San Juan del Sur: Day 2

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This morning we ate at another one of the comedores in the market. So much food for so little money. Geoff was all excited about having fried eggs. It's weird but they aren't easy to get & impossible to make in shared kitchens with pans that everything sticks to no matter how much oil you use. So, surprise surprise he had fried eggs & gallo pinto. I had an omelet & gallo pinto & it was all good.

We then hiked up to the top of the point overlooking SJDS where there is a huge Jesus statue. We had to go see Jesus! The hike up was very very hot & very uphill. We walked in the shade whenever possible & had to do a lot of water & catch your breath stops. The view from up there was incredible & Jesus is huge! Not as big as the one over Rio but this one is like 15m high. We paid our $1 to get in (after waiting at the poorly marked gate, after ringing the bell, for a good 10 minutes with two scary Rottweilers, thankfully on a chain, barking their heads off at us) & it was worth it. Such a beautiful view. You could see up & down the coast & all of San Juan del Sur. Lovely.

The walk downhill was much quicker & easier but still really hot. Instead of walking through town we followed the beach all the way back to our street & up to our hostel. We needed a break from the sun at this point & decided to make some bean dip & chips for a snack. I went out to buy some green salsa, got hooked on it in Mexico & I saw it in a store yesterday. In order to get the can of salsa this little old lady pulls out a painters ladder & moves one of the coolers & is about to hike up it, but I stop her & tell her I'll get the salsa. Didn't get a discount for my work, but I just had a vision of her hobbling up there & falling off. EEk! Anyway, after dip & chip time Geoff read & I tried to type or read or do anything but I was too hot to function & mostly just wandered around the hostel sweating.

Finally when I could no longer stand the heat we headed up to a hotel that Justin & Karen told us to see. It is called Pelican Eyes & has an infinity pool & a beautiful bar up on the hill town, with a great view of the bay. Perfect! We got a table in the shade (I'm done with the sun today) & swam in their perfectly temperatured pool & read our books, played cards, had a few beers & eventually ordered a couple appetizers. Once happy hour kicked in I decided to have a martini. It was the dirtiest martini ever, with just a splash of vodka I think, so my next was a non-dirty vodka martini. That one tasted like some kind of weird fruit. I asked the bartender what he put in it & he said lime & looked at me like, duh! It was weird!! Nothing like a Gregor-tini that is for absolutely sure. Guess I'll have to wait until I get home for a good martini. I'll survive. We watched the sunset & eventually headed home. Our bill for 4 hours of fun was the most we've spent at any restaurant in Nicaragua & totaled $27. That's $7 more than we're paying for our room. It was really nice to swim in that pool though....

Back at home we just hung out & worked on blogs & wondered why the weird German couple never ever even leave the hostel at all. Weird. I went out & bought some pastries from a panaderia next door. I always try something new & it usually works out ok about 50% of the time. Today I got a dedito de queso (cheese finger) which sounds like something I would like. It was like a slab of salt wrapped in crunchy dough. Gotta give things a try though, I do believe. The donut I bought for Geoff was one of the best I've ever tasted. Still 1 for 2. Solid 50%.

In the evening all the locals sit out in front of their houses on plastic chairs & enjoy the breeze. I love the sense of community. People walk by one anothers houses & chat & say hi. Plus it is the only time of day to sit outside comfortably so it totally makes sense. It was fun to walk to the store & listen to all the conversations & the kids playing outside.

Another episode of Weeds & off to sleep.

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