away from any town, and surrounded by the rainforest. One could hear the monkeys that lived just next to our finca howl all the time, and our neighbours found a big scorpion in their cabin! Sick! But our stay in Ometepe was very calm, and basically recovered from our hardcore work volunteering (meaning that we did nothing but rest during 3 days J). We also ate nothing but healthy and organic food.

We did ONE activity during our stay in Ometepe though. We visited one of the island’s most beautiful waterfalls. The owners of our farm got two horses for us and so we went horseback riding to the San Ramón waterfall. The waterfall is about 50 meters high, quite impressive. 

 

Ometepe was like a wellness retreat for us, and we left the island fully recovered to spend Christmas in San Juan del Sur, a surfing town in southern Nicaragua well known for its party atmosphere. After an unusual, but tasty Christmas dinner (fish and seafood at the beach restaurant), we headed to a bar in which there was supposed to be a party. See, in Central America, the word “party” doesn’t mean the same that it means to you. A party in here might mean 4 wasted locals dancing to reggaeton* music and going to bed at 22h. So you never know what to expect... But surprisingly, in that bar, a German dj was playing VERY sophisticated electronic music, which even for Joana was good news! The club/bar got crowded and lively and we danced all night. 

* Reggaeton: For those who still can’t find a definition for it, el reggaeton is one of the most pitiful musical styles (musical?). Reggaeton is a mix between Latin music and gangsta rap, poorly written, poorly sung, poorly structured, but above all terribly annoying. Unfortunately, it’s the music all the youth listens to in here. So it’s basically EVERYWHERE.

Playa Hermosa. Very hermosa indeed.

Christmas day was a bit tough (hangover), but we celebrated it as well. Again, in a reeeally weird way: we found this Spanish restaurant (one of the nicest in town) and ended up eating an unexpectedly good paella and a lentils soup at lunch - that was obviously Carlos´ choice :D . It might seem weird, but after 3 months of eating chicken, beans, chicken, rice and beans, and fried chicken and rice and beans, that lunch was like heaven. On the 26^th we decided to make good use of the amazing waves of the Pacific ocean, and went to Playa Hermosa to take a surfing class. 

At first we thought that either our instructor was really good, or we were really talented, but the fact is we both did quite good, and caught many, many waves... We later discovered that the waves, although quite high (many competitions take place in that beach) were perfect for beginner surfers like us. Carlos later surfed in Costa Rica and got his ass kicked real hard by the waves, so we now know that the Nicaraguan waves were quite easy... 

San Juan del Sur was a really fun town, and we almost spent NYE there, but we found a cooler beach in Costa Rica in which spend the last days of the year. So we headed south and crossed the Costa Rican border on the 28^th, which was a bit of a hassle, since many Nicaraguans spend Christmas at home and go back to work in Costa Rica. 

Friends recommended Sámara, a small vacation town for Ticos (that´s how Costa Ricans call themselves) located in the Nicoya peninsula at the Pacific coast. We stayed at Casa Brian, a small hostel run by a Canadian fisherman. We spend five days in town, hanging out on the beach and enjoying the sun. 

Sámara!

A morning we went snorkeling to a tiny island next to Sámara's bay, and spotted a stingray, an octopus and other beautiful fishes. However, the trip ended in disaster: we both got stuck in the middle of a coral reef surrounded by rocks. The distance between the rocks and the water surface was only a few centimeters and we both got hit very badly by the waves against the reef. Joana got hurt and cut her knees and hands and Carlos got stung by a sea urchin. Since we only had snorkeled in calm waters until then, we completely underestimated the strength of the Pacific ocean currents. Now, both of us have a souvenir of that adventure: Joana has scars on her knees and Carlos still has some spines in his hand. Clap clap clap...

But our first NYE outside of Europe was beautiful. On the 31^st, we (the other guests of the hostel and us) collected tree branches for a big bonfire at the beach. Bonfires are a tradition in Sámara and they burn on NYE all night long. We made a huge barbecue for dinner and then ate our 12 raisins at midnight next to the bonfire (we didn`t want to break the Spanish tradition). Lots of people at the beach started fireworks and that was pretty cool. We went then to town and celebrated the beginning of 2012 at a nice beach club... with reggaeton of course.

After the party, we spent January 1^st and 2^nd resting (hehe) and then decided to cross the country to reach the remote town of Tortuguero, right in the rainforest at the Caribbean coast.

NYE in Samara. Happy 2012!

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