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Published: October 31st 2008
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Tim version:
* Stayed at Casa Oro, and surfed Remanso.
* Rain heaps and other beaches not possible for the moment.
The I cant think of any name for this part version:
Heading down from Rivas I caught the good old chicken bus to San Juan Del Sur. Its not a long ride but since I had to nurse my big pack on my lap it certainly felt like one! One of the prices of not wanting your bag on the roof for the ride there. Even when people started emptying off the bus so there were spare seats everywhere, the guy next to me still didn´t feel like moving heh so I had dead legs by the time I got off the bus. I didn´t really know when San Juan Del Sur was coming up and it was a bit of a guess really, and it was one of those funny moments because I saw two german girls a few seats back who I guessed were going to the same place so thought ah yehh they´ll probably get up... but once I thought OK I needa get off now or the bus is gonna leave San
Juan, they followed me and got off. Turned out they were waiting for the same thing! We all headed to Casa Oro, a pretty sweet hostel with some slightly surly staff but the cost was a little more than I was expecting... I had a look around San Juan for cheaper but no luck so ended up rocking back, tail between my legs, for a room for the night. Its a pretty cool place with a big kitchen you can use and an area at the entrance where they show movies, including surf movies!! Heh I was in heaven when a few surf flicks came on but later in the night the girls got control and suddenly it was romantic comedy hell so no more TV for me, probably a good thing! San Juan is all about surfing so thankfully there were some good board rental places around. I always cringe a bit renting boards coz its money thats going nowhere and they charge lots for ding repairs normally but when I found a 6´4 thin twin fin I was in heaven! $10 a day, not too bad? I didn´t get time for a surf that first day but instead
just relaxed and talked to a few others including an Aussie body boarder named Jeff who gave me a good rundown on some of the spots... handy stuff so thanks to him for that!
That night I didn´t plan to do anything but a couple of Irish chicks, Roisin and Deirdre, and 2 Canadians Aleksandra and Mark were having a few drinks so I joined and we hit up a bar called something Iguana I think. Oh yeh, before that I had gone and got dinner at a place around the corner, a wicked little joitn and the power had gone out! The guy still got me my food with the light from his mobile and the flame from the cooker and it was an awesome dark relaxing mea! I was actually sad when the power came back on... anyway. You´ll find while travelling Central America that a lot of times when an American owns something, or they wanna attract foreigners, Iguana appears in the name! There are "Casa Iguana" hostels and hotels all over the place, not linked at all as far as I know. The bar gave a sick view out over the bay and it was
good to chill for a bit! Still watching the budget though I only had a few. How good it would be to not have to watch my cash right now!! I wouldnt use different transport or stay at different places if I had more $$ but I´d certainly drink a bit more and eat a bit better! Buuut not this time, my budget is a killer
Day 2 was Romanso day! The surf out the front of San Juan sucks, although heh its kinda like Scarborough really and I´ve just come to expect much more. We took an 11am shuttle (the only one) over to the Remanso to give it a whirl. An 11am shuttle for surfing? WTF, surfing is a morning sport! It was seriously odd surfing so late in the day as usually I´d be up at 6am, surfing by 6:30 and done by 10am for a break. Instead I just had to sit around and talk to others twiddling my thumbs all morning which drove me a little mental! The 4wd was owned by Casa Oro and it looks like they´ve got the surf gig pretty well sewed up... I was the most experienced surfer there
besides the instructor so that was pretty cool. I didn´t take the camera so you´ll have to just imagine but the place is a small closed in bay of maybe a few hundred metres. The waves curl in from the left a bit and there is a rip in the centre. When we got there they were small.. my heart sank =( The instructor was a freakin champ, and said ¨have faith, it´ll come¨ and so I did... I paddled out, had an easy muck around then chilled, and the tide started coming in. Bigger and bigger, the waves started getting good. By the time I reached the back of the sets, they were about perfect. 2 waves and paddles back out later, they were about as big as I have successfully surfed and a lot more people had rocked up so it was getting crowded. 1 more wave later and a hard paddle back out (remember the descripton of the bay? The whole thing is breaking now so theres no easy channel abck out!) they were getting too big for me but the local guys were charging and killing it! I sat around for a bit for a break
but they stayed big! Once I found a break I paddled myself back in, then just chilled and watched... that arvo I had a couple more attempts but they really were beyond me, but I got to see the chilled out possibly 45 year old instructor killing a few waves with his longboard. I love that kinda surfer! No anger, no competition, happy to help others for nothing, and really living the true surfing lifestyle! He said a day without at least one hour in the waves just isn´t a good day heh.
Got talking to the Canadians and Morgan from NY that night and we decided we´d take a water taxi to Maderas mañana, so I skipped the drinking that night and crashed out at maybe 11am pretty damn happy!
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