San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua

Stephanie and I traveled to Nicaragua in November, 2011. (See Location Map) My cousin, Bill and his companion Sharon joined us a day after we got there. Nicaragua is truly a beautiful country. It is only beginning to be touched by tourism so it was very refreshing to visit. I only wish I had taken a better camera on this trip. My Android Incredible 2 Smart phone took better photos than our Canon G11. We flew into the capital of the country, Managua, and caught a taxi to the coast. This took us the through the town of Granada, which is real popular with Ex-Pats and backpackers. It seemed like a really interesting place with a lot of renovation going on. There were far less tourist in Granada but surprisingly quite a few Americans. Based on conversations I had and what I’ve read, there are humanitarian organizations based in Granada so many young Americans are down there doing volunteer work. Many of them stay months or years.

The shore was rocky and the beaches contained black sand which results from the weathering of volcanic rock. Locals often dug for clams along the beach as shown above.
Around the town of San Juan Del Sur, there were beaches you can go to and ones to avoid. Our host at our guest house warned us not to go to the closest beach because robbery was common. Apparently certain beaches have a bad problem because there are natural hiding places were the banditos can rob the tourist.
We rented an SUV locally in San Juan del Sur to more easily explore the area. We drove to a gated beach based on a recommendation from our host. For a $2 admission, you got an armed guard (shown above) and a beautiful beach and bar/restaurant. We drove about 4 miles down dirt roads to get to the beach. The guards are equipped with machetes and machine guns. We were told that entry-level guards get machetes and more experienced guards get machine guns. We got the machine gun guard on the way over and a machete guard on the way back.
The drive down dirt roads was about 3 miles and took us about 20 minutes However, the trip was worth it because it was a beautiful unspoiled beach with tiki huts and adult beverages. The surfing was excellent. The waves were some of the largest and best formed of any I have seen. If you are a surfer, this is the place to go. I had rented a board but had some difficulty with the large waves. I grew up surfing on Pawleys Island, SC so these waves blew me away.


I rented a board in town from a shop owned by Brazilian guy who said he had visited here 20 years ago and never went back to Brazil.

We took an afternoon and four of us went to a canopy tour zipline that was right outside of town. Stephanie took to the zipline right away.
This is the fourth zipline I have been on in Central America but I still get quite a rush.
Stephanie or I took the following photos while driving the area. Just riding around photographing the countryside is so cool!

We stayed at La Posada Azul guest house for the week. It was a little higher priced (~$100) than we are used to paying but it had such a great following on the message boards that I went for it. Plus our good friend Sharon was taking her first trip out of the USA so I didn’t want to take any chances. Below are a few photos from La Posada Azul. The accommodations were great and I had no regrets.