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Published: September 15th 2008
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Our Front Garden
A neighbor celebrates her "First Holy Communion" You would think that San Juan del Sur is a very small town by the look of it. It has a small town "feel". There really aren't that many streets in the town proper and you quickly get to know the layout. Everyone walks everywhere and you see the same people every day. I would have guessed there were about 2500 people in SJDS, but it's bigger than it appears. The town itself goes out into the countryside and includes all of the surrounding farms, "fincas". There are also lots of large private homes and growing developments along the roads that lead out of the little village itself. There are more like 22,000 people who call San Juan del Sur their home. It started out as a small fishing village. There is a big Catholic Church in the center of town and a beach along the bay. The road that runs parallel to the beach is considered the "main drag", kind-of like "Main Street". This street is lined with open-air restaurants and bars. There is a tee-shirt shop and an ice-cream shop and I recently heard that a "Subway" restaurant had made it's appearance there. That's too bad, but I guess
San Juan del Sur Bay
A View of the Bay from the Town Pier you can't stop "progress"? When I first moved to SJDS there were no foreign real estate agencies in town. Maybe there were a couple of small offices run by locals but nothing big. When I left, there were three major foreign realty offices, just on the main street alone. If you continue on the "main drag, " to the south end of town, you find a small bank and the tiny post office. This is also where the local fishermen pull in their daily catch. We often went there to buy fresh fish. Continuing on, you finally come to the end of the road and it's blocked off and gated. At the gate, there are always a couple of uniformed guys with guns. This is the town Pier. You can go past the gates if you have a boat docked in the bay or if you are going on an organized sailing or fishing trip. You must leave your proper identification at the gate. There are cruise ships that come in and dock every now and then. When these ships first decided to make San Juan del Sur one of their stops, the town had great hopes for economic growth. These hopes were soon dashed when the people coming off the ships were swept into waiting buses and taken to the nearest cities for sightseeing and shopping. I never liked it when the cruise ships came in. They looked beautiful and majestic sitting out on the horizon but most of the people that came in on those ships, and didn't join the tours, just crowded the town and were loud and rude. It was much quieter without them.
Although, "quiet", really isn't a word I would use to describe San Juan del Sur. When we first arrived, the Catholic church was lead by a priest who used 'cherry bombs' and 'firecrackers' to call his congregation to services. I guess it was his way of waking everyone up so they'd come to morning Mass. The firecrackers would start at about 5 a.m. He would hand them out to his congregation and encourage his followers to set them off as a sign of their faith. They all complied. Sometimes the firecrackers would start around midnight. But I heard from some of the church goers that they really didn't like it any more than the rest of us. How could they? No one was getting any sleep! About six months later, the priest left. I'm not sure what really happened, but there were rumors as always. One of the main forms of entertainment in San Juan del Sur is the "gossip grapevine", not surprising in a town where few can afford a television set. I heard many stories, but who knows why he really left. The important point was not WHY he left, but that we were finally rid of him! The town became more peaceful... until the people in the house behind us got a couple of roosters!
Then there is the town market. We lived about one block away. Every morning, a siren goes off at
7:00a.m. and the butcher, who has set up a microphone in his booth, and huge speakers outside, wakes the town up by yelling out the time. "Good morning San Juan del Sur, (he yells out), it's 7:00 0'clock!! 7:00 0'clock!" "Buenos dias San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua , Centro America, Asia, Africa, Europa, El Mundo" (the world)!!! (he yells this out several times, just in case you didn't hear it the first time, or in case you might actually have been thinking of sleeping in). Then he goes on to recite the list of "meats" available for that day. He also lets you know what they've got for fruits and vegetables. At the end, he throws in a few announcements. He's like the morning radio show. He tells you if the electricity is scheduled to be "down" for the day or if there will be a funeral service held for someone and where the procession will start. All of this he does in a booming performance voice. He would make a great "circus master" or radio announcer! He does this EVERY morning, seven days a week. He's like an alarm clock, just in case the rooster didn't wake you up at 4:00a.m. or again at 5:00a.m. About this time, the taxi drivers line up along the street across from the market, which also just happened to be across from our house. There are always about six taxi drivers lined up there with their personal cars that have red taxi "plates". They start to yell out...Rivas, Rivas, Rivas ... Rivas, Rivas, Rivas ... Rivas, Rivas, R-i-v-a-s!!! When I first got there, I didn't even know what it was they were saying! It sounded like some kind of song. Then I realized they were just yelling out the name of the nearest big town ... Rivas, where they ferry people back and forth all day long. Rivas is about 20 minutes away from SJDS and there are at least a hundred reasons why you might want to go there. Such as, a bigger bank, or a bit larger grocery store called "PALI", or for driving lessons or for the electric company, or the Police department, or court, etc., etc., etc. And for about a dollar, these taxi drivers will drive you there.
I can't believe I would ever say this, but I miss all of that noise. You get used to it and even find it a little strange when it's unusually quiet in the mornings. Yes, I even miss the butcher with his loud daily announcements.
No, I don't miss the roosters at dawn!
The Journey / Travel with Me
A. Zudro a.k.a. Gloria
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