A Weekend at the Beach!

As mentioned in the last post, Monday was one of Nicaragua´s biggest holidays, with the celebration of their patron saint, Mary. Called the Purísima, all of the catholics get together at houses, churches, and little alters set up in the streets to pray together. Afterwards, the hosts of every service offer little bags of goodies to the visitors. Goodies include 1 foot sections of sugar cane, palm fronds tied into various shapes, and all sorts of other treats. After the services, kids run from house to house singing and chanting to the homeowners. If the people in the house approve, they pass out even more sweets. It´s kind of like Halloween and Christmas caroling all rolled into one. I wish we could tell you more about it, but being that Monday gave us a 3 day weekend, we bolted out of here as soon as work was over on Friday.

Jess and I haven´t taken very many vacations around Nicaragua during this first year of service, so we´ve made a goal to see a lot more during the second year. Even though we don’t get paid very much and don´t have a car, it´s still easy to get out and see the country. There are plenty of buses, with fairs ranging from 10 to 85 córdobas (50 cents to $4.25). To get from Somoto to the beach outside of León takes about 5 hours of riding, 3 different buses, and cost each of us about 100 córdobas ($5). A dollar an hour isn´t too bad!

So, because we haven´t been to the beach on vacation yet, and because Astro hasn´t been to the beach in his whole life, and because it costs $5 to get there and $9 a night in a hotel, we decided to spend our 3 days at in a little costal fishing village called Las Peñitas. I´m not really sure what the translation of peñitas is, so I can´t offer you that little insight. Sorry. The town itself, however, has about 1,000 residents who make their living off of fishing and tourism. As for fishing, they bring in all sorts of ocean creatures from big red snappers to lobsters to little rock scuttling crabs. You could buy a 4 pound steamed lobster with garlic butter anywhere along the beach for $7.50. Amazing!

As for the tourism, the beach at Las Peñitas has about 200 feet of sand between the hotels and the water and stretches to the north and south as far as the eye can see. To the North (on it´s way to Corinto, a big shipping town, and then El Salvador) is another fishing community that´s a little more developed called Penoloya. To the South (towards Nicaragua´s most popular beach, San Juan del Sur, and then Costa Rica) is a protected wildlife reserve called La Isla del Venado, or the Island of the Deer. A lot of visitors come to explore the island by boat. While we didn´t get a chance to do it this trip we were told by the locals that you can see a bunch of different birds, deer, of course, and alligators as long as a pickup truck. We didn´t feel it was smart to go exploring with Astro. As brave as he is, he probably looks like a plucked chicken to alligator. We did walk along the beach side of the island with was completely uninhabitated. The only way we knew we weren´t the islands first visitors were the sparsely scattered footprints. Google Earth Las Peñitas, look a little south, and let us know if there is anybody on the beach – I´d be surprised.

So, Astro, Jess, and I found a room at a beachside hostel/hotel, called El Oasis.

There was a resident old dog there named Chinga, which means something like ¨stubby tale¨. As you know, Astro also gets comments on his chinga, so he and this dog were immediately good friends. They ran around the beach from dusk to dawn the two days we were there, with Chinga showing the Astro the ropes of beach-dog-living.

Jess and I read a lot, walked a lot, and even tried our hand at a little surfing and boogie-boarding. The surfing didn’t work out to well, but by the end of the second day we were boogie-baording waves from 50 feet out in the surf to right up on to the sand. It was very exhilarating, to say the least. We ate classic Nica food most meals, but found a great new restaurant in town that served pizza and chicken fajitas. That was a real treat.

All in all, our 3 days at the beach were fantastic, and were well worth the dusty, hot, and bumpy bus rides. We´re heading back to Las Peñitas with Jess´s parents over Christmas, so this weekend also served as a scouting trip for their visit. Plans for that trip include a trip to the island, exploring the beach, and, of course, more boogie boarding!!