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Published: September 3rd 2008
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Why San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua? That's a question I had been wondering about since I'd heard my niece had packed up all of her belongings and moved there, with a 6 month old baby, and the baby's father. It's a question that would finally be answered upon our arrival in San Juan del Sur. Before the move, they'd been living the South Beach "party life". He owned, and she operated, two high-end "Art Deco" hotels in South Beach Miami. She was born and raised in London and wrote a monthly "social column" for a Miami fashion magazine. It had been all "European super-models" and "by invitation only" parties before that. She was one of the last people I'd have thought would pick up and move to a third world country. But, she had, and there we were, in San Juan del Sur, looking for her. We didn't have a street address or a house number. There are no real addresses in Nicaragua. Not in San Juan del Sur or even in major cities like Managua. Your address is a description of the area you live in. For example, my niece's address turned out to be, "50 meters from the market, going towards the bay". That was her "official" address! At the moment, all we knew was that she lived near an internet cafe. When we first arrived in San Juan del Sur there were only two "internet cafes". A term you need to use loosely as there is nothing resembling a "cafe" about these little rooms with 3 or 4 computers and a telephone. No sign of coffee anywhere! We described my niece to the owner of the cafe. My niece is blond and light-skinned, as is her son.
I thought she'd probably be easy to find in a small town where most of the young women had long black hair and darkly tanned bodies, and I was right. They directed us right to her house. She was happy to see us and we were also warmly greeted by my niece's nanny, Monica, and her husband Juan, who was the gardener. Their 3 year old daughter, Josie, was also there and so was Monica's 15 year old daughter, Anita, who was a part-time housekeeper. This would come to be the most difficult thing for me to get used to in Nicaragua. The total lack of privacy. There was ALWAYS someone around. The local people are used to this. Poverty and lack of money for housing forces entire families to live in one-room shacks with dirt floors, open-aired roofs, and outhouses. I soon learned that in Nicaragua, as in all third world countries, privacy is a luxury. As it turns out, my niece had hired only Monica, at first, to help with the baby, but as she got to know them, and saw what conditions they lived in , she gave them all jobs so they could earn a little money to feed the family. Monica also had 2 young boys! In the 7 months since my niece's arrival, the family had even been able to buy some furniture. They were very proud of it and showed it off to everyone they knew. We were promptly invited to come over and see it!
I spent the next 3 weeks finding out the answer to my initial question..."Why San Juan del Sur?" The boyfriend had come to Nicaragua after checking out Cuba as a possible spot for opening a new hotel. In San Juan del Sur, he found the Pacific Ocean, and a wave that calls to surfers from all over the world. He wasn't a surfer at the time, but he bought a "long board" and an obsession was born. Surfing a wave gets into the blood as though the salt water has become part of the "liquid of life" that runs through the veins. Surfing is "needed" now, to live. It no longer becomes a question of whether or not you'll surf, just "when" and "where".
He went back to Miami and quickly sold his hotels, and moved his family and ALL of their belongings to the little Pacific Coast fishing village of San Juan del Sur, with it's beautiful beaches and it's perfect surfing waves!
He rented a huge, beautiful, oceanfront house. But with this also came the reality of living in a third world country. The electricity went out for days at a time. Without electricity there is no running water. The only water you can drink, without the possibility of becoming ill, is bottled water. They could find "staple" items in the outdoor produce market and the little shops in town called "Pulperias", but all "luxury" items, like groceries, had to be brought in from the city of Managua, 2 hours away. Still, my niece became enchanted by the people, the pace of life, and the beautiful Pacific Ocean views.
The Journey / Travel With Me
A. Zudro a.k.a. Gloria
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