Leaving Ometepe and arrival in San Juan del Sur

We had our fill of Ometepe, and we were ready to head to the ocean. Ashley had checked the bus schedule at the hacienda and had determined that the best bet for us would be the 11:05 bus. We got packed up and checked out., and sat out at the bus stop. We waited until about 11:20 before going to ask someone if perhaps we had arrived to late. Ashley came back from asking with a large grin on her face and told me that the 11:05 bus had been broken for months now, and the next bus wouldn't arrive till 5 or 6. Bummed out we decided to walk the little over 5 kilometers with our packs (after hiking all the day previously, with blisters on our feet) to Santa Cruz. We had heard from some other backpackers that they ha some really good luck with hitch hiking on the island. There were only two cars who passed us in the first 20 minutes. The second one stopped! Great success, however he was a local, and decided he wanted to play taxi. He asked for 5, and I negotiated him down to 4 dollars. He took us to his house in Santa Cruz which functioned as a bus stop and he also had a small restaurant and shop. I got three tangerines and we waited for an hour for the next bus. We had planned on leaving the island, but due to the delays, we thought it would be best to stay a night in Moyogalpa (the town the main ferry heads out of). We found a really cute French owned hostel for 17 bucks for a private with bathroom.

The next morning we checked out and headed to the port, it was only a 10 minute walk (which I had already checked out by myself the night before). We saw the ferry for 10:00 am was on time and since we had a little over an hour we grabbed some breakfast first.

Aboard the one hour ferry ride to San Jorge I chatted it up with a very friendly Argentinean political journalist named Daniel who had traveled all over the world. Ashley of course got seasick and didn't do too much talking. Once in San Jorge we found that because it was Saturday the buses weren't running to Rivas. We heard this from taxi cab drivers who were possibly an probably lying, but Daniel negotiated a deal with the drivers in Spanish for a ride to Rivas for $1.50 a piece. No biggie. We were dropped off at the bus station in Rivas and said our goodbyes to Daniel. The bus to San Juan Del Sur was already packed and was leaving in 10 minutes. I asked when the next bus was leaving and it was in an hour. Ashley and I both needed to use the restroom and were hungry so it was a perfect opportunity to get some food.

We ate some Nicaraguan pizza and a hot dog for 20 and 10 Córdobas respectfully (total just over a dollar). When we walked back to bus station we were able to get good seats and waited for our departure. This bus got absolutely packed! I had a small Nicaraguan woman with a very large and fatty stomach which basically rested on my shoulder for atleast 20 minutes. Every single bump caused her belly of jelly to wiggle across my shoulder in the most awkward of ways. The bus slowly got less full and finally my shoulder stopped being molested. It was a really interesting experience, in the states I would have been upset and disgusted, but interestingly here I was just a little grossed out.

We arrived in San Juan del Sur with a big "Hola" from a small Portuguese woman named Julia. She asked if we were staying and if we had a place to stay. She was clearly selling and was really sweet about it, so we walked to the Hostel she was representing. As a matter of habit we always check out other places before making our decision, but this turned out to surprisingly be a waste of time, because Julia's place, "Suenos Del Mar" turned out to be one of the coolest places and for 18 dollars for a private with a bath a good value.

We ended up hanging out with a Finn named Noah, an Austrailian named Jacob, a English guy name Tom, and a French Candian Lidea. It was a great night of dinner and conversation in the hostel. The girls ended up going to bed a bit earlier, and me the American, the Australian, and Brit hung out until 12:30 or so just chatting about our respective cultures. A very interesting and fun experience. It's the magical moments like that which give this style of travel so much flavor.

Okay, so that catches us up with today. Right now everyone is watching the super bowl while I type this blog in a hammock. Today was just a chill day with a bit of email checking, something I hadn't done in like 3 or 4 days. I can't remember a time I waited that long to check email. It is actually pretty cool to find myself slowly unplugging, nothing forced just a natural progression of things.