Leon, Masaya, San Juan del Oriente

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We woke up and met with Cherry for breakfast, then headed to the bank to exchange some money, and have a wander around town. We checked out the sights of Leon, then came back to gather up our stuff, say goodbye to Cherry, and continue on our journey.

We had decided we'd do a couple stops on the way to the beach house- at Masaya to see the volcano and market, and at San Juan del Oriente to see pottery. From google maps, it looked like we had about a 5 hour drive, so we thought we could do a few stops, and still make it to our destination before dark.

Masaya was great. There was a museum with some interesting information, including a little video clip of someone crossing over the volcano on tightrope just a year or so previously. After going through the museum, we drove up to the volcano, which was a pretty impressive sight. There are several craters at the site, but only 1 is active.

After the volcano, we drove into town- I had been to Masaya when I was in Nicaragua about 12 years ago, and I thought there were some good things to see at the market, including good hammock prices, but we couldn't find where to go, so we left and drove on to San Juan del Oriente.

San Juan del Oriente was also a stop of mine the last time I was in Nicaragua, and I had purchased some beautiful pottery to gift my family on that trip. We stopped at a few roadside vendors on the way to check out hammocks and flower pots. Sylvia picked up some great flowerpots to take home with her. I was looking for some as well, but wanted different colours, and didn't find what I was looking for. Then we drove into the town itself, but it took awhile to find where there were any vendors. Eventually someone showed us the way to where one woman was making pots, but none were yet ready to sell. We checked out a few other places close to hers. I didn't find anything that caught my eye.

Time had disappeared on us, and it was already getting late in the day, we could see we weren't going to be able to make it before dark, so we decided we'd stop for dinner, as we were both getting hungry. We found a cute place along the road, then stopped at a convenience store to pick up some breakfast basics, and continued on our drive in the dark that was setting in.

We programmed in our destination to Google Maps (we've called her Mabel). She started leading us down a bumpy dirt road, and it looked like that was going to continue on for almost 20 km, so I looked up an alternative route and we did a U turn. That route was much better, but eventually it came to a dirt road turn off too. We bumped along, following Mabel's direction, until we eventually got to a gated property. The guard informed us that we were at the wrong spot, and directed us to continue down the road further. The ruts in the road got bigger, the drive got bumpier, Mabel said we just had a few minutes to go. By now it was much later than we had anticipated arriving, and we weren't feeling as relaxed anymore, but as it wasn't too much further, we just continued on the journey.

We got to another gated property. I got out to speak with the guard. He said that the road didn't continue through the property, that we'd need to go back out and over to another road, and gave us a name of a property to enter into Google Maps. It showed another 20 minutes added to our journey. I think the dismay was evident on my face when I got back in the car and directed Sylvia to turn around.

We had passed a few restaurants along the way, so when we got to one, I asked Sylvia to pull to the side for a moment, while I contacted the caretaker to explain the delay, let him know where we currently were and make sure that the rerouting suggested to us by the guard was correct. He said that was the right way, so we continued on.

It was pitch black, no street lighting, and almost no other traffic. We took the turn off advised by Mabel, and went up a bumpy hill, and over some deep ruts in the road. When we got to the point that had been entered into Google Maps, I went to look for the next spot along to see where to go next, but we had lost phone signal, so could no longer get a map update. I got out of the car and called out, and soon a guard appeared. I explained where we were headed, and he signaled to continue on down the road, that we were headed in the right direction.

We drove on. It seemed like the dirt road would never finish, and we still had no cell phone signal. We passed another gated property and stopped to confirm that we were headed the right away. We continued along the road, and finally, finally saw a sign for the property that we were looking for. I was so relieved! There didn't seem to be anyone around, and still no cell signal to call, but I knew the caretaker was expecting us, so I just called out a few times, and he came and found us.

By then, we were mentally exhausted. We got the basics of wifi code, keys, and places to eat nearby, and then poured ourselves each a glass of wine and collapsed into the hammocks. We decided that for the next 2 days, we wouldn't be setting foot in the car!

Nov 13

A new day dawned, and I woke up feeling refreshed. From the house, you can hear the sound of the surf, so I decided to walk down and take a look at the beach. Sylvia was still in bed. I wandered down, and saw another couple coming out of a house just in front of ours, with their 2 dogs. They were also heading to the beach, and we talked a bit. They told me about the other beaches in close proximity, just a short walk away. I took a walk along the beach, and saw that we weren't as 'in the middle of nowhere' as we thought we were. There were several restaurants, and lots of little houses that looked like vacation homes.

When I came back to our place, Sylvia was up. We decided that we'd check out the next beach over, so I grabbed my travel hammock, towel and a good, and she got her little beach chair. The other beach was super close, maybe a 2 minute walk, and was calmer than the closer one. We settled in for a few hours, I found a great tree to hang up my hammock. We went in for a swim, and then got comfy for some reading and relaxing. Eventually we decided we'd head back for an afternoon nap.

Sylvia conked out, but I couldn't fall asleep, so just did some reading. Then I saw that it was getting close to sunset time. Sylvia still didn't wake up, so I grabbed a glass of wine, my book, and my phone to take photos, and ventured down to the close beach. I sent Sylvia a message so she'd know where to find me.

There are some great rocks along the beach, so I perched on one and read my book while I waited for the sun to go down. The sunset was amazing, and fortunately Sylvia woke up in time to enjoy the end of it. Then we had dinner at a little restaurant right on the beach, and went back to the house to hang out. Sylvia had brought along Boggle, but as she's new to it, it was a pretty uneven matching- we decided to call it quits early. I caught up on some emails and headed to bed.

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