Into the Nica Wilderness

It was two seemingly distant weeks ago that the first familiar faces I have seen in over eight months out of the country touched down in Nicaragua. I didn’t know what to expect of what the future held in our adventure. But now being on the other side of this two week vacation, my Spanish is a little worse off, I’m out of (running) shape, and more broke than I was at the beginning. And every part of if was worth it.

The trip was broken into two parts: surfing and everything else the country has to offer. My first guests were Frank and his girlfriend, Allison, surfer enthusiasts as well, and after a slight mishap with some luggage we headed to north to… well I guess I forget the name of the beach… to seek out a fabled wave I had heard some grumblings about. What we found may only be described as heaven on earth for some surf hungry travelers like ourselves. There we were in the middle of nowhere on a beautiful beach with no one else on it, staring at a wave that could only be described as first rate, with hardly anyone in the water. We spent the next couple of days there as well as the more popular beaches of Leon, enjoying an incredible swell, and the a simplistic lifestyle. Our days revolved around surfing (dawn patrol, sunset sessions, and everything in between), eating (taking advantage of local cuisine and fauna), and playing cards when we were too tired to paddle any longer (which was usually accompanied by a Tona or two). After a week of a simplistic lifestyle such as that, I was arguably in the best shape I’ve been in awhile, and tan/blond to top it off. Plus, we met a handful of characters along the way to liven up our experiences and make things that much more interesting, which include but aren’t limited too a strung out water salesman we dubbed Mano Derecha, a young Nica named Marino obsessed with throwing the “frixbee”, and the Burrito Guy.

But that holistic lifestyle quickly came to an end with the arrival of the rest of the Richmond grads, and this is when the real “adventure” began, as we focused on a less surfing oriented trip, which wielded some unforgettable experiences and stories. Cruising around the landscape in our rented minivan, listening to the likes of the latest Britney Spears, the Beatles, and anything else you may imagine, we found ourselves in a variety of situations which involved spear guns, volcanic lagoons, climbing dangerous rock formations, cliff jumping, and singing “It wasn’t me” and “Bailamos” in karaoke bars across Nicaragua’s Pacific coast. It also may have involved someone in our group losing in a game of cards and having to wear half a moustache for a number of days, a moustache he may or may not have worked on for weeks, and was very proud of. And all in the name of fun and good times I may add. After 8 months of being out of the states, I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation, and a reminder of the life I used to life back in the states. It made me realize what great friends have I (they beat my family down to Niaragua!), and everything I have to look forward to on my eventual (permanent) return. It’s tough going back to site after a trip like that, but with the school year about to start and a half marathon to start training for, things are about to get a lot busier back La Villa!

Also, it’s tough to chronicle two weeks of excursions and adventure into a couple of paragraphs, and with so many of us (seven at our peak), it’s tough to say what happened and speak for all of us in many situations. So rather than bore you with my sole perspective, we’ll see some guest writers over the next posts detailing what they saw, felt and lived through over these past two weeks, with pictures I hope as well.